Five vows of Jainism

Also called: Pancha mahavrata · Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

The pancha mahāvratas are the five "great vows" that Jaina monks and nuns take when they leave the world. They promise not to kill (ahimsa), not to lie (satya), not to steal (asteya), to stay celibate (brahmacharya) and not to own property (aparigraha) [3][4]. The vows show the heart of Jainism: everything in the world is alive, and only a life of strict renunciation can free a person from rebirth.

Explanation

Background: why the vows were needed

• The most important Jaina idea is that the whole world is alive.
• Even stones, rocks and water have life.

• So harming anything means harming a living being.

• Karma decides rebirth.

• Karma means your actions. They shape your next birth in the cycle of birth and rebirth.

• Asceticism (hard self-discipline) and penance (self-punishment to wipe out past karma) can free a person from this cycle.

• Freedom needs renunciation.

• Freedom from rebirth is possible only by leaving home, family and property.

• So in Jainism, monastic life is a necessary condition of salvation. A householder alone cannot reach liberation.

• The five vows are the rules that make this renunciation real in daily life.

The five vows, one by one

• Ahimsa (non-injury): do not kill or hurt any living being, whether human, animal, plant or insect.
• It covers violence in thought, not just violence by hand. Buddhism shares this wider view.

• Mahāvīra said: "All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence…"

• Satya (truthfulness): do not lie.

• Asteya (non-stealing): do not take what is not given.
• Brahmacharya (celibacy): no sexual relations.
• Aparigraha (non-possession): do not own property. Stay detached from material things.

How the vows grew: from four to five

• Jainism is older than Mahāvīra. Jaina tradition names 23 tīrthankaras (teachers "who guide men and women across the river of existence") before him [2].
• Parshvanātha, the 23rd tīrthankara, gave his followers a "fourfold restraint": do not take life, do not steal, do not lie, do not own property [3][4].
• Mahāvīra, the 24th tīrthankara, added the vow of celibacy. This made the five mahāvratas [3][4].
• So Mahāvīra reformed and systematised an older tradition. He did not invent it [4].

Results and legacy

• The vows made the monk and the nun the ideal Jaina. Monastic life, not household life, was the path to salvation.
• Ahimsa in particular "has left its mark on Indian thinking as a whole" (NCERT).
• Ahimsa and aparigraha also appear in the three-fold Jaina message, together with anekāntavāda (the idea that truth has many sides and no single statement can capture all of it).
• Later, the Jaina community split into Digambaras ("sky-clad") and Shvetāmbaras ("white-robed") [5][6]. The quarrel was over monks' dress. Bhadrabāhu insisted on nudity, following Mahāvīra's own example. Sthūlabhadra allowed white garments [5]. This shows how strictly some monks read the ideal of owning nothing.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: The four vows go back to Parshvanātha of Banaras, whom Britannica dates to the 7th century BCE. Tradition says he lived about 250 years before Mahāvīra [2][3]. The fifth vow came with Mahāvīra, whom NCERT places in the early 6th century BCE. His traditional dates are c. 599–527 BCE [4].
• Place: Mahāvīra was born Prince Vardhamāna in a royal family near Vaiśhālī (Bihar). He left home at 30, practised ascetic discipline for 12 years, and then gained "infinite knowledge". After that he was called Mahāvīra ("the great hero") and Jina ("conqueror" of ignorance and attachments). The word "Jain" comes from jina.
• Key people: Parshvanātha (four vows), Mahāvīra (added celibacy).
• Evidence:
• The Jaina canon (Agamas) preserves the tradition's scriptures [7].
• Jaina texts in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil were kept for centuries in temple libraries.
• The Prakrit Uttarādhyayana Sutta tells how queen Kamalāvatī urges her husband to renounce the world. This is the ideal of renunciation behind the vows.
• Parshvanātha is the first tīrthankara with some historical evidence, but that evidence is mixed with legend [2][3].

Don't confuse with

• Parshvanātha's "fourfold restraint": it had only four vows and no celibacy. Celibacy was Mahāvīra's addition, which made the five mahāvratas [3][4].
• The three-fold Jaina message (ahimsa, anekāntavāda, aparigraha): this is a set of teachings, not vows. Anekāntavāda (truth has many sides) is not one of the five vows.
• Anuvratas: these are the milder "small vows" for Jaina householders. The mahāvratas are the full, strict "great vows" for monks and nuns.
• Buddhism's middle path: Buddhism avoided extremes and was easier for householders to follow. Jainism made renunciation compulsory for salvation and asked for extreme ahimsa.

Prelims Hooks

• The five mahāvratas are non-violence, truth, non-stealing, celibacy and non-possession. They were taken by Jaina monks and nuns [3][4].
• Trap: Mahāvīra did not create all five vows. He added only celibacy to Parshvanātha's four [3][4].
• Parshvanātha was the 23rd tīrthankara, from Banaras, of the 7th century BCE. He is the first tīrthankara with historical evidence [2][3].
• Mahāvīra was the 24th and last tīrthankara of the present age. Born Vardhamāna near Vaiśhālī (Bihar), traditionally dated c. 599–527 BCE [2][4].
• Trap: Anekāntavāda belongs to the three-fold Jaina message. It is not one of the five vows.
• In Jainism, ahimsa covers thought as well as action, and monastic life is necessary for salvation.

Mains Points

• Reform, not invention. The move from Parshvanātha's four vows to Mahāvīra's five shows Jainism as a living tradition that grew over time [3][4]. Use this point to correct the common claim that Mahāvīra "founded" Jainism.
• Why Jainism stayed smaller than Buddhism. The vows asked for total renunciation: no property, no family life, and no harm even in thought.
• This made monastic life a condition for salvation.
• Buddhism's middle path suited ordinary householders better.

• This partly explains why Jainism spread on a smaller scale, though both were heterodox (they rejected Vedic authority and sacrifice).

• A long-lasting Indian idea. NCERT notes that ahimsa "has left its mark on Indian thinking as a whole". This is a useful thread for GS-I answers. It links 6th-century BCE Jainism to Ashoka's dhamma, to vegetarian practice and to modern non-violent political thought.

Related concepts

• Jainism
• Tirthankara
• Rishabhanatha
• Parshvanatha
• Mahavira
• Kevala jnana
• Ahimsa
• Karma
• Aparigraha
• Triratna of Jainism

Read more

• Mahāvīra and the message of the Jainas