In Jain tradition, Mahavira is said to have renounced the royal life (took diksha) at the age of 30. The exact year (BCE) varies between traditions:

• Śvetāmbara accounts commonly place his birth at 599 BCE and his renunciation around 569–568 BCE (age 30).
• Digambara accounts also agree on the age of renunciation being 30, but the exact BCE year may differ by a few years.

There is further variation about the date of his attainment of kevala jnana (omniscience), which is given as roughly a dozen years after diksha in many traditions, with slightly different specific years (roughly 557–527 BCE, depending on the tradition).

So, the core point: Mahavira took diksha at age 30, with the precise BCE year not uniformly fixed across Jain calendars.