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The Vardhamāna carita or purāņa of Asaga is one of the earliest, if not the earliest, poem dealing independently and solely with the biography of Mahävira. The author qualifies his poem in the colophon by the expression Mahāpurāṇopanişadil, possibly hinting thereby that his work is based on the Mahapurāņa of Jinasena-Gunabhadra. He calls his. VC a Prabandha narrating thirtyseven Bhavas: it is, to put it in plain terms, the biography of the soul of Mahāvira in its thirtyseven births, Purürava to Mahāvīra. Of the eighteen Sargas, only the last two constitute the biography of Mahāvira as such, the earlier sixteen being devoted to his previous births. Mahavira's biography, stripped of conventional details and descriptions, can be summarised in short as below:
King Siddhārtha of Jñāti-varusa and his queen l'riyakāriņi lived at Kundapura in the Videha country. For fifteen months god Tiryag-vijțmbhaka showered wealth on that town. Priyakāriņi saw, in the latter half of the night, sixteen dreams, the fruits of which, as Siddhārtha interpreted to her satisfaction, would be that she would carry a worthy and great son. Heavenly nymphs started nursing her. She gave birth to a son, a prince, on the 13th day of the bright half of Caitra, to the jubilation of one and all. The gods celebrated the ceremonial bathing on his birth; and noting the strength of the child on that occasion Indra named the child Vira. Right from the day she conceived, the prosperity of the fa. mily went on increasing, so the child was named Vardhamana. Once there arrived Cāraṇa saints, Vijaya and Samjaya, and some doubts in their mind were just cleared on seeing Vardhamāna, so they named him Sanmati. His boyhood was spent in various sports with his companions. Once the god Samgama took the form of a serpent and confronted Vardhamāna. Vardhamäna played with it, without any fear, putting his foot on its head, but his companions fled away in terror. By this feat he became famous as Mahävira. He abstained from the temptation of sense pleasures, and accepted renunciation at the age of thirty in the Nāgakhandavana. Once king Küla offered to him food duly to the great jubilation of all. While Mahavira practised Pratimā-yoga at the Atimuktaka cemetry ground, Rudra created terrors, but Mahävira remained firm in meditation, so he came to be known as Mahāti Mahāvira. He practised severe penances and meditations for twelve years. He attained omniscience (Kevalajñāna) under a Sala tree, at Jşmbhaka-grāma on the bank of the river Rjukūlā, that being the 10th day of the bright half of Vaiśākha. Kubera organised a rich audience Hall (Samavasarana). Gautama became his Gañadhara, and the divine voice flowed out of him. Gautama composed twelvefold scripture. Mahāvīra toured various places, expounding seven Tattvas, nine Padārthas etc, in reply to Indra's questions, with a view to explaining the problems of this and the next world, for thirty years. At the age of 72, he attained Nirvana at Pāvāpuri in the last quarter of the night of the day of the black half of Kārtika, when the star Sväti was in conjunction with the moon 1. Compare the expression Bhagavadgitopanișatsu in the Bhagavadgitā,
