Located in the interiors of Bihar, Vaishali is a small district which is also a revered Hindu, Buddhist and Jain worshipping site. It is the city where Lord Mahavir was born. Considered as the first republic of the world, Vaishali is believed to have been named after King Vishal, from the time of Mahabharat.It is also the city where Buddha delivered his last sermon. Surrounded by groves of mango and banana and extensive rice field, it is now a part of Trihut division of Bihar. The village is an important religious and historical attraction site and is flocked by tourists year in and year out.

Lord Buddha has spent a significant time of his life here and he used to visit Vaishali every now and then. Also, his last sermon was held here in Vaishali, which marks the town as an extremely significant center for Buddhism. To mark this event King Ashoka, who embraced Buddhism after the massacre of Kalinga, he decided to erect one of his remarkable pillars here. Apart from Buddhists, Vaishali is revered as a holy place by Jains because it also happens to be Lord Mahavira’s birth place.

History of Vaishali

Even before the advent of the Buddhism or Jainism, Vaishali was the capital of the Vajji clan of Mithila in 6th century BC. It was the first republic of the world even before the ones found in ancient Greece. Numerous texts are found pertaining to both Jainism and Buddhism which are a source of most of the information on the religions. The two most important events of which are- the birth of Vardhaman Mahavir and Gautam Buddha delivering his last sermon here. Earlier it was a part of Muzaffarpur district. The famous World Peace Pagoda (Vishwa Shanti Stupa) was built by a Japanese new religion sect- Nipponzan-My?h?ji-Daisanga. It is also popular as the birthplace of Ambapali, who is a famous Indian courtesan and appears in many folktales. Vaishali became a district when it was separated from Muzaffarpur in 1972 and came to be a part of Bihar.