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Lord Mahavira B.C.). He was born at Vaisali, in Bihar, in a family related to the great Bimbisara (or Srenik) the king of Magadha. He lived to the age of 72. The date of his death or Nirvana is generally believed to be the Diwali day 526 B.C., that is, this day today 2500 years ago. The name of His father was Siddhartha, and of His mother Trisala Devi. According to the Svetamber tradition, but not accepted by the Digambars, Mahâvîra was married to Yasoda and had a daughter. (Some historians believe that Buddha attained Nirvana in 484 B.C. and Mahâvîra in 482).
At the age of thirty Mahâvîra renounced every thing, even the barest of necessities. He was completely and absolutely possessionless. He devoted the next 12 years to deep contemplation, extreme penance, and yoga sadhana. In the thirteenth year, to quote from the Kalpa Sutra, “He, under a sal tree, in a squatting position with joined heels, exposing himself to the heat of the sun, after fasting two and a half days without drinking water, being engaged in deep meditation, reached the highest knowledge and intuition, 'called Kevala Jnan, which is infinite, supreme, unobstructed, unimpeded, complete, and full.” At the age of 42, He became an Arhat, that is obtained on absolute mastery over himself, mind and body. It is said that in this state one knows and sees all conditions of all living beings in the world, what they think, what they speak or do at any moment. The Arhat knows the supreme secret, the greatest of all mysteries : What is "T"? What is this 'self of ours? Whither do we come? Whither do we go? To us schooled in the world of modern science these questions appear strange, utterly intangible, may be, even unreal. And it seems utterly strange, unbelievable, that any one could know their answers, much less by meditation alone. Yet to disbelieve on no other ground but its uniqueness, the personal experience of men of the highest wisdom and veracity, unsurpassed in self-conquest and compassion, (to disbelieve the personal testimony of such men) would be doing violence to the spirit of science. .
The teachings of Mahâvîra, handed down orally from one generation of disciples to another, were probably first reduced to writing a thousand years after His nirvana, at the concit of valabhi (in 454 A.D.) under the guidance of Devarddhi.
