The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c18.38

v1.c18.38

At this time Vardhamāna, henceforth styled *Mahāvīra* (the great hero) or *Jina* (the conqueror), was 42 years old; and from this age he entered upon a new stage of life, that of a religious teacher and the head of a sect called the *nirgranthas* 'free from fetters,' a designation nowadays obsolete, and superseded by the the term *Jainas* 'followers of the Jina.' His parents had, according to a tradition which seems trustworthy, been followers of Pārçva, the previous *tīrthakara*: as has already been pointed out, the doctrine of Mahāvīra was scarcely anything else than a modified or renovated form of Pārçva's creed. As he was a *nirgrantha* monk, and a scion of the *Jñātṛi* clan, his opponents, the Buddhists, call him *Niggaṇṭha Nāt(h)aputta* (in Sanskrit *Nirgrantho Jñātṛiputraḥ*). We owe to Professor Jacobi the suggestion, which is undoubtedly correct, that the teacher, who is thus styled in the sacred books of the Buddhists, is identical with Mahāvīra, and that consequently he was a contemporary of Buddha.