Bimbisara was the king of Magadha with the capital at Rajgir. He was the greatest patron of Gotama Buddha. He became the king at the age of fifteen and reigned for fifty-two years until he abdicated the throne in favour of his son Ajatasattu (Sanskritised: Ajatashatru). His wife was a princess of Kosala, a sister of the king Pasenadi, who gave birth to Ajatasattu. He had other wives and co-wives, viz., Khema, Silava and Jayasena. He also had a son by the famous courtesan Ambapali, who was given the name Vimala Kondanna.

According to the Pabbaja Sutta of the Sutta Nipata Atthakatha it is stated that he fist saw the ascetic Gotama through his palace window under the Pandava Pabbata and followed him and invited him to visit his court. But when Gotama turned down the invitation he wished him luck in his quest and re-extended the invitation to visit Rajgir no sooner than he achieved Enlightenment. It was in fulfilment of that promise that the Buddha had visited Rajgir after converting the Tebhatika Jatila.

When the Buddha and his monks visited Rajgir as royal guests and finished the royal meals, Bimbisara then poured some water from a golden jar on the Buddha’s hands to express the solemnity of his pledge to donate Veluvana Park to him and his monks. Furthermore, Bimbisara continued to patronise the growth of Buddhism for another thirty-seven years.

Bimbisara’s end was extremely tragic. Despite the warnings given by the soothsayers that his son Ajatasattu’s birth was inauspicious for him, yet he reared him with great care and affection. When Ajatasattu came of age he plotted to kill his own father under the influence of Devadatta, who loathed the king’s patronage to the Buddha, which had further undermined his recognition. When the plot was discovered; and the father read the intense urge of his son to become the monarch he abdicated the throne in his favour. But when instigated again by Devadatta the new monarch got him arrested.