Table of Contents
- Nālandā is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India. The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 95 KM south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE.
- Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj.
- At its peak, the school attracted scholars and students from near and far with some travelling from Tibet, China, Korea, and Central Asia.
HISTORY
- Historical studies indicate that the University of Nalanda was established during the reign of the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta.
- However, after the decline of the Guptas, the most notable patron of the Nalanda was Harsha, the 7thcentury emperor of Kannauj.
- Xuanzang (also known as Hiuen Tsang) travelled around India between the years of 630 and 643 CE, and visited Nalanda first in 637 and then again in 642, spending a total of around two years at the monastery.
LIBRARY
- Traditional Tibetan sources mention the existence of a great library at Nalanda named Dharmaganja (Piety Mart) which comprised three large multistoreyed buildings, the Ratnasagara (Ocean of Jewels), the Ratnodadhi (Sea of Jewels), and the Ratnaranjaka (Jewel-adorned).
- Ratnodadhi was nine storeys high and housed the most sacred manuscripts.
- The exact number of volumes in the Nalanda library is not known, but it is estimated to have been in the hundreds of thousands. The library not only collected religious manuscripts but also had texts on such subjects as grammar, logic, literature, astrology, astronomy, and medicine.
- All the students of Nalanda studied the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) as well as the works of the eighteen (Hinayana) sects of Buddhism. In addition to these, they studied other subjects such as the Vedas, Hetuvidyā (Logic), Shabdavidya (Grammar and Philology), Chikitsavidya (Medicine), the works on magic (the Atharvaveda), and Samkhya.
HISTORICAL FIGURES
- Aryabhata
- Aryadeva, student of Nagarjuna.
- Atisha, Mahayana and Vajrayana scholar
- Chandrakirti, student of Nagarjuna
- Dharmakirti, logician
- Dharmapala
- Nagarjuna, formaliser of the concept of Shunyata
- Shilabhadra, the teacher of Xuanzang
- Xuanzang, Chinese Buddhist traveller
- Yijing, Chinese Buddhist traveller
DESTRUCTION OF NALANDA UNIVERSITY
- When Xuanzang travelled the length and breadth of India in the 7th century, he observed that his religion was in slow decay .
- The final blow was delivered when its still-flourishing monasteries, the last visible symbols of its existence in India, were overrun during the Muslim invasion that swept across Northern India at the turn of the 13th century.
- In around 1193 CE, Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkic chieftain out to make a name for himself, was in the service of a commander in Awadh.
- The Persian historian, Minhaj-i-Siraj in his Tabaqat-i Nasiri, recorded his deeds a few decades later. Khilji was assigned two villages on the border of Bihar which had become a political noman’s land. Sensing an opportunity, he began a series of plundering raids into Bihar
DESTRUCTION
- Since then, it has not been restored until the recent developments. Disturbed by the fact that an Indian scholar and teacher knew more than the doctors of his court, Khilji decided to destroy the roots of knowledge, Buddhism and Ayurveda, from the country. He set fire to the great library of Nalanda and burned down nearly 9 million manuscripts.
- The library was so vast and strong that it took three months to completely destroy it. The Turkish invaders also murdered monks and scholars in the university
NEW CAMPUS
- In 1951, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara , a modern centre for Pali and Buddhism in the spirit of the ancient institution, was founded by the Government of Bihar near Nalanda’s ruins at the suggestion of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. It was deemed to be a university in 2006.
- September 1, 2014, saw the commencement of the first academic year of a modern Nalanda University, with 15 students, in nearby Rajgir.
- It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning. The university has acquired 455 acres of land for its campus and has been allotted 2727 crores (around $454).It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and other
WhatsApp