The Encyclopedia of World Religions

272 S Mahavira

Zealand (New York: Routledge, 2004); Randall Styers, Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004).

by whatever name they are called. Religion, how ever, sorts them out rigorously between good and bad, and ideally is concerned with a highly giving, loving, and moral way of life. Magic can be more ambiguous. Further reading: Alice B. Child and Irvin L. Child, Religion and Magic in the Life of Traditional Peoples (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1993); Claire Fanger, ed., Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic (University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998); Kathryn Rountree, Embracing the Witch and the Goddess: Feminist Ritual-Makers in New

Mahavira (sixth century B . C . E .) a Sanskrit word meaning “great hero”; a title applied to Vardha mana, the founder of J AINISM . Jains consider him the 24th tirthankara or “ford-maker.” A tirthan kara is one who makes it possible to ford or cross the stream of SAMSARA (rebirth) and achieve liberation.

The birth of Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, is shown here in this Kalpa Sutra manuscript page. (Borromeo/Art Resource, N.Y.)