It is believed that vaishali derives its name from king Vishali whose heroic deeds are narrated in the great epic Ramayana. How ever history records that before the time, Pataliputra was the centre of political activity in the Gangetic plains, Vaishali came into existence as a centre of trade and Industry. Historians maintain that one of the world's first democratic republics with an elected assebly of representatives flourished here in the 6th century B.C. in the time of the vajjis and the lichhavis and while pataliputra, capital of the Mauryas and the Guptas.
Having Historical important, Vaishali on the left bank of the Gandak river, is spiritually supreme. Lord Buddha visited three times in his life and at Kolhua. In one these visits, severat monkeys supposedly dug a tank for him and offered him a bowl of honey--- one of the great eight incidents in the legends of the Buddha. Lord Buddha had announced his approaching Nirvana and also preached his last sermon here. To commemorate the event, emperor Ashoka, in the third century
B.C. erected one of his famous lion pillars here. A 100 years after the tvlahaparinirvana of the Buddha, Vaishali hosted the second great Buddhist council. Two stupas were erected to commemorate this event. Vaishali today is a small village sur¬rounded by banana and mango gardens and rice fields. But excavations in the area have brought to light an impressive historical past.
Jainism, too, has its origins in vaishali. The jain Tirthanker, Lord Mahavir was born on the out skirts of the city, and lived in vaishali till he was 22 years. The Chinese travellers Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang also visited this place in early 5th and 7th century A.D. respectively and wrote about vaishali. Vaishali is a sacred one for both Buddhists and Jains.
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