The Tirthankar

At the age of forty-two he attained omniscience, Kevalgyan. He became Jina, the twenty-fourth Tirthankar of the present era. As omniscient he knew everything of the past, present and future.

As the last Tirthankar, he revived the religious order, or Jain Sangh, of monks, nuns, shravaks and shravikas. His first disciple, called Gandhars, was Gautamswami, a well-known Brahmin scholar in that time. Lord Mahavir had eleven Gandhars, who compiled twelve scriptures based on what Lord Mahavir had taught. These scriptures are called Agams. They were passed verbally from preceptor to pupil for a long time. They were put into writing about 890 years after Mahavir.

On the first day of his preaching, 1500 Brahmin scholars and their disciples were initiated. After the initiation of Chandanbala, the doors of ladies' initiation were opened. There were thousands of men and women followers from the householder circle. In this way he had four classes - the monk, the nun, the laymen and the laywomen - all formed into Tirtha ( Sangha ). In this way he became Tirthankar . He brought into Sangha rules of self-discipline rules and management. He divided the work among seven categories of his disciples.

• Acharya
• Upadhyaya
• Sthavir
• Pravartak
• Gani
• Gandhar
• Ganavchedhak

He travelled and preached for thirty years. He had been equipped with the power to comprehend all objects. He could know all conditions of the world and the thoughts of men. He had reached the highest knowledge and intuition. Before commencing his travels, Gautam Indrabhuti and his ten great scholars along with hundreds of students were initiated by Lord Mahavira by reading their mind. Their doubts, which had never been touched upon by any other person, were cleared. In devotion and satisfaction, they surrendered to him and become his disciples.

During his sermons, Lord Mahavira preached the doctrine of Jainism and Nirvana to people following different creeds and religions. He asked them to shed their wrong beliefs and follow the true path of bliss and Nirvana . He travelled in the northern states of India. Many kings become his disciples.

The 7 categories of disciples were made responsible for education, spiritual courses, service, propagation of religion, movement of the saints and other necessities of the Sangha. As the Sangha progressed and developed, different progressive directions were brought in. The Lord decentralised monasticism by dividing it into categories. Indrabhuti and others ganadhars were the heads of these groups. The first seven Ganas (groups) were led by one leader each. At the time of his Nirvana there were fourteen thousand monks and thirty-six thousand nuns under his order. 

In the end, at the age of seventy-two, on the Dipawali day, the last Tirthankar of this epoch Bhagwan Mahaveer, abandoned this physical frame and attained Nirwan (complete liberation). The same day, his chief disciple Indrabhuti Gautam achieved omniscience. According to Jain tradition, the great festival of Deepawali is celebrated in honour of the liberation of Bhagwan Mahaveer and attainment of complete sentience by his chief disciple Gautam.