Jain Sutras

About the Author

No one knows who actually composed the Jain Sutras, but according to tradition they were compiled several generations after Mahavira’s death by disciples of his disciples. Jainism does not acknowledge any founder but does recognizes Mahavira as the last of a line of twenty-four Tirthankaras, or gurus, stretching back for millennia. Only the last two Tirthankaras, Mahavira and Parsvanatha, can be linked to historical figures. The rest are legendary.

Mahavira, originally named Vardhamana, was born into a powerful warrior clan called the Jnatas, and many of the metaphors used in the sutras come from battle terminology. For example, the first two chapters of the Acaranga Sutra are called “Knowledge of the Weapon” and “Conquest of the World.” Likewise, the word Jain or Jaina itself refers to the follower of a jina, or “conqueror,” and Vardhamana’s adopted name of Mahavira means “Great Hero” or “Great Man.” In Jain iconography, he is sometimes represented by a lion.

Like all Jain monks, Mahavira underwent severe austerities, such as prolonged periods of meditation, nakedness, and fasting. After he achieved enlightenment and began teaching, Mahavira remained faithful to his Jain tradition, though he did add a fifth vow, celibacy, to the traditional monastic vows of nonviolence, not having possessions, and refraining from lying and stealing. Mahavira had eleven disciples to whom he revealed his message and who, in turn, passed it on. He lived and taught for thirty years after his enlightenment; when he died in 527 BCE, according to Jain tradition, he was not reincarnated because he had escaped the cycle of death and rebirth.