Who is Lord Mahavir?

About Lord Mahavir:

• Lord Mahavir was the twenty-fourth and the last Tirthankara of the Jain religion.
• He was born in 599 B.C. as a prince in Bihar, India.
• At the age of 30, he left his family and royal household, gave up his worldly possessions, including clothing and become a monk.
• He organized his followers, into a four fold order, namely monk (Sadhu), nun (Sadhvi), layman (Shravak), and laywoman (Shravika). Later on they are known as Jains.
• The ultimate objective of his teaching is how one can attain the total freedom from the cycle of birth, life, pain, misery, and death, and achieve the permanent blissful state of one's self. This is also known as liberation, nirvana, absolute freedom, or Moksha.
• He explained that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage of karmic atoms, that are accumulated by its own good or bad deeds. 
• He preached that right faith (samyak-darshana), right knowledge (samyak-jnana), and right conduct (samyak-charitra) together will help attain the liberation of one's self.

Who are Tirthankaras?

• In Jainism, those who have conquered their passions are called Jins.
• Those Jins who have founded religious orders are called Tirthankaras.