Mahavira�s
Biographies:
Thus, there is no dearth of biographical material for Mahavira, who holds
the honored position of being the twenty-fourth and last in the galaxy of
Tirthankaras of the present age and who is also the ruling personality of
the present patriarchate; but this material is primarily and essentially
concerned with the details of the spiritual activities of Mahavira. Of the
purely material side of his life, the details provided are not many and
not sufficiently lucid or specific.
Jacobi is of the opinion that the first book (Shrutskandh) of the
Acarangasutra and of the Sutrakrtanga sutra may be
reckoned among the most ancient parts of the Jaina siddhanta. Their
style and meter prove the correctness of this opinion.
The date of these Sutras would be somewhere between the Pali literature
and the composition of the Lalitavistara, and has been worried out
by Jacobi to be in the 4th century B.C. It is in the first book of the
Acaranga that the outlines of Mahavira�s life appear for the first
time, but these outlines have been drawn in a rather rough and limited
way. There is no mention here of early or householder�s life at all; the
story begins with Mahavira�s �entry into the order� and goes on to the
narration of his daily habits of life as a monk and the numerous penance�s
he went through. The second book of the Acranga, which obviously is
a later composition and which does not even fit in with the scheme of
writing adopted in the first book, refers possibly, in point of time, to
the first part of the 3rd century B.C. when the whole canon was brought
together under the patriarchate of Sthulibhadra; and in this book we can
obtain the first glimpse of the detailed account of Mahavira�s birth and
early life. Certain specific details mentioned here, like the change of
embryo, the periodic attendance upon Mahavira of the four orders of
Bhavanapati, Vyantara, Jyotiska and Vaimanika gods and goddesses, the
enunciation of the five great vows, etc. were described more elaborately
and certainly with an element of exaggeration by later writers on the
life-history of Mahavira.
The Kalpasutra, written and composed by Bhandrabahu I, is
elaborated upon these details with poetic imagery and in picturesque style
and further added to them the new element of the fourteen dreams according
to Svetamber and 16 according to Digambara sect-the dreams
of (1) an elephant; (2) a land; (3) a lion; (4) the anointing of the
Goddess Sri; (5) a garland; (6) the moon; (7) the Sun; (8) a flag; (9) a
vase; (10) a lotus lake; (11) the ocean; (12)a celestial abode; (13) a
heap of jewels; and (14) a flame which a Tirthankara�s mother was believed
to have seen. The final forms of Mahavira�s life was attained in the
Avasyaka-Niryukti of Bhadrabahu II, which may be ascribed to the 5th
century A.D. and in an anonymously written commentary on it added some
time in the 6th or 7th century A.D. These books, however, represent the
Svetambara version of Mahavira�s life. At the hands of the Digambara
acaryas a somewhat different version was prepared on the basis of
pumchriya written by Vimala, whose date may be somewhere between the
1st and 3rd century A.D., fist in the Padmapurana, which may be
ascribed to the 8th century A.D. and later on by others in various
Puananas. The Digambara version gave the facts of life with the usual and
in certain ways with more than usual embellishment, but it differed from
the prevailing Svetambara version in one or two major details.
Parentage and Birth:
The first difference between the Svetambara and Digambara version relates
to the fact of Mahavira�s birth. Both versions agree that Mahavira was the
son of Siddharatha and Trisala, that he belonged to a clan of the
Ksatriyas called Jnatrkas (known as Natikas in the Buddhist works), and
that he was a Kasyapa by gotra. But the Svetambara version speaks
of a transfer of embryo; the Acaranga says-
�Here, forsooth, in the continent of Jambudvipa in Bharatavarsa, in the
southern part of it, in the Brahamanical part of the place Kundapura, he
took the form of an embryo in the womb of Devananda, of the Jalandhrayana
gotra, wife of the Brahmana Rsabhadatta, of the gotra of Kodala.......
