Vaishali

The first republic, the Buddha's last sermon, and Mahavira's birthplace at Basokund.

Patna and the rivers

Places around Vaishali

Vaishali: An early republic, sacred to Buddhists and Jains
Ashokan Pillar, Kolhua: Kolhua is where the Buddha stayed repeatedly and is held to be where he gave his last sermon and...
Abhishek Pushkarni: Pilgrims visit it as a holy bathing tank of the Lichchhavis, tied both to the Buddha's stay at Kolhua...
Bhagwan Mahavir Janma Bhoomi, Basokund: Jains come to the birthplace of Mahavira; it is one of the principal Jain tirthas of Bihar
Bawan Pokhar Temple: It is the principal Hindu shrine within the Vaishali archaeological complex, visited alongside the...
Chaumukhi Mahadev: Devotees come to worship the four-faced Shivling, an unusual form not found elsewhere in the district
Ramchaura Mandir: Devotees come for darshan of the footprints of Rama at a stop on his journey to Janakpur
Kaunhara Ghat: Pilgrims bathe and pray at the confluence, especially on full-moon days
Budhi Mai Temple: Local and regional devotees come to the goddess Budhi Mai, chiefly at the time of her mela
Lal Keshwar Shiv Temple: Local devotees come for worship of Shiva in lingam form
Goraul Sharif: Muslims visit it as one of Bihar's leading Sufi shrines

What Bihar drinks against the heat: roasted gram, water, lemon and salt, sold from carts on every corner.

Sattu stirred into water with cumin, coriander, green chilli and black salt, salty or sweet.

What was dug out of the city where the Buddha preached and Mahavira was born.

An ASI site museum of finds from ancient Vaishali, beside the Abhishek Pushkarini and the relic stupa.

The district's festival for Mahavira's birth, held in the town where he was born.

Cultural programmes and gatherings in April, around Mahavir Jayanti.

For five weeks each summer Muzaffarpur sells the litchi India knows it by, GI-registered in 2018.

The harvest runs from about mid May to about 20 June. Nearly fifty temporary litchi markets open across the district.

The lac bangles the district itself names as the town's craft.

Bangles of coloured lac, set with glass and stones, from the bangle lanes of Muzaffarpur.

Asia's largest livestock fair, at the meeting of the Ganga and the Gandak, from Kartik Purnima.

Two weeks to a month of trading, stalls, crafts and entertainment around the Harihar Nath temple.

The moulded wheat-and-jaggery biscuit every Bihari home fries for Chhath.

Whole wheat, ghee and jaggery pressed in a wooden saancha and fried; offered to the sun at Chhath and shared after.

Buddhist Yatra: The road the Buddha walked, in the order he walked it
Jain Yatra: Mahavira was born here, renounced here and died here
Sufi Yatra: Khanqahs and dargahs that have taken visitors of every faith for six hundred years
Ramayan Yatra: Sita's Mithila, and the road Ram took through it
Mauryan and Ashokan Bihar: The capital of an empire that reached Afghanistan, and the pillars it left behind

An urs, and the qawwali after it: The night a saint's death is kept as a wedding, with singing until dawn
Chhath on the ghats: Bihar's own festival, and the largest thing that happens here
Sonepur Mela: Asia's largest cattle fair, a month long, where two rivers meet

A guide who knows the places, a car with a driver we have met, and a stay nearby. Tell us your dates and we call to confirm.

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