Mahavir Jain , the founder of Jainism was born in 599 BCE in Kundalgrama palace near Vaishali in Bihar(India). The birth is considered to be on the 13th day of Chaitra or waxing moon in the month of March or April according to the Gregorian Calendar. The parents of Mahavira King Siddaratha and Trishala gave birth to the Prince of their kingdom but who knew that He will lead the whole world in spiritualism. The Jain Community people celebrate this day enthusiastically to remember the values given by Mahavir Jain. This year the celebration will take place on 4th April. The day will be celebrated while following many conventional rituals of Jainism religion. Jainis observe this day to commemorate the birth anniversary of Their Tirthankara who laid the foundation of this pious belief in their hearts.
History of Jainism
Jainism is considered to be a pious and extreme path of non-violence. Mahavir Jain is worshipped with great devotion by Jainis because he set some particular principles of this religion that every individual in this belief is obliged to follow. The path of spiritualism is unique in this religion which was founded almost 5000 years ago before the origin of Indo Aryan culture. During this long period of followership, nobody in this religion has contravened the principle of being non violent towards this whole cycle of nature including each type of life.
How Prince Mahavira became Mahavir Jain
The parents of Mahavira were followers of Parshvanatha, the predecessor of Mahavir Jain. He lived a very simple life even being the king of Kundalgrama. His quest for finding peace and eternity(Mokshya). Therefore, he agreed to marry Yashodha on his parents’ insistence. He became a father of one daughter also. He made up his mind to abandon all worldly comforts at the age of 28 after the demise of his parents. His brother tried hard to persuade towards mortal instruments of life but all in vain. After enlightenment, Mahavira left his home,kingdom and comfortable life to seek the truth of life at the age of 30 according to the Janis people. Before going for penance he spoke two words, “Namo Siddhanam”. This implies that from now I bow down to the preachings of Siddha.
Life of Hardships
During penance Mahavira took many pains on his body and tried to defeat the negative power Mana inside the consciousness of humans. He renounced every amenity of life even his clothes and started a life of monk. He went to forests for tranquillity and fought with his basics of food and sleep. He ate very little and slept only for a few hours during the day. He followed this lifestyle for the next twelve years and then he found the real path to follow and gave guidance to people in his rest life.
Celebration of the Day
People celebrate this day in an extremely conventional way as per the rules of Jainism. Being a morning person is the first rule of Jainism and people follow this on Mahavir Jayanti also and take a bath to get pure. After that the idol of Mahavir Jain is worshipped by giving ritualistic bath and putting flower garlands on it. The sweets are also offered to idols after worshipping. The followers also do some welfare work on this day by giving some food and others. Some also believe to keep fast as it is also one of the laws of this religion. As it is needed to keep the spirits of leading a simple life while ignoring the comforts. The historically connected places including Rajasthan and Gujrat in India are flooded with disciples.
To conclude, it is believed that Jainism is one of the simply defined pathways to meet salvation in life. As it is far away from following all complexities of rituals and ceremonies. Also, Mahavir Jain stayed adamant on his words and throughout his life. This religion has never left its main Mantra of non violence at any cost during its whole.existence. So, it is the day of one of our highly revered Saint who enabled people to seek the grace of Almighty.
