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It is a
common misconception that Vardhaman Mahaveer was
the founder of Jainism. But now it is proven by
many Indian and western scholars and historians
that he was not the founder but a reformer who
reformed and refined previous teachings of
Parshwanath, the 23 rd Jain Teerthankar
(Prophet).
 Vardhman
Mahaveer was born in 599 BC in Kundgram near
Vaishali of Bihar in India. He was born to
Siddharth and Trishala. Siddharth belonged to a
high-ranked Warrior family of Nath Clan.
Vardhman Mahaveer’s mother Trishala was daughter
of Chetak, the mighty and famous Lichchhavi king
of Vaishali. Vardhman Mahaveer had an elder
brother named Nandivardhan. Vardhman Mahaveer
had 6 maternal aunts, who were married to
various kings of Eastern India. Thus Vardhman
Mahaveer was related to various kings and
eventually it helped him to promote his reformed
Jainism.
Vardhman Mahaveer received all the education
required for a prince. He was a fast learner and
easily learned about literature, art,
philosophy, military and administrative
sciences. But he was not interested in worldly
things and wanted to renounce them. But his
parents didn’t permit him to do so.
When Vardhman Mahaveer was 28, his parents died.
Now he was free to leave the palace, but his
brother Nandivardhan asked him not to leave
suddenly and requested to stay with him for some
more time. To respect elder brother Nandivardhan,
Vardhman Mahaveer decided to stay with
Nandivardhan until the age of 30. In those two
years, Vardhman Mahaveer practiced
self-discipline and practiced almost an
ascetic’s life.
At the age of 30, he donated all his personal
possessions to needy and poor people and left
his home. He wandered on his bare feet in
jungles and strange places. He meditated there,
and almost all the time he spent there he never
spoke to anybody. He rarely took food and
fasting was a common thing for him. Some tribal
people harassed him for a long time, but he
never reacted.
After 12 years of his search for the truth,
Vardhman Mahaveer became a naked monk. He took
his first meal after becoming a monk from a
Slave woman Chandana who was bought by a
merchant from the slave market and persecuted by
his wife. Vardhman Mahaveer traveled to the
various parts of northern India, without using
any vehicle. These parts included today’s Bihar,
Jharkhand, western Bengal, Orissa, and eastern
Uttar Pradesh of India. He taught and preached
the way of life that one should adopt. He
announced a silent war against animal
sacrifices. All kinds of people, including kings
and queens, rich and poor, men and women were
attracted towards his teachings. Many scholarly
Bramhins like Indrabhuti Goutam, Agnibhuti,
Vayubhuti and others joined Vardhman Mahaveer’s
mission with their thousands of pupils.
Indrabhuti Goutam and others compiled all the
teachings of Vardhman Mahaveer. Shrenik Bimbisar,
who was a famous and mighty king of Rajgrahi
also became a disciple of Vardhman Mahaveer.
Shrenik asked thousands of questions about soul,
rebirths, meditation, Shraman tradition and
history etc. to Vardhman Mahaveer and got
answers from him. These questions and answers
were written down by Indrabhuti Goutam which are
preserved till today in Jain literature.
 Vardhman
Mahaveer’s teachings belonged to the ancient and
pre Aryan Shraman tradition. He did not believe
in the creation theory and the mighty God.
According to him no one has created the universe
and it is there from infinitive past and will
remain there forever. Only changes will take
place. It was almost a scientific approach of
Vardhman Mahaveer. According to his philosophy
anybody can become a God by destroying his
Karmas. He told: instead of finding out an
imaginary God, try to become a God, the highest
stage of mankind.
One of his famous doctrine is Anekantvad i.e.
pluralism. According to it, every truth has many
angles or viewpoints. Every observer observes
some truth and he is not totally wrong. But the
whole truth could be told only after considering
all the viewpoints.
He never believed in classes and castes.
According to him, a person becomes great by his
own deeds and it has nothing to do with in which
community, class, or caste he is born. One of
his famous quotes is: Eko Manuss Jaai which
means that all mankind is one. Even a outcasted
could join as a monk in Vardhman Mahaveer’s
Sangh. Chandana, the slave woman also became a
nun and eventually she became the head of all
nuns in Vardhman Mahaveer’s sangh.
