Question

Vardhaman Mahavira got enlightenment at the age of _____.
A. 42
B. 52
C. 62
D. 72

Answer 1

Hint: Mahavira abandoned his royal life and home when he was 30 years old. He meditated and went through hardship for over a decade before attaining enlightenment. He died or achieved nirvana at the age of 72 after preaching for 30 years.

Complete Answer:
- Vardhaman Mahavira was the twenty-fourth Tirthankara of Jainism. He was also known as Veer. He was born in the 6th Century BC, to a Kshatriya family in Bihar, India. His father was King Siddhartha of the Ikshvaku Dynasty and his mother was Queen Trishala of the Licchavi Dynasty.
- At the age of thirty, Mahavira abandoned all his worldly possessions, his royal life and left his home in the pursuit of a spiritual awakening. He undertook severe fasting, meditated under the Ashoka tree and discarded all his clothings. He practiced this for the next twelve and a half years and finally at the age of 42, achieved enlightenment.
- After attaining enlightenment, Mahavira traveled throughout India preaching his philosophy for the next thirty years. The first disciples of Mahavira were eleven Brahmins who were later known as the eleven Ganadharas. One of the Ganadharas of Mahavira was Indrabhuti Gautama, who was also the leader of the eleven Ganadharas. Other disciples included Agnibhuta, Akampita, Sudharman, Mauryaputra, Metraya, Vayubhuti, Arya Vyakta, Mandira Putra, Akalabhraataa and Prabhasa.
- From Jain texts, we know that Mahavira’s death or Nirvana occurred in Pawapuri, which is a town in present day Bihar.

Hence the correct answer is Option (A) 42.

Note: Today, jainism is followed by 4-5 million people around the world. Population-wise it a relatively smaller religion as compared to other world religions. Today, Jains form 0.37% of the total population of India. 31% of the Jains in India are in Maharashtra, around 13% in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Outside of India, the Jain communities are found in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Kenya.