Jainism: Mahavira, non-violence, and the path to liberation

Jainism traces its teaching through twenty-four tirthankaras, teachers who are said to have shown the way across the cycle of rebirth. The last of these, Mahavira, also called Vardhamana, lived in the sixth century BCE and is regarded as a younger contemporary of the Buddha in the older chronology, though, like the Buddha's dates, his are given differently in different traditions, with the commonly cited range about 599 to 527 BCE. Jain tradition also holds that the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta became a Jain ascetic late in life, a story preserved in Jain texts rather than in inscriptions.

The central Jain doctrine is ahimsa, non-violence towards all living beings, carried further than in any other major Indian tradition. Jains avoid harming even small creatures, many are vegetarian, and monks sweep the ground before them and strain drinking water to avoid killing insects. Alongside ahimsa, Jain monks take four further great vows: truthfulness, not stealing, celibacy, and non-possession. Jain philosophy holds that every living being has a soul, that karma is a fine material substance that weighs the soul down, and that liberation comes when karma is shed through right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct.

Over the centuries Jainism divided into two main traditions, the Digambara, or sky-clad, monks who own nothing and wear no clothes, and the Svetambara, or white-clad, monks who wear simple white robes. Tradition links the split to a famine and migration to the south, but the division developed over several centuries and the two communities differ on matters such as whether women can attain liberation and whether Mahavira married. Both traditions revere the same tirthankaras and share the same core vows.

Jainism never became a majority religion, but its influence is visible in Indian art, temple architecture at sites such as Shravanabelagola and Mount Abu, merchant communities that supported temples and schools, and a strict ethic of non-violence that shaped debates about food, trade, and kingship. For civil studies, Jainism is a clear example of how a small community can sustain a distinct philosophy for more than two thousand years without state power behind it.