Vaishali

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 worlds 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