Vesālī untranslated

Vesālī. A city, capital of the Licchavīs. The Buddha visited it in the fifth year after the Awakening, and spent the vassa there (Bv­a., p. 3). The Commentaries give detailed descriptions of the circumstances of this visit. Khp-a.160ff. = Snp­a.i.278; Dhp­a.iii.436ff.; cp. Mvu.i.253ff.

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 Licchavī 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 Licchavīs, with even greater honour than Bimbisāra had shown him. As soon as the Buddha set foot in the Vajjī 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 Ratanasutta, and ordered that it should be recited within the three walls of the city, the round of the city being made with the Licchavī princes. This Ānanda did during the three watches of the night, and all the pestilences of the citizens disappeared. The Buddha himself recited the Ratanasutta to the assembled people, and eighty-four thousand beings were converted. After repeating this for seven consecutive days, the Buddha left Vesālī (according to the Dhammapada Commentary account the Buddha stayed only seven days in Vesālī; Khp­a. says two weeks). The Licchavīs 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 Saṅkhajātaka (Ja 442).

It was probably during this visit of the Buddha to Vesālī that Suddhodana died (see Thīg­a., p. 141; AN­a.i.186). It was during this visit of the Buddha to Kapilavatthu (tadā) that Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī first asked his permission to join the Saṅgha, but her request was refused (AN­a.i.186). According to one account, the Buddha went through the air to visit his dying father and to preach to him, thereby enabling him to attain Arahant-ship before his death.

It is not possible to know how many visits were paid by the Buddha to Vesālī, but the books would lead us to infer that they were several. Various Vinaya rules are mentioned as having been laid down at Vesālī, see, e.g., Vin.i.238, 287f; ii.118, 119-27. The visit mentioned in the last context seems to have been a long one; it was on this occasion that the Buddha ordered the monks to turn their bowls down upon the Licchavī Vaḍḍha (q.v.). For other Vinaya rules laid down at Vesālī, see also Vin.ii.159f.; iii. and iv. passim.

It was during a stay in Vesālī, whither he had gone from Kapilavatthu, that Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī followed the Buddha with five hundred other Sākyan women, and, with the help of Ānanda’s intervention, obtained permission for women to enter the Saṅgha under certain conditions. Vin.ii.253ff.; see Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī.

The books describe (e.g., DN.ii.95ff) at some length the Buddha’s last visit to Vesālī on his way to Kusinārā. On the last day of this visit, after his meal, he went with Ānanda to Cāpāla cetiya for his siesta, and, in the course of their conversation, he spoke to Ānanda of the beauties of Vesālī: of the Udena cetiya, the Gotamaka cetiya, the Sattambaka cetiya, the Bahuputta cetiya, and the Sārandada cetiya. Cf. Mvu.i.300, where a Kapinayhacetiya is also mentioned. All these were once shrines dedicated to various local deities, but after the Buddha’s visit to Vesālī, they were converted into places of Buddhist worship. Other monasteries are also mentioned, in or near Vesālī e.g., Pāṭikārāma, Vālikārāma.

The Buddha generally stayed at the Kūṭāgārasālā (q.v.) during his visits to Vesālī, but it appears that he sometimes lived at these different shrines (See DN.ii.118). During his last visit to the Cāpāla cetiya he decided to die within three months, and informed Māra and, later, Ānanda, of his decision. The next day he left Vesālī for Bhaṇḍagāma, after taking one last look at the city, “turning his whole body round, like an elephant” (nāgāpalokitaṁ apaloketvā) (DN.ii.122). The rainy season which preceded this, the Buddha spent at Beluvagāma, a village near Vesālī, while the monks stayed in and around Vesālī. On the day before he entered into the vassa, Ambapālī invited the Buddha and the monks to a meal, at the conclusion of which she gave her Ambavana for the use of the Saṅgha (DN.ii.98; but see Dial.ii.102, n.1).

Vesālī was a stronghold of the Nigaṇṭhas, and it is said that of the forty-two rainy seasons of the latter part of Mahā Vīra’s ascetic life, he passed twelve at Vesālī. Jacobi: Jaina Sūtras (SBE.) Kalpasūtra, sect. 122; Vesālī was also the residence of Kandaramasuka and Pāṭikaputta (q.v.). Among eminent followers of the Buddha who lived in Vesālī, special mention is made of Ugga (chief of those who gave pleasant gifts), Piṅgiyāni, Kāraṇapāli, Sīha, Vāseṭṭha (AN.iv.258), and the various Licchavīs.

The Buddha’s presence in Vesālī was a source of discomfort to the Nigaṇṭhas, and we find mention of various devices resorted to by them to prevent their followers from coming under the influence of the Buddha (see, e.g., Sīha).

At the time of the Buddha, Vesālī was a very large city, rich and prosperous, crowded with people and with abundant food. There were seven thousand seven hundred and seven pleasure grounds and an equal number of lotus ponds. Its courtesan, Ambapālī, was famous for her beauty, and helped in large measure in making the city prosperous (Vin.i.268). The city had three walls, each one gāvuta away from the other, and at three places in the walls were gates with watch towers. Ja.i.604; cf.i.389. Perhaps these three walls separated the three districts of Vaiśālī mentioned in the Tibetan Dulva (Rockhill, p.62); Hoernle (Uvāsagadasāo Translation ii., p.4, n.8) identifies these three districts with the city proper, Kuṇḍapura and Vāṇiyagāma, respectively mentioned in the Jaina books.

Buddhaghosa says (e.g., Vin-a.ii.393) that Vesālī was so-called because it was extensive (visālībhūtatā Vesālī ti uccati); cf. Ud­a.184 (tikkhattuṁ visālabhūtattā); and MN­a.i.259.

Outside the town, leading uninterruptedly up to the Himālaya, was the Mahā Vana (DN­a.i.309) (q.v.), a large, natural forest. Near by were other forests, such as Gosiṅgasāla. (AN.v.134)

Among important Suttas preached at Vesālī are the Mahāli, Mahā Sīhanāda, Cūḷa Saccaka, Mahā Saccaka, Tevijja, Vacchagotta, Sunakkhatta and Ratana. See also AN.i.220, 276; ii.190, 200; iii.38, 49ff., 75, 142, 167, 236, 239; iv. 16, 79, 100, 179, 208, 274ff., 279ff., 308ff.; v. 86, 133, 342; SN.i.29, 112, 230; ii.267, 280; iii.68, 116; iv. 109, 210ff., 380; v. 141f, 152f, 258, 301, 320, 389, 453; DN.ii.94ff.; the subjects of these discourses are mentioned passim, in their proper places; see also Dhp­a.i.263; iii.267, 279, 460, 480.

The Ekapaṇṇajātaka (Ja 149) and the Telovādajātaka (Ja 246) were preached at Vesālī. After the Buddha’s death a portion of his relics was enshrined in the city (DN.ii.167; Bv.xxviii.2) One hundred years later Vesālī was again the scene of interest for Buddhists, on account of the “Ten Points” raised by the Vajjiputtakā, (q.v.), and the second Council held in connection with this dispute at the Vālikārāma. The city was also called Visālā. (e.g., AN­a.i.47; Cv.xcix.98). There were Nāgas living in Vesālī; these were called Vesālā (DN.ii.258).

Vesālī is identified with the present village of Basrah in the Muzafferpur district in Tirhut. See Vincent Smith, JRAS. 1907, p. 267f., and Marshall, Arch. Survey of India, 1903-4, p. 74.