�Then in the third month of the rainy season, the fifth fortnight, the
dark (fortnight) of Asvina, on its thirteenth day, while the moon was in
conjunction with Uttaraphalguni, after the laps of eighty-two days, on the
eighty-third day current, the compassionate god (Indra) reflecting on what
was the established custom (with regard to the birth of the Tirthankaras),
removed the embryo from the southern Brahmanical part of the place
Kundapura to the northern Ksatriya part of the same place, rejecting the
unclean matter, lodged the fetus in the womb of Trisala of the Vasistha
gotra, wife of the Ksatriya Siddhartha, of the Kasyapa gotra, of the clan
of Jnatrs, and lodged the fetus of the Ksatriyani Trisala in the womb of
Devananda, of the Jalandhrayana gotra........�
The Digambara account rejects this legend as �absurd�, but the
Svetambaras strongly uphold its truth. As the legend is found in the
Acaranga, the Kalpasutra, and many other books it cannot be
doubted that it is very old; but it is not at all clear why it was
invented and given such currency. There are, however, in the Bhagavati-another
sutra in the Svetambara canon, two references that would
throw further light on the question and would possibly help us in finding
a solution. In Sataka V Uddesa IV, in reply to a question regarding the
possibility and the procedure of the change of embryo, Mahavira declared
that a change of embryo was quite possible and stated his position
regarding the procedure by which the change might take place, but
significantly omitted to mention- although it would have been quite proper
for him in that context to do so- the change of his own embryo. Again, in
Sataka IX, Uddesa XXXIII, there is reference to the visit to Mahavira�s
camp of the Brhmana Rsabhadatta and his wife Devananda. On the sight of
Mahavira, Devananda had a sudden maternal emotion and milk started coming
out of her breast. Asked by his chief disciple Gautama to explain the
reason of this unusual occurrence, Mahavira plainly stated that Devananda
was his mother. He made no mention whatever of Trisala or of the episode
of the change of embryo.
These two references are pointer to the fact that actually there was no
change of Mahavira�s embryo. The Bhagavati, which makes a record of
the actual conversations and sayings of Mahavira, is certainly more
trustworthy as a source of information than the Kalpasutra. Which
after all is the work of an acarya, however learned. It is not
impossible that the story was invented by the author of the Kalpasutra
as an occasion to express the prevailing sentiment of contempt for the
Brahmanas, and that it was later on embodied in the second book of the
Acaranga. But that alone does not solve the problem. In the
Bhagavati Mahavira says that Devananda is his mother and in the
Acaranga and the Kalpasutra the name of Mahavira�s mother is
given as Ksatriyani Trisala. Of this Professor Jacobi offered a some what
fanciful solution. �I assume�, he said �that Siddhartha had two wives, the
Brahmani Devananda, the real mother of Mahavira, and he Ksatriyani Trisala;
for the name of the alleged husband of the former, viz. Rsabhadatta,
cannot be very old, because its Prakrit form would in that case probably
be Usabhadinna instead of Usabhadatta. Besides, the name is such as could
be given to a Jaina only, on to a Brahmana. I, therefore, make no doubt
that Rsabhadatta has been invented by the Jainas in a order to provide
Devananda with another husband. Now Siddhartha was connected with persons
of high rank and great influence through his marriage with Trisala. It
was, therefore, probably thought more profitable to give out that Mahavira
was the son, and not merely the stepson, of Trisala, for this reason that
he should be entitled to the patronage of her relations.� This is
obviously far-fetched and also incorrect, for it is certain that in the
days of Mahavira the marriage of a Brahmana girl with a Ksatriya was not
at all an easy adventure and that anyhow the offspring of such a marriage
would not be considered very respectable. What seems more likely is that
Devananda was Mahavira�s foster-mother. This likelihood finds substantial
support in the text of the Acaranga (second book) which
specifically speaks of Mahavira as having been attended by five nurses,
one of them being a wet-nurse.
Facts of Early Life:
The facts of the early life of Mahavira given in the several biographies
whose names we have recounted above are very few indeed. The later
accounts have connected him with certain anecdotes, myths and miracles;
but they appear to have been allied from the other traditional sources and
cannot, therefore, be justifiably recounted as the facts of Mahavira�s
life. There is, for instance, an anecdote in one of the Digambara
books, illustrative of Mahavira�s supreme valour, which runs thus: �One
day, while playing with his friends in the garden of his father, Mahavira
saw an elephant, which was mad with fury with juice flowing from his
temples, rushing towards him. His companions, all boys, shocked and
frightened on the sight of the impending danger, deserted their comrade
and ran away. Without losing a moment, Mahavira made up his mind to face
the danger squarely, went towards the elephant, caught hold of his trunk
with his strong hands and mounted his back at once.�
It is nevertheless a fact that the Jainas never attempted to give a
connected account of the life of his great Master as the Buddhists gave a
life of the Buddha in the Mahavagga, from the obtainment of the
Enlightenment to the admission of Sariputta and Moggallana into the order
and in the Mahaparinibbana sutta, which recounts the events of Buddha�s
last days. The Kalpasutra used a somewhat conventional style while
writing about the great rejoicing that took pace in the family and the
town on the birth of Mahavira, about illumination of the streets, about he
liberation of prisoners, and about the performance of numerous other
charitable deeds. At the core of much that is conventional, however, a few
facts would seem to clearly emerge. In person Mahavira seems to have been
handsome and impressive; all descriptions agree on that point. The several
names by which he is called in the Jaina books-Vira, Ativira, Mahavira,
etc., all clearly indicate that the chief quality of his character was
courage and valour. Being the scion of a Ksatriya chieftain and brought up
in the free atmosphere of a republican society, he must have right from
his childhood taken the most vigorous interest in the outdoor games and
material exercises. He was naturally intelligent and possessed of a very
keen intellect. The Kalapasutra mentions that from his very birth
he possessed �supreme, unlimited and unimpeded knowledge and intuition�
and that he had the aspirations of a man of knowledge. That his education
was carefully looked after may be safely presumed: the Jaina scriptures
speak again and again of princes who were trained in �the seventy-two
arts,� the list including dancing, music gambling, rules of society,
fighting, archery, knowledge of birds, animals and trees, etc. besides
purely literary and philosophical attainments.
