________________
308
TRIBES IN ANCIENT INDIA
To impress the Licchavis with an idea of his power and wealth, the king of Magadha had the road from Rājagļha to the Ganges, which formed the boundary between the two dominions, levelled, cleaned, decorated, and sprinkled with flowers; while the smoke of rich incense perfumed its whole length. He himself followed the Buddha, with his whole court and numerous retinue. The Licchavis, both the Abhyantara-Vaiśālakas, those living within the walls of the city, and the Bāhira-Vaiśālakas, the people living in the suburbs and surroundings, came in all their splendour and magnificence, in dazzling garments of all colours. Even the Buddha was impressed by their appearance, and compared them to the Tāvatimsa gods. The Licchavis decorated the road from the Ganges to Vaiśālī with a magnificence that far outdid the preparations made by the Magadhan king, and they provided for the comfort of the Buddha and the congregation of monks on a still more lavish scale. As soon as the Buddha crossed over to the northern side of the river and stepped on Licchavi soil, all malign influences that had hung over the country vanished, and the sick and the suffering were restored to health. The Buddha did not wish to live in the city or its suburbs, but he accepted the invitation 1 of Bhagavati Gośộngi to live in the Mahāvana, the great forest extending from the city far away to the north.
The Licchavis built the Kūtāgārasālā monastery for the Buddha in the forest, and offered it to him and to the Buddhist congregation; and the Buddha permitted the bhikkhus to reside there. One day the Licchavis on coming to the Mahāvana learnt that the Buddha had repaired to the Cāpāla-Caitya to spend the day: thereupon they presented it to him and to the congregation of monks. Similarly, finding the Buddha spending the day at the Saptāmra-Caitya, Bahuputra-Caitya, Gautama-Caitya, KapinahyaCaitya and Markatahrada-tīra-Caitya respectively, the Licchavis made a gift of all these places of worship to him and to the Buddhist Church. Even the courtesan Amrapāli made a gift of her extensive mango-grove to the congregation; and similarly Bālikā made over Bālikāchavi, which is evidently the same as the Bālikārāma of the Pāli Buddhist books. On this visit to their city, the Buddha delivered many discourses to the people of Vaiśāli, and established the Buddhist faith on a strong foundation at the capital of the Licchavis.
We read in the Vinaya (Mahāvagga and Cullavagga) and other Pāli texts of the Buddha's visits to the Kutāgārasālā and other
1 Le Mahāvastu, ed. Senart, Vol. I, pp. 295-9. 3 Vinaya Texts, S.B.E., Pt. III, p. 408.
2 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 300.
