The Doctrine of the Jainas, Described after the Old Sources c6.59

c6.59

The name of Mahāvīra is an attribute inspired by profound reverence and traced back to the gods. The curtailed form is Vīra. samaṇa, as he is said to have called himself, is as far from being a proper name as is, for instance, "the Son of Man." His civil name is Vaddhamāṇa, "the prospering one", which in the texts, however, is interpreted as "the promoter". The verb vaddhai does not occur,⁴ but only vaddhai leading up to the by far less frequent form of Vaḍḍhamāṇa (Āyār. II, 15, 12; Samav. 151a). As a member of the clan of the Nāya Mahāvīra is called Nāya (putta) (Viy. 323b), as a Kāśyapa Kāsava (a. o. Utt. 2;