Mārdava (Sanskrit: मार्दव) means mildness, softness, gentleness, kindness, weakness and pliancy.
In Hinduism, there are eight aśtopāyas, or eight ways of attaining moksha, and Mārdava is one of them, the other seven being – Yajna (यज्ञ) (sacrifices), Dāna (दान) (charity), Vedadhyayana (the study of the Vedas), Tapas (तप) (penance, deep meditation), Dama (दम) (subduing the senses by restraining the sense-organs), Satya (सत्य) (truth in speech and act), and Tyāga (त्याग) (renunciation of desire).
In Jainism, mārdava or compassion or supreme tenderness or humility, which is part of Right Belief, is a means to destroy vanity or egotism which gives rise to many evils which defile the virtues of our soul; it is held that humility is the foundation of compassion and the basis for salvation. With the eight kinds of pride totally avoided, knowledge brings humility. Tattvārthasūtra (IX.6) lists mārdava (modesty) as one of the ten aspects of the highest dharma .
Bhagavad Gita (XVI.1-3) also classifies mārdava as a divine quality and the Buddhists consider mārdava as the realization of Dharma (dharma-pratipatti).
Patanjali mentions mārdava as a low pitch along with anvavavasarga and udutā khasya; he explains this word as svarasya mridutā or snigdhatā (smoothness of sound).