Mahavira was a contemporary of the Buddha and the twenty-fourth tirthankara of Jainism. He renounced his princely life at thirty, practiced extreme asceticism for twelve years, and achieved omniscience. He taught that every living thing has a soul, that violence in any form accumulates karma, and that liberation requires complete non-attachment. His followers swept the ground before them and wore cloth over their mouths to avoid accidentally harming tiny creatures. Jain philosophy developed a sophisticated theory of multiple viewpoints: every statement is true only from a particular angle.
Born into a royal family in Vaishali, in what is now Bihar. Like the Buddha, he was raised in privilege and left it behind. Jain tradition counts him as the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara, a ford-maker who shows others the way across the river of suffering.