Geography of Early Buddhism c7.48

c7.48

The Licchavis had their capital at Vesālī identical with Besārh in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. In the Paramatthajotikā on the Khuddakapāṭha and the Pujāvaliya, a Ceylonese Buddhist work, we find an account of the mythical origin of the Licchavis, the Vajji country and the capital Vesālī. Buddhaghosa's fanciful story of the origin of the town of Vesālī is also supported by the Jātakatthakathā to the Ekapanna Jātaka (Jāt., I, p. 504). It is said in the commentary that at the time of the Buddha the city of Vesālī was encompassed by three walls at a distance of a gāvuta from one another and that at three places there were gates with watchtowers and buildings. From the Mahāvastu (Le Mahāvastu, Ed. by Senart, Vol. I, pp. 253 ff.) we know that the Buddha once visited Vesālī invited by the Licchavis. Vesālī, at the time of the Buddha, was an opulent, prosperous and populous town. It had 7,707 storied buildings, 7,707 pinnacled buildings, 7,707 ārāmas or pleasure grounds, and 7,707 lotus ponds (Vinaya Texts, S.B.E., II, p. 171). A similar account of Vesālī is also found in the Lalitavistara (Ed. by Lefmann, Chapter III, p. 21).¹ Vesālī was well provided with food, the harvest was good, alms were easy to obtain and one could very well earn his living by gleaning or through favour (VT., II, p. 117). There at Vesālī was the Gotamaka shrine. There lay a road from Vesālī to Rājagaha (Ibid., II, pp. 210-11) and another from Vesālī to Kapilavatthu whence a number of Sākya ladies came to receive ordination from the Master who at that time was staying at Kūṭāgāra hall in the Mahāvana (Ibid., III, pp. 321 foll.). In the 12th Khandhaka of the Cullavagga there is an important reference to the Buddhist Council of Vesālī (VT., III, pp. 386 ff.).