As the scene of many incidents in the life of Gautama Buddha, it was a holy land.
It was in the reign of Bimbisara that Vardhamana Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, preached in Magadha, and Buddhist missionaries issued thence to the conversion of China, Ceylon, Tibet and Tatary.
In the Mahayana gnosticism was triumphant, and the historic values of Gautama's teaching and personality are lost.
Thus unwittingly Gautama the Buddha has come to official recognition as a saint in two great branches of the Catholic Church, and no one will say that he does not deserve the honour.
In the Far East there was once a prince whose name was Gautama.