The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s9.194.1

c5.s9.194.1

Kundagâma—It is another name for Vaisâlî (modern Besarh) in the district of Mozaffarpur (Tirhut), in fact, Kundagâma (Kundagrâma) now called Basukunda was a part of the suburb of the ancient town of Vaisâlî, the latter comprising three districts or quarters: Vaisâlî proper (Besarh), Kundapura (Basukund), and Vâniagâma (Bania), inhabited by the Brahman, Kshatriya, and Bania castes respectively Under the name of Kundagâma, the city of Vaisâlî is mentioned as the birth place of Mahâvîra, the Jaina Tîrthankara, who was also called Vesali or the man of Vesali It is the Kotigâma of the Buddhists (Prof Jacobi's Jaina Sutras, Introduction in SBE, XXII, p xi) It is also said that he was born at Kollaga, a suburb of Vaisâlî, where the Nâya or Nâta clan of Kshatriyas resided, and in which was a temple called Chaitya Duipalâsa (Dr Hoernle, Uvasagadasao, p 4, and his Jainism and Buddhism) Mahâvîra is said to have been conceived at first in the womb of the Brâhmanî Devanandâ, but Indra caused the embryo to be transferred to the womb of the Kshatriyâ Trisalâ who was also with child, through the agency of his deer headed general Harineyameshi, who is no doubt the same as Naigamesha or goat-headed god of the Brâhmanas (Ep Ind, vol II, pp 316, 317, Kalpasûtra in SBE, vol XXII, p 227) Mahâvîra or Varddhamâna was the son of Siddhârtha, a chief or “king” of Kundapura, by his wife Trisalâ who was a sister of Chetaka, king of Vaisâlî, Chetaka's daughter, Chellanâ, or the Videha Devî as she was called, was married to Bimbisâra, king of Magadha, and she was the mother of Ajâtasatru or Kunika, who married Vajirâ, the daughter of king Prasenajit of Srâvastî, the brother of his step mother, the Kosalâ Devî, but according to other accounts Ajâtasatru was the son of Kosalâ Devî Mahâvîra died at Pâpâ (Pâvâpurî) at the age of 72 in B C 527, or according to Mr Prinsep in 569 B C, at the age of 70 (Prinsep's Useful Tables, pt II, p 33), i e, 26 years before the death of Buddha (see Papa).