Mahavira
Mahavira, also known by his birth name Vardhamana, was an Indian religious reformer and spiritual leader, considered by Jains to be the 24th and final Tirthankara in the current time cycle of Jain cosmology. He is believed by historians to have lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE, reviving and reforming an earlier Jain or proto-Jain community which had likely been led by Pārśvanātha, whom Jains consider to be Mahavira's predecessor. Although the dates of Mahavira's life are uncertain and historically reliable information is scarce, and traditional accounts vary by sectarian traditions, the historicity of Mahavira is well-established and not in dispute among scholars.
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Timeline
1918
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Birth
✦ Foundational Figure
Mahavira is recognised as a foundational figure whose teachings form the basis of a living religious tradition. Out of respect for these traditions, we do not display algorithmically-generated "influenced by" connections for prophets and religious founders — these data points are unreliable for pre-modern figures and risk misrepresenting sacred biography.
Thinkers influenced by Mahavira's ideas are still shown in the section below.
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Information about Mahavira is sourced from curated knowledge bases and cross-referenced for accuracy. Influence relationships are scored by thematic overlap and historical plausibility.
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