page_title: Vaishali (ancient city)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Vaishali (ancient city) / History
caption_attribution_description: A few hundred metres from the Relic Stupa is Abhishek Pushkarini, the coronation tank. The sacred waters of the tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaishali. 猿の王様がお釈迦様のために掘ったと言われている沐浴池。 この猿の王様、マンゴーの蜜(ローヤルゼリーとの説も)をお釈迦様に献上するなど、なかなか熱心な佛教徒です。(笑) その他、このヴァイシャーリーは第２回の佛典結集が行われた場所であり、在家佛教の経典である維摩経の舞台でもあります。 お釈迦様も何度もこの街を訪れており、最後の旅もこの街を通ってクシーナガルへ向かいました。お釈迦様が入滅を決心された「寿命決定の地」として八大聖地の１つに数えられています。 (2005/01/24 Vaishali, Bihar, INDIA)
context_page_description: Vaishali or Vesali was a city in present-day Bihar, India, and is now an archaeological site. It is a part of the Tirhut Division.
  It was the capital city of the Vajjian Confederacy of, considered one of the first examples of a republic around the 6th century BCE. Gautama Buddha preached his last sermon before his death in c. 483 BCE, then in 383 BCE the Second Buddhist council was convened here by King Kalasoka, making it an important place in both Jain and Buddhist religions. It contains one of the best-preserved of the Pillars of Ashoka, topped by a single Asiatic lion.
  The city finds mention in the travel accounts of Chinese explorers, Faxian and Xuanzang, which were later used in 1861 by British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham to first identify Vaiśālī with the present village of Basarh in Vaishali District, Bihar.
context_section_description: Even before the advent of Buddhism and Jainism, Vaiśālī was the capital of the  republican Licchavi state. In that period, Vaiśālī was an ancient metropolis and the capital city of the republic of the Vaiśālī state, which covered most of the Himalayan Gangetic region of present-day Bihar state, India. However, very little is known about the early history of Vaiśālī. The Vishnu Purana records 34 kings of Vaiśālī, the first being Nabhaga, who is believed to have abdicated his throne over a matter of human rights and believed to have declared: "I am now a free tiller of the soil, king over my acre."  The last among the 34 was Sumati, who is considered a contemporary of Dasaratha, father of the Hindu god, Lord Rama.
  Vaiśālī is also renowned as the land of Amrapali, the great Indian courtesan, who appears in many folktales, as well as in Buddhist literature. Ambapali became a disciple of Buddha. Manudev was a famous king of the illustrious Lichchavi clan of the confederacy, who desired to possess Amrapali after he saw her dance performance in Vaishali.
  A kilometer away is Abhishek Pushkarini, the coronation tank. The sacred waters of the tank anointed the elected representatives of Vaiśālī. Next to it stands the Japanese temple and the Vishwa Shanti Stupa (World Peace Pagoda) built by the Nipponzan Myohoji sect of Japan. A small part of the Buddha's relics found in Vaiśālī have been enshrined in the foundation and in the chhatra of the Stupa.
  Near the coronation tank is Stupa 1 or the Relic Stupa. Here the Lichchavis reverentially encased one of the eight portions of the Master's relics, which they received after the Mahaparinirvana. After his last discourse the Awakened One set out for Kushinagar, but the Licchavis kept following him. Buddha gave them his alms bowl but they still refused to return. The Master created an illusion of a river in spate which compelled them to go back. This site can be identified with Deora in modern Kesariya village, where Ashoka later built a stupa. Ānanda, the favourite disciple of the Buddha, attained Nirvana in the midst of the Ganges outside Vaiśālī.
caption: Abhishek Pushkarini, the coronation tank, near Buddha Relic Stupa, Vaishali
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.", "Image Model": "SP-2000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "FDi V4.5 / FRONTIER350/370-7.6-0J-921N", "Image DateTime": "2005:01:31 13:06:23", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "8", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "744", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": ":  :     :  :", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:01:31 13:06:23", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF Tag 0x920C": "450100", "EXIF Tag 0x920D": "34", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1840", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1232", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "372", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}