Vardhman Mahaveer’s teachings were based on the
Right Knowledge, Right Faith, and Right Conduct,
which are called as Three Jewels of Jainism.
Some of his teachings include:
 Ahimsa
(Non Violence): Not to kill any living creature,
nor to cause for killings and avoid all types of
violence, even hurting others by words.
Vegetarianism became a must thing for the
disciples. However, he was not against the
unavoidable unknowingly killings in routine
works by layman like farming etc. He was not
against the violence by layman in protection of
oneself, his family, village, or the nation.
Truth: To speak truth only, not to lie. But one
should not speak a bitter truth, which will hurt
others.
Non Stealing: One should not steal anything,
which belongs to others. One should not take the
things, which are not given by the possessor.
Non possession: One should not possess things
more than his requirements. Excess money should
be donated for noble cause.
Celibacy: One should control his sexual desires.
One should not involve in extra marital
relations.
For Vardhman Mahaveer the final goal of life for
everybody was to reach nirvana (Moksh) or
salvation. Nirvana was nothing but breaking the
cycle of birth, life and death. Vardhman
Mahaveer attained nirvana at the dawn of a no
moon day at Pavapuri in Bihar when he was 72
years old (527 B.C). On the same day, his chief
disciple Indrabhuti Goutam attained Keval Gyan,
i.e. omniscience or ultimate knowledge.
The news of Vardhman Mahaveer’s nirvan spread
all over and the chieftains of 14 kingdoms
gathered at Pavapuri. They took part in the
funeral of Vardhman Mahaveer. As this was not an
occasion of sorrow but of joy as now Vardhman
Mahaveer was free from birth and death, the
kings decided to celebrate this day every year
as a festival of lights, which is celebrated
even today all over India.
Editor's Note:
Mahavir Shrimandhar Chavan
Post Box 58
199 Mumbai-Pune Road
Chinchwad East, Pune 411019
mahavirchavan@gmail.com
The author Mahavir Shrimandhar Chavan is a Jain
activist, scholar of Jain History and runs many
Jainism discussion groups on net. He is a
freelance writer for Newspapers, magazines and
online media. He runs several discussion groups
on Internet, related to Ancient History, Jainism
and Oriental Studies.
He has written 3 books in Marathi and Hindi and
many articles in English on Internet. Presently
he is writing an English novel on the life of
Chandragupt Mourya. His writings are based on
facts and many of his articles are appreciated
by western scholars. Generally he writes by his
pen name Mahavir Sanglikar.
He speaks fluent English, Marathi and Hindi
languages.
Pictures for this article were provided by the
author.
Comments:
I came to read the article 'Vardhaman Mahaveer
and His Life' by Mahavir Shrimandhar Chavan. I
am from Kathmandu (Nepal) and like to know the
history and culture of Jainism but here it is
not available. But Mahavir's article provided
some light on it indeed. Thanks for it. -
Basanta Maharjan, Researcher, Author,
Journalist, Kathmandu, Nepal. - Mar, 24, 2007
Here are more details regarding Jainism at my
web site. Please do have a look and let me know
your coments.
http://jainism.co.nr - Atul Bafna
- Mar, 24, 2007
Very nice article, I would love to get more
details and specially the communication part
between Bhagwan Mahavir and Goutam. - Kushal
Mehta - Mar. 26, 2007
This article on 'Vardhman Mahaveer' is very
educative to all people as Vardhman Mahaveer
himself has not established any sect, faith,
caste, class, denominations, or religion. He had
attained absolute knowledge of the Universe, by
having observed the scientific processes of
visible and invisible forces of each and every
particles of the entire universe. In order to
preserve the teachings of the 24 Tirthankara,
the monks and disciples of Vardhman Mahaveer
have founded and established Jain religion about
970 years after the Nirvana of Mahaveer. -
Jashwant Shah, Ohio, USA
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