Vardhamana was born to King Siddhartha and Queen Trishala of the Jnatrika clan in the kingdom of Kundagram. From his earliest days he showed signs of an inward stillness that surprised his parents. The boy was unafraid of pain and unmoved by pleasure. Tradition says that at his birth the gods themselves bathed him on Mount Meru. He grew up as a prince, married Yashoda and had a daughter, Priyadarshana. But all the while his heart was elsewhere. At the age of thirty, two years after his parents passed, he asked his elder brother for permission to leave. With his brother's blessing he gave away his clothes, his ornaments and even his hair, and walked into the forest with nothing. For twelve years and six months he walked the eastern lands as a silent ascetic. He fasted often. He bore the bites of insects without slapping them away. He stood in meditation in fields, in caves, on the banks of rivers. Once a cowherd, angry that Mahavir would not watch his oxen, struck wooden pegs into his ears; he stayed still. Once the wild snake Chandakaushik leapt at him to kill him; he opened his eyes only to say "Bujjha, bujjha, Chandakaushik" — "wake up, wake up." The snake stopped, remembered its past births, and lay down to die in peace. In the thirteenth year, on the bank of the river Rijubaluka, under a sal tree, Mahavir attained Kevalgyan — omniscient enlightenment. For thirty years he taught. His message was simple, demanding, and unbreakable: ahimsa parmo dharma — non-violence is the highest religion; live in such a way that no being, however small, is harmed by your thought, word or deed. At Pavapuri, on the last night of the lunar year, he attained nirvana. The lamps that the kings lit that night to honour him became, in time, the festival of Diwali.