वैशाली vaiśālī
‘Extensive Land’ Ancient Licchavi capital, Bihar (Bih)
From Skt: viśāla, ‘broad’, ‘spacious’.
Vaishali, 60 km north of Patna, was the capital of the Licchavi clan and one of the earliest republics in world history. As early as the 6th century BCE, it had an elected assembly that debated and took collective decisions — a striking contrast to monarchies elsewhere.
The Buddha often visited Vaishali and here announced his approaching parinirvana. The Second Buddhist Council was later convened here. Jain tradition holds that Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, was born nearby. Centuries later, Ashoka erected a pillar surmounted by a lion to mark the Buddha’s presence.
Vaishali’s legacy as a place of democratic governance and as a shared sacred landscape of Buddhism and Jainism makes it one of Bihar’s most symbolically important ancient sites.
For related place names see Indian Place names and Bihar place names.
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