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S. P. SINGH
He was born at Kundagrāma. His father Siddhartha was the Chief (Kulapati) of the said clan and his mother Triśalā, also called Vaidehi, Vedehadevi and Videhadatta, was the sister cf king Ceṭaka of Vaiśāli. The Jain canonical works like the Acarängasūtra, Kalpasūtra and Bhagavatisūtra preserve the accounts of Mahavira's life and they call him Videha, Vaidehadatta, Videhajatya and Videhasukumāra.2 He was also called Jñataputra, Namaputra,* Nayaputra or Nätaputra as his father belonged to the family of Naya or Nata or Jñat clan. In the Jain Sutras, Mahävira is also called Vesalie or Vaiśālika (an inhabitant of Vaiśāli).
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4
According to the Kalpasūtra, Mahavira lived for 72 years. * He died at a place called Majjimā Pāvā (modern Pāvāpuri in the Patna District) in the house of a ruler of the kingdom of Magadha.
Mahāvīra spent 30 years of his life as a householder and, after the death of his parents, renounced the world and led a life of austerity and penance wandering in the forests and hilly tracts of South Bihar. At first he joined the order of Pārśvanatha and, in the 13th year after his renunciation and initiation as an ascetic, attained supreme knowledge,
Jain Education International
S. Stevenson, The Heart of Jainism, pp. 21ff.; JRAS, 1902, pp. 282f., 286f.; CHI, Vol. I, p. 173; Jacobi, Jaina Sutras, Part II (SBE, Vol. XXII, Intro., pp. x-xiii); B C. Law, Mahavira: His Life and Teachings, pp. 19ff.; Rockhill, Life of Buddha, p. 62; ASI, AR, 1903-04, pp. 81ff.; C. J. Shah, Jainism in North India, pp. 23ff.; H. L. Jain, in JRAS, Vol. XLV, p. 4; P. C. Roychoudhury, Jainism in Bihar, pp. 1, 13ff.; Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 173; Homage to Vaiśāli, ed. Mathur and Mishra, pp. 4f., 76ff., 85ff., etc.; also Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. VII, p. 466.
2 Acārāngasūtra, 389; see also J. C. Jain, Life in Ancient India as depicted in the Jaina Canons, pp. 254, 355.
[This seems to be based on a misreading.-Ed.] 3 Jaina Sutras. SBE, Pt. I, Intro., p. xi.
4 Bühler, Indian Sect of the Jains, p. 27.
5 Smith, The Early History of India, p. 30; The Age of Imperial Unity, p. 414; CHI, Vol. I, p. 163; Ind. Ant., 1914, p. 177.
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