Mahavira

Agora

Mahavira

c. 500–425 BCE · traditionally 599–527 BCE

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

Every living thing has a soul, so harming none is the highest duty – and strict self-discipline frees the soul from what binds it.

Placement

South Asian & Tibetan Philosophy · South Asia · Ethics, Metaphysics, Religion

The 24th Tirthankara of Jainism and an elder contemporary of the Buddha: liberation of the soul from karmic matter through non-violence, truthfulness and strict asceticism.

Key ideas

Ahimsa (non-violence)
Soul (jiva) bound by karmic matter
Many-sidedness of reality (anekantavada)

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Criticism

Criticized by 1

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

criticised by
In the Pali Canon the Buddha rejects the Jain teaching of Nigantha Nataputta (Mahavira) that past karma is burnt off by austerities, putting intention first. Majjhima Nikāya 14 (Cūḷadukkhakkhandha), 56 (Upāli), 101 (Devadaha)
Evidence: AI draft
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) › c. 480–400 BCE · conventionally dated 563–483 BCE

Works

c. 400 BCEAcaranga Sutra
The oldest text of the Jain canon, handed down as Mahavira’s teaching and compiled by his followers: the conduct of a monk who harms no living being, down to the smallest creatures.

Position

For Jains Mahavira was not a founder but the twenty-fourth and last “ford-maker” (Tirthankara) of the present age, renewing the teaching of his predecessor Parshva. Every living being has a soul (jiva) – humans and animals, but also plants and even particles of earth and water. Actions draw fine karmic matter into the soul and weigh it down; through non-violence, truthfulness, not stealing, chastity and non-possession, and through austerities, the soul sheds this matter and rises to liberation. Mahavira rejected Vedic sacrifice and a creator God. The doctrine of many-sidedness (anekantavada) was worked out by later Jain philosophers. Through his friend Raychandbhai, Jain ethics also left its mark on Gandhi.

Life & context

Vardhamana, later called Mahavira (“great hero”), was born into a Kshatriya clan near Vaishali; Buddhist texts know him as Nigantha Nataputta. Jain tradition dates his life 599–527 BCE; historians who follow the later dating of the Buddha, whose elder contemporary he was, place him about a century later. At about thirty he left home, lived some twelve years as an ascetic, attained omniscience (kevala jnana) and taught for about thirty years until his death at Pava.