Tribes in Ancient India c50.186

c50.186

The conversion of the king (who was the Buddha’s junior in age by five years) to the new faith proved a great incentive to the people at large to welcome it. King Bimbisāra made a gift of his bamboo grove, Veluvana-Kalandaka-Nivāpa to the Buddha and his disciples.³ With the formation of the order of Bhikkhuṇīs at Vaiśālī, many women of Rājagṛha, headed by Kṣemā, the gifted queen of Bimbisāra, joined the Order.⁴ Bhaddā Kuṇḍalakesī, who was converted by the Buddha, went to Magadha after she became a therī, and lived in Gijjhakūṭa for some time.⁵ Therī Cālā was born in Magadha at Nālakagāma, in an influential Brahmin family. She, Upacālā, and Sisupacālā were the sisters of Sāriputta. They obtained ordination from the Buddha when they learnt that Sāriputta had been ordained.⁶ Other Magadhan ladies who entered the order were Mettikā and Subhā, the daughters of an eminent Brahmin of Rājagṛha,⁷ Dhammadinnā,⁸ Cittā,⁹ and Subhā, a goldsmith’s daughter.¹⁰