Tribes in Ancient India c31.150

c31.150

Besides those already referred to, names of places mentioned in literature as belonging to Kāśī are Vāsabhagāma, Macchikāsaṇḍa, Kiṭāgiri and Dhanapālagāma.⁶ The place which was most intimately associated with the several visits that the Buddha paid to Benares was Isipatana Migadāva, a famous Deer Park near the city. It was eighteen leagues from Uruvelā, and it was there that the Buddha preached his first sermon after his enlightenment, to his friends the Pañcavaggiya monks.⁷ There also the Buddha spent his first rainy season; and he mentioned Isipatana as one of the four places of pilgrimage which his devout followers should visit.⁸ 'Isipatana was so called because sages, on their way through the air (from the Himalayas) alight here or start from here on their aerial flight'.⁹ Several other incidents connected with the Buddha, besides the preaching of his first sermon, are mentioned in the texts as having taken place in Isipatana.¹⁰