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Mahavira-The great Hero
Ву A. J. Sunavala,
B, A., LL. B., It is now admitted by all that Vardhamāna or Nirgrantha Jnāta patra, best known as Vira or Mabāvira, regarded by the Jainas as the twentyfourth and last Tirthankara was a historical personage and a contem- . porary of Shākya Muni, the Buddha. He was born in the year 599 B. C., or towards the end of the Dasamā Susamā period, the fourth Ara, as ths Jainas reckon time; on the thirteenth day of the bright half of Chaitra, He is said to have perfected his vow Kalpa after Kalpa. Many a hundred incarnations preceded that final incarpation in which the highest knowledge and intuition, called Kovala-Jpāna, was attained. Step by step he climbed up the long ladder of existence; life after life of self-abnegation and devotion led him from earthly
