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PLACES OF PILGRIMAGE
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Rajagrha: (mod. Rajgir in the Patna district of Bihar), the birthplace of the twentieth Tirtharkara Munisuvrata. The place was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Magadha, and is intimately associated with the life of Mahāvīra who delivered his first sermon on Mt. Vipula outside this city, and visited it several times; some other events of Jaina history are also connected with this place. The five hills, Vipula, Ratna, Udaya, Svarņa and Vaibhāra, which once encircled the city are considered sacred and possess ancient and modern monuments which are visited by the pilgrims. A number of rock-cut Jaina cave temples, the most important of which is the Sona-bhandāra, are more than two thousand years old. There are two big temples with attached dharmśālās in the small township which is also a health resort, the several sulphur springs being an added attraction.
Sauripur: (near Batesar in district Agra of U.P.), birthplace of the 22nd Tirthankara, Neminātha; a deserted site marked by many old ruins; also has a modern temple and dharmaśālā.
Kundalapura: Kundagrāma Vaiśālī, (identified with ruined site called Basarh in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar), birthplace of Lord Mahāvīra. Vaisālī was at that time a very important city and was the chief headquarter of the Vajjian confederacy of republics. Its head, Cetaka, was the maternal grandfather of Mahāvīra whose birthplace, Kundagrāma, was a suburb of that great metropolis. It is now a deserted site from where ancient Jaina relics have been discovered, and a temple has been built recently. Lichuāda, a few miles away, Baragaon, also called Kundalapur and lying close to Nālandā, Jşmbhikagrāma on the banks of the Rjuvālukā and several other places in Bihar and West Bengal are also associated with Mahāvīra
