Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.522

c8.522

Vaiśālī claims Mahāvīra, the founder of Jainism, as its own citizen. He was therefore called Vesālie or Vaiśālika, i.e., an inhabitant of Vaiśālī (*Jaina Sūtras*, *S.B.E.*, Pt. I, Intro. xi). Kuṇḍagrāma, a suburb of Vaiśālī, was really his birthplace (*Ibid.*, XXII, pp. x-xi). During his ascetic life he did not neglect his place of birth and spent no less than twelve rainy seasons at Vaiśālī (Jacobi, *Jaina Sūtras*, Pt. I, *Kalpasūtra*, sec. 122).