A grove near Kapilavatthu, where a residence was provided for the Buddha when he visited the city in the first year after his Enlightenment (MA.i.289). It belonged to a Sákyan named Nigrodha, who gave it to the Order. In order to convince his proud kinsmen of his attainments, the Buddha performed there the Yamakapátiháriya, and when, at the conclusion of the miracle' a shower of rain fell, wetting only those who wished to be wetted, he related to them the Vessantara Játaka (Vin.i.82; J.i.88f.;vi.479; BuA.22; DhA.iii.163; also Mtu.iii.101, 107, 114,138,141, 179). It wa's during this visit that Mahápajápati Gotamí first asked permission for women to enter the Order. This was refused, and from there the Buddha went on to Vesáli (Vin.ii.253; A.iv.274). The Buddha stayed at the Nigrodháráma on several other occasions, and several Vinaya rules are mentioned as being first promulgated there (E.g., Vin.iii.235, 244; iv.55, 101, 167, 181, 262, 314). Various Sákyans came to see the Buddha at the Nigrodh,áráma, among them, Mahánáma, Godha, Sarakáni, Nandiya and Vappa (S.v.369 78; 395 7, 403 4, 408; A.ii.196; iii.284; iv.220; v. 83, 328, 332, 334). The Buddha himself visited Káligodhá during his residence there. It was during a discussion with Mahánáma that the Cula Dukkhakkhandha Sutta (q.v.) was preached. During one of the Buddha's residences in Nigrodháráma, the Sákyans invited him to consecrate their new Mote Hall, which he did by preaching there far into the night and then asking Moggallána to continue his discourse (S.iv.182ff.; also M.i.353, Sekha Sutta). On another occasion the Buddha is mentioned as having spent a period of convalescence at Nigrodháráma (A.i.219f ); he was there also when the quarrel broke out between the Sákyans and the Koliyans regarding the water of the Rohiní (SNA.i.357; but see J.v.413, where he is said to have been in Sávatthi). It seems to have been the Buddha's custom, when staying at Nigrodháráma, sometimes to spend the noonday siesta in the Mahávana near by (E.g., S.iii.91f).
Among others mentioned as having stayed at Nigrodháráma are Anuruddha (DhA.iii.295) and Lomasakangiya. M.iii.200; a deva called Candana there taught him the Bhaddekaratta, Sutta. Is this Lomasakangíya the same as Lomavangísa, who is also mentioned (S.v.327) as having lived in Nigrodháráma?
Near Nigrodháráma was once the site of the dwelling of a hermit (isi) called Kanha. The Buddha, remembering this, once smiled, and, when asked the reason for his smile, related the Kanha Játaka (J.iv.6).
There is a tradition (CypA.1,7; BuA.3) that the Cariyá Pitaka and the Buddhavamsa were preached by the Buddha to Sáriputta during his first stay in Nigrodháráma. It was probably there that Anuruddha's sister built, at his request, an assembly hall of two storeys for the Sangha (DhA.iii.295f). Buddhaghosa says (MA.ii.906; M.iii.109f ) that Kála Khemaka, the Sákyan, built a special vihára near Nigrodháráma, on one side of the grounds.
A grove in Rájagaha. The Buddha says that there he once gave Ananda the chance of asking him to live for a whole aeon, but Ananda missed his opportunity. D.ii.116.