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Appendices
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Bhagavāna Mahāvīra, whose 2594"" birth anniversary was celebrated recently, was one of the three greatest apostles of nonviolence and universal compassion, the other two being Buddha (Mahāvīra's contemporary) and Jesus Christ (born about six hundred years later).
Lord Mahāvīra was the twenty-fourth and the last of the Tīrtharikaras (“perfect souls”) - Rşabhadeva being the first and Pārsvanātha being the twenty-third and immediate predecessor to Mahāvīra.
These Jaina preceptors, apart from being hailed as Tirtharkaras, are also known as 'Jinas' (conquerors of passions).
Jainism, however, is most prominently associated with Lord Mahāvīra who is revered as the propounder of the basic tenets of this religion.
There are a number of striking similarities between Mahāvīra (known as Vardhamāna in his childhood days), the elder contemporary of Gautama Buddha (known earlier as Siddhārtha), only very few years separating their respective advent.
Vardhamāna Mahāvīra's greatest contribution and revolution in the sphere of religion lies in the fact that he established the doctrine of karma in place of God! He stressed that one must improve his soul by his own efforts without resorting to any external agency! (Bhagavadgitā, VI. 5): ‘Let each man raise the self by soul, not trample down his self, since soul that is self's friend may grow self's foe. Soul is self's friend when self doth rule over self, but self turns enemy if soul's own self hates self as not itself!” (“Uddharedātmanātmānaṁ........ripurätmanaḥ”) Edwin Arnold's translation of Bhagavadgītä-VI.5.
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