The Five Kalyanakas
| Kalyanaka | Tithi | Nakshatra |
|---|---|---|
| Chyavana (conception) | Ashadha Shukla 6 | Uttara Phalguni |
| Janma (birth) | Chaitra Shukla 13 | Uttara Phalguni |
| Diksha (renunciation) | Margashirsha Krishna 10 | Uttara Phalguni |
| Kevala Jnana (omniscience) | Vaishakha Shukla 10 | Uttara Phalguni |
| Nirvana (liberation) | Kartika Krishna Amavasya | Svati (shifts) |
Months are given in the purnimanta convention, the one Hemachandra uses. For a Krishna-paksha date the Gujarati amanta name is one month earlier; Shukla dates are the same in both.
Note the pattern: his first four kalyanakas all fall in Uttara Phalguni, and only the nirvana shifts, to Svati. This holds across the tradition, and we map it in full on the kalyanaka calendar.
The Life the Whole Tradition Turns On
Mahavira is the twenty-fourth and last Tirthankara of this descending age, and the only one whose dates touch recorded history. Tradition places him 599 to 527 BCE; scholars propose dates from 599 down to about 425 BCE, and we set out the whole dispute on the Mahavira kundali page.
Five Moments in One Star
The Kalpasutra states it as a formula: the five great moments of his life all fell with the moon in Uttara Phalguni. Conception, the transfer of the embryo, birth, renunciation and omniscience. Only the sixth breaks the pattern.
His nirvana fell in Svati, on the new moon of Kartika. That night is Diwali, and it begins the Vira Nirvana Samvat, the oldest continuously used calendar era in India, now in its twenty-sixth century.
The Embryo Transfer
Uniquely among the twenty-four, his biography includes a second conception. The Shvetambara tradition holds that the embryo was moved from the brahmin woman Devananda to the kshatriya queen Trishala, on Ashvina Krishna 13, also in Uttara Phalguni. The Digambara tradition does not accept this episode. It is one of the sharpest textual differences between the sects, and we note it rather than choosing.
Twelve Years of Silence
After renouncing at Margashirsha Krishna 10, he spent roughly twelve years in near-continuous silence, fasting and meditation before omniscience arose under a sal tree on the bank of the Rijupalika. The tradition dwells on the length of it. Mastery here is not sudden.
The best-known episode of those years is Chandkaushik, the venomous serpent whose gaze killed. It bit Mahavira’s toe; met with complete calm and the words “awaken, Chandkaushik,” its rage dissolved, and it died fasting in peace. Fearlessness and forgiveness in a single scene.
A Graha in Scripture
At his nirvana, Hemachandra records Indra saying something no other Tirthankara biography contains: that the planet Bhasmaka, crossing his birth-constellation, would “oppress your successors for two thousand years.” The Kalpasutra names the same body Kshudratma, describes it as resembling a heap of ashes, and says it remains two thousand years in one asterism.
It is not identified with any known planet. Jacobi, translating it, noted that it is “the thirtieth in the list of Grahas” and admitted plainly: “we are at a loss to clear up the mystery of this Graha.” A century later nobody has done better.
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His Birth Star, and Yours
Mahavira was born under Uttara Phalguni, in Kanya. If that is your janma nakshatra too, the tradition offers a devotional kinship: his kalyanaka days, his story, his image. Kinship, not destiny.
Our free kundali tool computes your janma nakshatra and tells you directly which Tirthankaras share it. The complete cross-verified table is at the birth stars of the 24 Tirthankaras.
Sources. Kalyanaka dates and nakshatras from Hemachandra's Trishashti-Shalaka-Purusha-Charitra (Johnson translation), read chapter by chapter, with the Kalpasutra cross-checked where it covers this Tirthankara. Biographical and iconographic details follow the standard references. Where the sects differ, both readings are shown; where a source does not state a value, we say so rather than infer it. Corrections are seva: tell us.