The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c6.s7.37

c6.s7.37

Rajgir—1. Girivrajapura of the Mahābhārata. 2. Rājagṛiha of the Buddhist annals. 3. Kuśāgārapura, in the district of Patna, was the capital of Magadha till the seat of government was removed to Pāṭaliputra (Patna). It was the abode of Jarāsandha, king of Magadha. Buddha lived at the Veṇuvana garden presented to him by Rājā Bimbisāra. The first Buddhist synod was held under the presidency of Mahā-Kāśyapa shortly after Buddha's death, in a hall built by Ajātaśatru in front of the Saptaparṇi cave by the side of the Vaibhāra mountain. The Śiśunāga dynasty from Śiśunāga to the nine Nandas reigned in Magadha from 685 to 321 B.C. (the names of the Nandas are mentioned in the Mahāvaṃsa, ch. V; the first Nanda was Mahāpadma-Nanda who reigned for 88 years and the other eight Nandas for 12 years, the last Nanda being Dhana-Nanda whose history is given in the Bṛihat-Kathā). The seat of government was removed to Pāṭaliputra by Udayāśva who reigned from 519 to 503 B.C. (Vāyu Purāṇa). Śiśunāga is said to have removed his capital to Vaiśālī. Kālāśoka, the eleventh king of this dynasty, in whose reign the second Buddhist synod was held in 413 B.C. at the Balukārāmavihāra in Vaiśālī under the presidency of Revata, reigned from 453 to 425 B.C. (Fergusson and Upham's Mahāvaṃsi, ch. IV). The cause of convening the synod is mentioned in the Vinaya Piṭaka, Chullavagga, pt. XII, ch. 1). Same as Rājagīr.