Life of Mahavir ¦ Revival of JAINISM ¦ Ancient History for UPSC

Jainism and Buddhism Originated In today's video, we will talk in detail about Jainism. The followers of Jainism are called Jainas. Jainas believe that Mahavir is their most important religious teacher. Religious teacher is called Tirthankar in Jainism. Tirthankar is basically a teacher who guides people to salvation. Jainas also believe that Mahavir is the 24th Tirthankar. This means that 23 Tirthankars had lived in Jainism before Mahavir. In total 24 Tirthankars, the first Tirthankar was Rishabh Dev. And the last Tirthankar was Mahavir. And apart from these two Tirthankars, we should also know about some other Tirthankars. Like 2nd Tirthankar, Ajit. 22nd Tirthankar, Nemi. And 23rd Tirthankar, i.e. the Tirthankars before Mahavir were Parvashnath, Rishabhnath, Ajit and Nemi. The names of these three Tirthankars can also be seen in Yajurveda. Now in this list, we should also know about the birthplace of 3 Tirthankars, Rishabhnath, Parvashnath and Mahavir. Rishabhnath is associated with Ayodhya. Parvashnath is associated with Benaras. And they belonged to a royal family. But they abandoned royal life and chose ascetic life. And in today's date, the earliest information about Jainism is given by them. Apart from this, if we talk about Mahavir, then Mahavir was born in Kundal Gram. Kundal Gram is a district of northern Bihar, near Vaishali. Now let's know some more important details about the life of Mahavir. Mahavir was born in 540 BC. And at the time of birth, his name was named Vardhman. His father's name was Siddhartha. And he used to be the head of the Janatrika clan. Janatrika was basically a Kshatriya clan. Vardhman's mother's name was Trishla. Trishla was the sister of Chetak, the chief of the Lichhavi clan. And this Lichhavi clan used to rule in Mithila. Some parts of Bihar and Nepal were called Mithila at that time. So Chetak's daughter was married to Bimbisar. Bimbisar was the king of Magadh. And he was the king of Magadh who started expanding Magadh very quickly. From this whole discussion, you can understand that Mahavir's family was also related to Magadh's royal family. See, the thing is that the chiefs of Lichhavi and Janatrika clans were basically gun chiefs. That is, they were basically the chiefs of a clan. They were not kings. Their status can be considered very low in front of the king of Magadh. So that's why it is important to establish this relation here So let's see about the life of Prince Vardhman. 510 BC This was the year when Prince Vardhman left royal life and chose ascetic life. At that time, he was 30 years old. Before this, he was married and his wife's name was Yashoda. And from this marriage, he also had a daughter whose name was Anja. So in 510 BC, after choosing the life of an ascetic, he followed meditation and rigorous fasting for almost 12 years. He kept himself alone. And in these 12 years, he ultimately attained the stage of enlightenment, and this stage of enlightenment is called Kevalya in Jainism. Kevalya means perfect knowledge, ultimate truth. Or we can also call it pure knowledge. He attained this Kevalya by meditating under the tree of the year in Dhyan Mudra. After attaining Kevalya, he had many followers. And his followers were called Nirgrantees. Nirgrantees means those people who have conquered all kinds of bonds, that is, those who are not stuck with any kind of attachment. And later on, these people were known as Jainas. We also call them Jains. And after attaining Kevalya, Prince Vardhman was also known as Mahavir. Apart from this, Mahavir was also known by many other names, such as Jitendriya and Nirgrantees. Nirgrantees means those who have conquered all kinds of bonds, and Jitendriya means those who have conquered their senses. Apart from this, he was also called Jina, J-I-N-A, meaning conqueror. After attaining Kevalya, he propagated Jainism for almost 30 years. As time passed, Jainism became very popular. And the reason why Jainism became very popular at that time was also that Mahavir himself was a Kshatriya and at one time he was related to his royal family. So in this way, many kings and clans patronized him. After propagating Jainism for 30 years, he died at the age of 72 in 468 B.C. Now here we should know about some important locations related to Mahavir's life. So we have already seen that he was born in Kundal Gram in 540 B.C. which is near Vaishali district and is now in Northern Bihar. Apart from this, he attained Kevalya in 498 B.C. And this place was Jirambika Gram, which is situated on the banks of the Rijupalika river and is now in Jharkhand. He died in Pawapuri, which is the modern Rajgira in Bihar. So in today's video, we understood the life of all Tirthankars and Mahavirs. In the next video, we will talk about the teachings, principles and spread of Jainism. 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