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13
MAHAVIRA AND HIS RELIGION OF JAINISM*
Jainism is one of the oldest surviving religions of the world, which still leads thousands to peace and divine life. Next to Hinduism, it is, in fact, the oldest surviving religion which had its birth more than two thousand five hundred years ago. Its greatest leader and path-finder, Mahâvîra, was born fifty years earlier that Lord Buddha. Mahâvîra was the second son of a Kshatriya chieftain Siddhartha in Magadha (the modern Bihar), then the most powerful state in India. According to Jaina tradition, he lived between 599 B.C. and 527 B.C. Absolute certainly about the facts of Mahâvîra's life, however, is not there with us now. His life is today half-legend and half-history. Even these historical and legendary aspects are not accepted equally by all Jainas. Half of them is accepted by Shvetambaras, and equally half is rejected by Digambaras.
According to Jaina tradition, before Mahâvîra's birth there came a great prosperity and fame to his father for which the newborn child was later known as Vardhamana. Prior to the birth of the child, his mother Trishala had many auspicious dreams symbolising the birth of a superman to her. All these dreams, according to tradition, foretold the birth of a spiritual conqueror (Jina), and the founder of a new faith. Some Jainas believe that Trishala did not actually see all these dreams, but that they symbolised an universal desire for some spiritual path-finder to be born and lead the non-brahmins to true religious life free from the clutches of priestly exploitations.
All Jainas believe in Mahâvîra's boyish prowess and tell how easily he excelled all his companions in strength, physical beauty,
*Editorial Probuddha Bharata, Vol. 94. No. II, November, 1989.
