Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c33.367

v2.c33.367

Soon after the death of the Buddha, Rājagaha declined both in importance and prosperity. Sisuṇāga transferred the capital to Vesālī, and Kālāsoka removed it again to Pāṭaliputta, which, even in the Buddha’s time, was regarded as a place of strategical importance. When Hiouen Thsang visited Rājagaha, he found it occupied by brahmins and in a very dilapidated condition.³⁵ For a long time, however, it seems to have continued as a centre of Buddhist activity, and among those mentioned as having been present at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa were eighty thousand monks led by Indagutta.³⁶