Tribes in Ancient India c61.s2.30

c61.s2.30

The Buddha must have paid many visits to the Licchavi capital, and reports of at least two besides that already referred to are preserved in Buddhist books. The earliest of his visits is described at length in the *Mahāvastu*.⁴ We are told there, how the people of Vaiśālī were troubled by a frightful pestilence which was laying their country waste, and how all their efforts to stay the plague proved fruitless. In their distress they sent for various well-known holy men, but these failed to afford them any relief. As a last resort the people of Vaiśālī sent a deputation headed by Tomara, a Licchavi chief, to Rājagṛha to bring the Buddha to their city. King Bimbisāra himself secured the Buddha’s consent to help the Licchavis, and insisted on accompanying him to the boundaries of his territory.