ABSTRACT
A male child was placed in the womb of a lower-class woman only to be later removed before his birth from her womb to that of an upper-class woman named Trisala. This child later became Mahvra after turning to a life of asceticism, becoming a religious leader. The gods requested him to propagate a religion for the world. In order to fulfill this request, Mahvra rejected his wealth, pleasure, power, and social position by leaving the world and assuming the ascetic lifestyle. The term Jina referred to Mahvra's spiritual achievement and was adopted by followers, who called them Jains. The Jain tradition does not consider Mahvra's achievement of liberation to be unique because he represents the twenty-fourth trthankara in their religious tradition. In its early history, Jains won support from the rulers of the Mauryan dynasty, which enabled them to endure and spread from northwestern India to locations in the center of the subcontinent and southern region.
