courage and calm. The Shvetambaras and Digam-
baras disagree about what occurred once Mahavira
reached a marriageable age. The Shvetambaras
say that he fulfilled his duties as a householder,
married a princess called Yashoda, and fathered
a daughter called Priyadarshana. They say that
he did not become a mendicant until his parents
died. The Digambaras believe that Mahavira never
married. They stress the notion that he had an
aversion to worldly matters from an early age.
When Mahavira was 30 years of age some
gods went to him and urged him to renounce
the world. A great ceremony took place when
he embarked on his renunciation in a large park
under an ashoka tree. According to the Digam-
baras he removed all his clothes and pulled out
all his hair in five bunches (as is the norm for Jain
monks and nuns even today), becoming a naked
ascetic.
The Shvetambaras accept most of these details,
but they believe he wore a small loincloth given to
him by INDRA, king of the gods. They say that he
wore this cloth for 13 months, when out of com-
plete disregard for such things he let it fall from
him and proceeded as a naked mendicant.
Mahavira wandered for 12 years, abstain-
ing for long periods from water or food or both,
ignoring all bodily pains or pleasures, not caring
whether he was in the burning sunshine or the
pouring rain. (Digambaras, however, believe he
observed a vow of silence and solitude for these
12 years.) According to the Shvetambaras, heMahavira, 24th Tirthankara of Jainism, in Palitana, Gujarat (Constance A. Jones)Mahavira 271 J