The Svetambara books say that Mahavira had an elder brother, whose name
was Nandivardhana, with whom he lived in his boyhood. This fact is
omitted, but not positively denied, by Digambara books. Both books,
however, agree that Mahavira was very well- connected. By birth he was a
member of at least the ruling class in a republican democracy. The
description of his father�s palace and the dimensions of rejoicing made
there on the birth of Mahavira, who according to the Svetambara version
was only a second son, would lead one to the conclusion that Siddhartha
was a ruling prince. Jacobi, however, does not feel inclined to that view.
According to him, Kundagrama (or Kundalapura) was �a halting place of
caravans, an insignificant place and an outlying village and a suburb of
Vaisali, the capital of Videha�, so that Siddhartha was only �a petty
chief, a baron, no king, nor even the head of his clan, but only a
landowner, and exercised only the degree of authority which in the East
usually falls to the share of one belonging to the recognized aristocracy
of the country.� Such description is belied by later historical research.
Historians are now prepared to accept that Kundagrama was the headquarters
of the Jnatrka Ksatriya, �who were already known for their piety and
non-violence, and abstention from sin and meat-eating,� and that the
republic was governed by an assembly of elders, one of whom assumed the
position of the president. It is presumable that Siddhartha occupied the
position of the president of this republic; for otherwise it might be
somewhat difficult to explain his marriage with the sister of Cetaka, whom
even Jacobi recognizes as �the powerful king of Videha,� belonging to the
Licchavi sect of the Ksatriya. Through his wife, Siddhartha-and following
him, Mahavira-was related tot he ruling dynasty of Magadha and the
dynasties of Sauvira, Anga, Vatsa (Vamsa) and Avanti. Cetaka had seven
daughters, one of whom became a nun, but the other six were married in one
or the other royal family of Eastern India. The youngest Celana became the
wife of Srenika (Bimbisara), king of Magadha: one Prabhavati was married
to King Udayana of Vitabhya, which has been identified at various places
in Jaina literature with a town in Sindhu-Sauvira country; another
Padmavati was married to King Dadhivahana of Campa, the capital of Anga;
Mrgavati was married to King Satanika of Kausambi, the capital of Vatsa;
and Shiva was married to Canda Pradyota of Ujjani, which was the capital
of Avanti. That the tie of these relationships was real and strong, may be
judged from the fact that the books are always very particular in stating
the names and Gotra of all relations of Mahavira, although they
have recorded little further information about them.
From the above it is clear that the environment in which Mahavira grew up
was necessarily royal atmosphere tempered with healthy influenced of a
republican character. His maternal relatives were practically all of them
ruling princes, but his father was a republican chief and even his
maternal uncle was a territorial ruler under the auspices of a republican
confederacy- the famous Vajji confederacy of which eight republics, Vajji,
were constituent units. The real strength of the republic in Mahavira�s
time as, to a large extent, today lay not so much in its government as in
the character of its people. The Buddha mentioned in one of his discourses
that republican population was free from luxury and sloth, �sleeping on
logs of wood as pillows and not on cushions of the finest cotton, active
in archery, and not delicate, tender and soft in their arms and legs.� The
youths were rowdy, but by no means devoid of honor or lacking in moral
courage; they frankly admitted their mistakes, and were inspired by a
fundamental sense of respect for elders and women, and their national
institutions. It was in this atmosphere that Mahavira�s early life was
spent. His upbringing must have been quite exceptionally balanced and his
development proportionate, for his life was a life of comfort but not
luxury and his ambition was an ambition to conquer but not with view to
mastery over others. He was deeply influenced by the democratic ethos of
the society in which he lived. He was impressed by the inadequate
application of this ethos in the political, economic and social life of
the community without its being based upon a really democratic religious
system; and he took it upon himself to workout and propagate a system of
complete spiritual democracy in the form of Jainism.
