On the new-moon night of the month of Kartik, in the small town of Pavapuri in present-day Bihar, Bhagwan Mahavir gave his final discourse. He had taught for thirty years. He was seventy-two. He sat on a slab of stone in the garden of King Hastipal, surrounded by his closest disciples and a great gathering of monks, nuns and householders. He spoke for many hours. His words covered the whole of his teaching — ahimsa, the nature of the soul, the chains of karma, the path of restraint. At midnight he became quiet, folded his palms, and entered the final meditation. Without illness, without struggle, his soul slipped free of the body and went to the place beyond birth — moksha. The kings of the nine Mallaki and nine Lichchhavi republics, who had gathered to hear him, sat in silence. Then one of them said: "The light of knowledge has gone out tonight. Let us light lamps so that the world is not in darkness." All across that night, in Pavapuri and in the villages around, every doorway and window glowed with a tiny clay lamp. That night also marked the moment when Bhagwan Mahavir's chief disciple, Gautam Swami, attained Kevalgyan — full enlightenment. The Jain new year begins the next morning, with the lamps of Diwali still warm. For a Jain, the Diwali firecracker is not the symbol of the festival. The symbol is the silent clay lamp in front of the household shrine, and the soft new-year greeting: "Jai Jinendra. Saal mubarak."