Lord Mahavira was the last Jain Tirthankara and was known as Vardhamana. He has established the tenets of Jainism. He was born in Kundagrama, i.e., Basukund of today in 599 B.C. Mahavira, is regarded as a `great Brahman`, `a great preacher.` At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk. Till his age of 30, he led an aristocratic life. He married Yashoda and had a daughter from her called Anojja. Later he became an ascetic. He devoted the rest of his life preaching the eternal truth of spiritual freedom to people. At the age of 72 years, he attained nirvana.

Clan of Lord Mahavira
Lord Mahavira belonged to the Kasyapagotra of Kshatriya clan. His father`s name was Siddhartha. He was known as Sreyamsa and Yasamsa. He served as the chieftain of Kundagrama village of the town of Vaishali that is located nearly fifty kilometres north of Patna. Mahavira`s mother was Trisala, who was also known as Videhadatta and Priyakarini. She was a meritorious and virtuous lady and very loving at heart. According to the Swetambara sastras, she has been regarded as the sister to Kataka, the powerful ruler of Videha. According to the Digambara scriptures, she has been referred to as the daughter of Chetaka, the king of Siddhadesha.

Birth and Parentage of Mahavira
Many Jain scriptures relate about the incidents about the birth of Lord Mahavira. It is believed that Mahavira was first going to be born to the Brahmin mother Devananda. However the king of Gods, Lord Indra intervened, hence there embryonic transfer took place. Thus Mahavira was born to a Kshatriya mother, Trisala. This was done because it is said that Tirthankaras should never be born in poor Brahmin families.

In the Bhagavati Sutra a story has been narrated about the original parents of Mahavira. They had come to meet him when he became an ascetic and a famous preacher. This meeting took place at the Brahmanical part of Kundagrama. According to the story when his mother, Devananda saw her son, milk began flowing from the breasts. It was her motherly love for him. Seeing this Mahavira`s chief disciple Gautam enquired about the reason. It was then that Mahavira accepted that he was the son of Devananda. Later the original parents accepted the order of their Jain son.

As per the story it can be said that Siddhartha had two wives, the Brahmin, Devananda, and the Kshatriya, Trisala. After his marriage to Trishala, Siddhartha became acquainted to people of high rank within and outside his region. It has been thus rightly assumed that Risabhadatta and Devananda were the original parents of Mahavira. Later Siddhartha and Trisala might have adopted Mahavira. The story of the transfer of the embryo seems to have been taken from the Vaishnava devotional story of the transfer of embryo of Lord Krishna from the womb of Devaki to that of Rohini.

The ancient texts of Jainism records three names of Lord Mahavira which are, Vardhamana, Sraman and Mahavira. According to legend when Mahavira was in the womb of Trisala, the whole empire began to prosper. Thus after the birth of the child he was named as Vardhamana (the increasing one). As he remained constantly engaged in austerities and deviod of all worldly pleasures he was known as `Sramana` by the people. He is said to have been fearless and very courageous thus he was named as `Mahavira` by the gods.