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Mahavir Jayanti is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the last that is the twenty- fourth Tirthankara of Jains. Legends say that he was born in 599 BC at Kshatriyakund which is close to Patna, Bihar. Mahavir is son of Siddhartha and Trisala; they were a great follower of the 23th Tirthankara.
Legends say that when his mother Trisala was expecting she had seen 14 beautiful dreams and when the scholars asked her about those dreams, she replied that she was going to give birth to an extraordinary child. Child who will provide an idea about the path that will lead to happiness for humanity.
Prince Vardhamana Mahavir became extremely repentant and decided to tread the path of renunciation. He gave up affection of his parents, relatives and friends. He distributed all his wealth among the poor in his kingdom and stayed in a forest as a monk. Mahavir lived a life which lead to the path of complete truth. He started meditating on the pure soul of nature. He started observing austerities, which included fast for many days.
He used to teach people about how they can save their soul from contamination of matter just by living a life of simplicity and by avoiding violence towards other living things. The things that he said to give up are in their life are killing, greed, speaking untruth, sexual pleasure and affection of living and non-living things. His main teaching includes that it was a great offense to injure living thing and that it will be a greatest asset to give up worldly affection. He strongly believed that every subject has a soul and therefore should not be injured or killed.
Among Jains Mahavir Jayanti is regarded as the most significant festival of the Jains. This festival is celebrated in the month of Chaitra according to the Hindu calendar. Mahavir Jayanti lasts for one day only. Mahavir Jayanti falls on the 13 day of the Chaitra, at the time of Full moon. Jains believe that no God is creator, destroyer or survivor of the universe. They explain that there are in all eight types of vargana and there are five bodies that exist in this universe. He taught the idea of human superiority and stressed on the point that positive attitude towards life is important.
Celebration of Mahavir Jayanti
On this auspicious day the Jain temples are decorated with flags, flowers and lighting. The idol of Mahavir is given a ceremonial bath early in the morning that is called as the abhishek. He was the one in Jainism who taught the real meaning of life. On this day there is a massive procession in all the major cities of India. On this day the Jains offers milk, fruits, rice, water and lamps for the poor. There are lectures that teach the part of Virtues.
Traditional food
There are many traditional foods that are prepared on this day by the Jains they are as follows kheer, Dahi chane ki sabzi, puri and kale chane ki sabzi.
This is holiest festival of the Jains and is also considered as the sacred day for other people. He was a great teacher who taught the reality and mankind true path for happiness. He was completely against non violence and showed the path for achieving salvation.
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