Vaishali is a city and area in northern Bihar that is bordered on the west by the Gandaki River and on the south by the Ganges River.
Although the area is currently severely underdeveloped,
Vaishali was one of India's major towns and a hub of intellectual culture
during the time of the Buddha.
Mahavira was born at Vaishali, which is why it is known as
Mahavira's birthplace.
He was the last of the Jain tirthankars, the religious
tradition's founding luminaries.
Vaishali is also the location of the second Buddhist
council, which took place one hundred years after the Buddha's death (about 386
B.C.E.) and separated the Buddhist community into the Sthaviravadins and
Mahasanghikas.