Nalanda has been an epitome of education once! Every educationalist should know what was and what is Nalanda?

The story of Nalanda -the first university

Nalanda (ISO: Nālandā, pronounced [naːlən̪d̪aː]) was an ancient Mahavihara (university), a revered Buddhist monastery which also served as a renowned centre of learning, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India. The university of Nalanda obtained significant fame, prestige and relevance during ancient times, and rose to legendary status due to its contribution to the emergence of India as a great power around the fourth century. The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna near the city of Bihar Sharif, and was one of the greatest centres of learning in the world from the fifth century CE to 1200 CE. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries, and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. Kumara Gupta was the one who established this university primarily, a Buddhist monastery that worked as a university set up at Bihar was an important center of learning long before Oxford, Cambridge, and Europe’s oldest university Bologna was founded. 

Can anyone believe the array of subjects which were taught in this prestigious institution like Nalanda? The Subjects like vedas, theology, grammar, logic, astronomy, metaphysics, medicine, and philosophy were taught in those times?

Much of our knowledge of Nalanda comes from the writings of pilgrim monks from Asia, such as Xuanzang and Yijing, who traveled to the Mahavihara(university) in the 7th century CE.

Nalanda was destroyed three times but was rebuilt only twice. It was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khalji in c. 1200 CE. While some sources note that the Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion after this attack, it was eventually abandoned all together and forgotten until the 19th century, when the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India. Systematic excavations commenced in 1915, which unearthed eleven monasteries and six brick temples neatly arranged on grounds 12 hectares (30 acres) in area.

The university in its golden period attracted renowned scholars from all over Asia, surviving for hundreds of years before being destroyed by invaders in 1193. 

RESURRECTION of the lost most renowned and prestigious university

In 1951, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (New 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, India’s first president. It was deemed to be a university in 2006.

It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning. The university has acquired 184 hectares (455 acres) of land for its campus and has been allotted ₹27.3 billion (equivalent to ₹35 billion or US$490 million in 2019) by the Indian government. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was appointed as the first chancellor of this operational university.  It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and others.

Nalanda university today not only speaks of the kind of education we had centuries ago but the importance of having a large education center could ward off all the distraction which could affect a youngster at that age.

As an Indian we should be proud that we were the first in the world to have a university which benefited students from all over the world .We are the ones who brought enlightenment of knowledge and wisdom in ignorance.

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Story credit : Pooja