Vaishali is one of the districts of Bihar state, India. Hajipur is the district headquarters. The district covers an area of around 2036 Sq Kms and the population is around two million. Agriculture is the main activity and banana, paddy, wheat, maize and lentils are the major crops.

History

Vaishali derives its name from King Vishal of the Mahabharata age.

Even before the advent of Buddhism and Jainism, Vaishali was a vibrant republic state, in fact the one of the earliest oligarchic republics of the World, like those of the Greece. Then, Vaishali was an ancient metropolis and capital city the republic of Vaishali state, which covered most of the Himalayan Gangetic region of the present day Bihar state, Inida. Very little is known about the early history of Vaishali. The Vishnu Purana records 34 kings of Vaishali, the first being 'Nabhaga', who is believed to have abdicated his throne over a matter of human rights and believed to have declared: ‘’ I am now a free tiller of the soil, king over my acre.” The last among the 34 was 'Sumati', who is considered a contemporary of Dasrath, father of Hindu god Ram.

As stated earier, Vaishali was the world's first republic, around 500 BC ago. Vaishali also finds repeated mentions in texts pertaining to both Jainism and Buddhism.

In the republic of Vaishali, Lord Mahavir was born. Buddha delivered his last sermon at Vaishali and announced his Nirvana there. Vaishali is also renowned as the land of Ambapali (also spelled as Amrapali), the great Indian courtesan, who appears in many folktales, as well as in Buddhist literature. Ambapali later adopted Buddhism.