After dwelling at Kapilvastu the Buddha left for Vaisali, ancient site that has been identified with modern Basarh in Bihar. Vaisali is also known as Visala. The blessed one was staying at the Great hall in Mahavana (Large Grove). For Buddhists Vaisali is a sacred place primarily for four main reasons. Prajapathi Gothmi, the aunt of the Buddha Shaved her hair, doomed the saffron robes arrived at the great hall in the company of five hundred Sakyan ladies and pleaded to grant ordination. The Buddha granted permission and decreed eight rules which should be honored, respected, esteemed and revered and should be transgressed for life. Later the Buddha delivered further admonitions and Pajapathi Gothami attained satisfaction. Yasodhara, Janapada Kalyani, Nanda, Khema, Uppalawanna, Bhadda Kapilani, Patachara, Dhammadinna, Sona, Sakula, Kundala Kesa,Sigalaka matha, Kisa Gothami and a large number of ladies joined the ranks of the order of nuns at a later periods. It was at Vaisali that the miracle at the nature of offering of a bowlful of honey to the Buddha by the monkeys took place. It was here that Lichchhavis erected a Stupa over their share of the relics of the Buddha after Parinirvana of the latter. Buddha received the gift of the Mangoo grove from the courtesan Amarpali at Vaisali. The second Buddhist council was held about a century after the death of the Buddha which led to the split of Buddha temple into two camps, easterners to Mahayana or progressives and westerners to Theravada or the Orthodox. In Asokan period this place was restored with pillars and Stupas. Around Vaisali there is a pillar with a lotus capital surmounted by a lion and its design and craftsmanship are of the type of Asakan Pillars. According to the Chinese travelers Fa-hien and Hiuentsang there were numerous shrines existed at Vaisali and the Tibetian monk Dharmaswamin who visited Vaisali in the thirteenth century refers to a miraculous stone image of the goddess Tara that he had seen at Vaisali. Once Vaisali was a trade center and a large number of clay seals bearing the names of bankers and traders were found here. Among other shrines, there is a small tank, known as Rama Kunda, which has been identified as a tank dug by the monkeys for the use of the Buddha. Vaisali, the capital of the Lichchhavi kings was the birth place of Nigantanathaputra, the 24th Jain ascetic according to Jainism. Vaisali is connected with the life story of Buddha mainly because it was that he proclaimed that his Parinirvana would take place with in a short time. During the time of the Buddha there was a plague that ravaged the Vaisali city. The Buddha then preached the Ratana Sutta.