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Mahavira

Type Figure Region South Asia Time c. -599–-527 Also known as Mahāvīra、Vardhamana、大雄、笩驮摩那

Mahāvīra (c.599–527 BCE), the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, revered as its practical founder and systematizer of doctrine, who taught the five vows an…

Timeline

  1. c. -599–-569Kundagrara (near Vaisali) · Vaisali regionBorn into a noble family near the Magadha kingdom in northern India, he received a good education from childhood; at thirty he renounced his property and worldly life to begin strict asceticism and spiritual pursuit.
  2. c. -569–-557Gangetic Plain, northern India · Gangetic PlainAfter more than a decade of extreme asceticism, he finally attained omniscient enlightenment beneath a tree, establishing the path of practice in which the soul attains liberation through restraint of desire and strict discipline.
  3. c. -557–-527Magadha and surrounding regions · MagadhaFor thirty years after enlightenment he traveled and taught across northern India, organizing the sangha, preaching the five vows and the doctrine of the soul's immortality, attracting princes and commoners alike and laying the foundation of Jain doctrine and discipline.
  4. c. -527Brahmapuri (Pavapuri) · PavapuriHe attained nirvana at Pavapuri around 527 BCE; his disciples continued to propagate the teaching, and Jainism became one of the major religious traditions of South Asia.

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