Mahavira and the Jain Path of Non-Violence

Jainism emerged in the same northern Indian world of the 6th and 5th centuries BCE that produced Buddhism, a time when wandering ascetics questioned the authority of Vedic priests and sacrifice. Jains believe their teachings were revealed by a series of 24 Tirthankaras, 'ford-makers' who crossed the river of rebirth; the last was Vardhamana, known as Mahavira ('great hero'), an older contemporary of the Buddha.

Jains hold that every living thing, even plants and tiny organisms, has a soul (jiva) weighed down by karmic matter, and that liberation comes through strict ethics and self-discipline. The central principle is ahimsa, non-violence, which leads many Jains to strict vegetarianism and to avoid occupations that harm life. Jains also stress anekantavada, the idea that truth has many sides and no single viewpoint grasps it fully.

A small community of a few million, Jains have had outsized influence on Indian ethics, commerce and, through Gandhi, on non-violent politics.