________________ 314 Homage to Vaisali bandsome in features, colourful in attire and energetic in action. The Buddha once compared them to the Tavatimsa gods. The city of Vaisali was a beauteous spot in this earth full of decent parks and pleasant lotus ponds. The Buddha once remarked: "How beautiful, Ananda, is the city of Vesali, the land of the Vajjis." Verily it was regarded as heavenly. Outside the town, leading uninterruptedly up to the Himalaya, was the Mahavana, a large, natural forest. Nearby were other forests, such asGosingalasala. Vaisali was a sort of a city-state, the likeness of which we find in ancient Greek history. It should not be called a completely republican state, for the franchise was limited only to the seven thousand seven hundred and seven Rajas. In the sixth century B. C., the cauldron of anti-Brahmanic feeling was boiling hot and Sramanic thoughts were raising their heads in Northern India from Kosala in the west to Anga in the East. Vaisali, then, together with other cities like Pasaliputra, Rajagriba and Sravasti, was fast becoming a centre of such activities as helped the rise and growth of two of the most protagonistic sects of the Sramanic culture, i. e., Jainism and Buddhism. Vaisali was already a stronghold of Jainism which is also called the sect of the Nigantbas. It is said that of the forty-two rainy seasons of the latter part of Mabavira's ascetic life, he passed twelve at Vesali. The fact that Mabavira himself was related to Vaisali cannot in any case be overlooked. The influence of the Nigantha leader, Vardhamana Mahavira, can very well be seen in the fact that when Saccaka, one of his followers, visited the Buddha at Mabavana, he was accompanied by five hundred Licchavis, who did not all salute the Buddha as their teacher, but showed him only such respect as was due to an honoured stranger. Indeed, the Buddha's presence in Vesali was a source of discomfort to the Nigankhas and we find mention of various devices resorted to by them to prevent their followers from coming under the influence of the Buddha. As regards the relation of the Buddha with the city of the Licchavis, we first note a reference in the Lalitavist ara, wherein we find that some of the Devas of Tusbitaloka request the Bodhisatta to take his birth in Vaisali, although the request was not granted owing to some weighty reasons. But the first great visit to Vaisalt of the Buddha was made five years after the Great Enlightenment when he spent the vassa there.
