[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Dictionary of Pali Proper Names](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937) › v2.c35.2094 # Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c35.2094 Dictionary of Pāli Proper Names v2.c35.2094 - **Language:** English ### [v2.c35.2094](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35.2094) Vesāli.—A city, capital of the Licchavis. The Buddha first visited it in the fifth year after the Enlightenment, and spent the \*vassa\* there.¹ The Commentaries² give detailed descriptions of the circumstances of this visit. Vesālī was inhabited by seven thousand and seven rājās, each of whom had large retinues, many palaces and pleasure parks. There came a shortage in the food supply owing to drought, and people died in large numbers. The smell of decaying bodies attracted evil spirits, and many inhabitants were attacked by intestinal disease. The people complained to the ruling prince, and he convoked a general assembly, where it was decided, after much discussion, to invite the Buddha to their city. As the Buddha was then at Veḷuvana in Rājagaha, the Licchavi Mahāli, friend of Bimbisāra and son of the chaplain of Vesālī, was sent to Bimbisāra with a request that he should persuade the Buddha to go to Vesālī. Bimbisāra referred him to the Buddha himself, who, after listening to Mahāli's story, agreed to go. The Buddha started on the journey with five hundred monks. Bimbisāra decorated the route from Rājagaha to the Ganges, a distance of five leagues, and provided all comforts on the way. He accompanied the Buddha, and the Ganges was reached in five days. Boats, decked with great splendour, were ready for the Buddha and his monks, and we are told that Bimbisāra followed the Buddha into the water up to his neck. The Buddha was received on the opposite bank by the Licchavis, with even greater honour than Bimbisāra had shown him. As soon as the Buddha set foot in the Vajjian territory, there was a thunderstorm and rain fell in torrents. The distance from the Ganges to Vesālī was three leagues; as the Buddha approached Vesālī, Sakka came to greet him, and, at the sight of the devas, all the evil spirits fled in fear. In the evening the Buddha taught Ānanda the Ratana Sutta, and ordered that it should be recited within the three walls of the city, the round of the city being made with the Licchavi princes. This Ānanda did during the three watches of the night, and all the pestilences of the citizens disappeared. The Buddha himself recited the Ratana Sutta to the assembled people, and eighty-four thousand beings were converted. After repeating this for seven consecutive days, the Buddha left Vesālī.³ The Licchavis accompanied him to the Ganges with redoubled honours, and, in the river itself, Devas and Nāgas vied with each other in paying him honour. On the farther bank, Bimbisāra awaited his arrival and conducted him back to Rājagaha. On his return there, the Buddha recited the Saṅkha Jātaka. (See s.v. 2.) - [Previous: v2.c35.2093](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35.2093) - [Next: v2.c35.2095](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35.2095) - [Up: v2.c35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35.2094](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.malalasekera-1937.v2.c35.2094) · Pramāṇa