Mahavira, the last prophet of the Jains, was a K@sattriya of the Jnata clan and a native of Vais'ali (modern Besarh, 27 miles north of Patna). He was the second son of Siddhartha and Tris'ala. The S'vetambaras maintain that the embryo of the Tirtha@nkara which first entered the womb of the Brahmin lady Devananda was then transferred to the womb of Tris'ala. This story the Digambaras do not believe as we have already seen. His parents were the worshippers of Pars'va and gave him the name Varddhamana (Vira or Mahavira). He married Yas'oda and had a daughter by her. In his thirtieth year his parents died and with the permission of his brother Nandivardhana he became a monk. After twelve years of self-mortification and meditation he attained omniscience (_kevala_, cf. _bodhi_ of the Buddhists). He lived to preach for forty-two years more, and attained mok@sa (emancipation) some years before Buddha in about 480 B.C. [Footnote ref 273].