Mahavira His Life and Teachings

Author(s): Bimla Charn Law
Publisher: Luzac and Co UK

Page 27

MAHĀVĪRA: HIS LIFE AND TEACHINGS
Festivals kept the whole town bound in mirth and joy for ten days after which many offerings were made to the gods. But he was also known as a Videha, the son of Videhadatta. His parents fixed his name as Varddhamana or 'Prosperous One', because with his birth the wealth, fame, and merit of the family increased His aversion to love and hatred earned for him the
appellation of Śramana or Recluse. The gods gave him the name of Mahavira for his fortitude and hardihood in patiently bearing all sorts of privation and hardship, for his strictly adhering to the rules of penance, and no less for his indifference to pleasure and pain. He was equally known as Jñātṛputra or Scion of the Jñātṛ clan', Sāsananayaka or 'Head of the Order', and Buddha. The Jñātrkas are described as a people who were afraid of sin, who abstained from wicked deeds, did not cause harm to any living being, and did not partake of meat
Mahavira was called Nirgrantha because he was outwardly unclothed and inwardly free from all worldly bonds and ties. And it is not surprising at all that he should be described in Buddhist literature as 'the head of an Order, of a following, the teacher of a school, well-known and of repute as a sophist, revered by the
20