The Jain religion takes its name from the Jina which means conqueror or conqueror, a title bestowed on 24 great masters called Tirthankaras (ford-makers). It evolved from Hinduism. These teachers demonstrated and taught the Jain path of purity and peace that leads to the highest spiritual liberation. Jainism is believed to have started in the Indus Valley civilization around 3000 BC. Among the Tirthankaras, little is known about the first 22 masters. The latter two, Parsva (approximately 877-777 BC) and Mahavira (approximately 599-527 BC), lived and taught in northeast India.

Mahavira (“Great Hero”), the last of these great teachers, lived at the same time as Gautama Buddha. Mahavira was against the division of Hindu society on the basis of casts and creeds and the rituals of human sacrifice. Despite being a prince, he left home in his 30s and decided to lead a life without worldly pleasures. He discarded all materialistic things in life and wandered for over twelve years, fasting and practicing severe self-control in his search for truth.

At the age of 42 he reached enlightenment, a state of divine experience or understanding of ultimate truth. For the next 30 years he traveled through parts of northern India, teaching the true ascetic path to purity and love. According to the Kalpa Sultra, a Jain holy book that records the lives of the Tirthankaras masters, he died in Pava, which is part of modern Bihar, at the age of 72. It is said that at the time of his death he had more than 500,000 followers, including monks and nuns.