महावीर
णमो अरिहंताणं
The Great Hero. The 24th Tirthankara. Conqueror of the inner enemies, apostle of ahimsa, the light that shows every soul the ford across the ocean of existence.
Welcome, Seeker
Mahaveer — “the Great Hero” — is the name the world gave to Prince Vardhamana, who walked away from a kingdom to conquer the only enemies worth conquering: attachment, aversion and ignorance. The 24th and last Tirthankara of this age, he attained kevala jnana — infinite knowledge — and spent thirty years teaching the path of ahimsa, truth and non-attachment to every soul, human or otherwise, without distinction. This site is a small offering at his feet: his life, his words, the lineage of Tirthankaras he completed, and the festivals that keep his lamp burning.
णमो अरिहंताणं । णमो सिद्धाणं । णमो आयरियाणं ।
णमो उवज्झायाणं । णमो लोए सव्वसाहूणं ॥
“I bow to the Arihants, the Siddhas, the Acharyas, the Upadhyayas, and all the sadhus in the world.”
Navkar Mahamantra
One Teaching, Infinite Compassion
Every principle Mahaveer taught opens a different door to the same fearless gentleness.
अहिंसा
Ahimsa
Non-violence in act, word and thought — toward every being that breathes, down to the smallest. The first vow, and the heart of all the rest.
अनेकान्तवाद
Anekantavada
Truth has many sides; no single view holds all of it. The doctrine of many-sidedness — intellectual ahimsa, the end of dogma.
अपरिग्रह
Aparigraha
Non-possession, non-attachment. What we clutch, clutches us back. Mahaveer owned nothing — and lacked nothing.
केवलज्ञान
Kevala Jnana
The omniscience that dawns when the last karma falls away — the soul knowing all things, in all times, at once. Every soul's birthright.
Pawapuri — Where the Lamp Merged With the Light
At Pawapuri in Bihar, on the new-moon night of Kartik, Bhagwan Mahaveer delivered his last discourse and left the body, free of every karma. So many came to gather the sacred earth where he was cremated that a lake formed — and in its heart now floats the white marble Jal Mandir, ringed by lotuses.
That same night, it is said, the gods descended with lamps to keep the light of his knowledge burning — the first Diwali.
Read His StoryBegin With the Navkar
The Navkar Mantra bows to no name and no form — only to virtue itself, wherever it is found. Learn the great mantras of the Jain tradition with word-by-word meaning, and keep count with the japa mala.
Open the Mantras