Nalanda University

Education has always been a most important part of ancient India and modern India as well. Be it Rishis who taught mantras, be it Aryabhata who discovered zero, or be it Abhijeet Banerjee. India has been contributing to the world through education for a very long time. If we see the history of India, there were many Indian universities which were renowned worldwide at that time and attracted scholars globally. Some of the famous universities are:

•       Vallabhi University
•       Takshashila University
•       Mithila University
•       Nagarjuna Vidyapeeth
•       Nalanda University

These all were some of the famous universities which had a significant impact on the world. Let us know more about one of these universities, i.e., Nalanda University.

About Nalanda University

In Magadha, which is now known as Bihar. Nalanda was an important academy of Buddhists. It was located near Rajagriha which is now known as Rajgir and approximately 90 kilometers away from Pataliputra to the southeast today known as Patna, and it was operated from 427 till 1197 CE. Historians considered it as the world’s first university which was  residential and one of the best centers to learn about the ancient world. In the Gupta Empire, the University was founded by both non-Buddhists and Buddhists and several Indians.

Its faculty had some Mahayana Buddhism’s best illustrated academics throughout, for 750 years. Six important Buddhist schools and the philosophies, including Sarvastivada and Yogacara, plus, medicine, mathematics, grammar, and logic, were being taught in Mahavihara. Also, the institution was important source for the books on Sanskrit, i.e 657 books, brought by the pilgrim Xuanzang to China and Sanskrit texts, i.e., 400 texts were brought by Yijing  to China in 7th century, and both inspired Buddhism in eastern Asia. Many works created at Nalanda, such as the Mahavairocana Tantra and Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavatara, were influential in the development of Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhism. It was looted by soldiers of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji and then they destroyed it, it was rebuilt partially and, survived until 1400 CE.

UNESCO has declared Nalanda University as a heritage site. The Nalanda archaeological site is located between the historically constructed lakes Gidhi, Indrapuskarani and Panashokar, and is spread out across a broad region to the northwest of Bargaon or Nalanda hamlet. The Nava Nalanda Mahavihara — a university named after it – is located on the south side of the Indira Pushkarini lake.

The Indian government approved a decision in 2010 to resuscitate the historic institution, and a modern institute, Nalanda University. The government has designated it as an “Institute of National Importance.”

How Nalanda got its name?

According to a Chinese missionary, Xuanzang, from early Tang Dynasty, its name Naland comes from Naga (in Indian religion: serpent god) named Nalanda. Xuanzang suggested that “na-alam-da” has the meaning, “charity without any interruptions,”. The archaeologist who was in charge for the ruins’ excavation, Hiranand Sastri, believed that it derived its name from the prosperity of lotus stalks known as nlas in that area, and Nalanda means the one who gives lotus stalks.

Nalanda is alluded to as Nalendra in several Tibetan texts, notably Taranatha’s 17th-century book, and is likely synonymous with Nalaka, Nala, and Nalakagrama found in literature of Tibet.

History: Nalanda University

Nalanda’s History in first BCE is twirled with Rajagriha’s (modern Rajgir) history, the Magadha capital and a key stop on ancient India’s commerce routes. According to early Buddhist scriptures, Buddha visited one town near Rajagriha called Nalanda while he was wandering. He held discourses at a nearby mango grove named Pavarika, where Shariputra, one of the two principal followers of him was born and later attained nirvana. These Buddhist texts, which were authored many centuries after the death of Buddha, have inconsistencies in their titles and relative placements. For instance, Mahasudassana Jataka, claims that Nalakagrama or Nalaka is around 10 miles after Rajagriha, despite Mahavastu’s designation of the area as half-yojana distance. Emperor Ashoka did build a vihara (monastery) in Nalanda, according to the Buddhist scripture Nikayasamgraha. Archaeological digs have so far turned up no monuments from the time of Ashoka or from 600 years further after his death.

Nalanda University’s history can be traced to the 5th century. A seal recovered at this site claims a king called Shakraditya (arditya) as the temple’s creator and credits him with the establishment of a sangharama (monastery). A Chinese pilgrim in Xuanzang travelog backs up this claim. In Indian scriptures and tradition, kings were given a variety of epithets and titles. Kumaragupta I  and Shakraditya are the similar person, according to some scholars like Andrea Pinkney and Hartmut Scharfe.  Furthermore, evidence from a monastery found at Nalanda have supported Kumaragupta I’s claim that he was monastery’s first patron.

Budhagupta, Baladitya, Tathagatagupta, and Vajra, his successors, built other temples and monasteries to further the institution. Under the Guptas, Nalanda prospered in the 5th and the 6th centuries. The many Hindu and Buddhist seals, artwork, inscriptions, and iconography unearthed at Nalanda, all in Gupta-era scripts and Gupta-style, attest to these Gupta-era contributions. Gupta kings were not the sole supporters of Nalanda at this time. They represent a wide religious group of supporters. “Many contributors were not Buddhists,” Scharfe notes, “and the symbols on their seals include Ganesha, Lakshmi, Durga and Shivalinga,.”

Conclusion:

Education has always been a vital component of both ancient and modern India. It didn’t matter if it was Rishis who taught mantras, From Aryabhata who found zero, Since ancient times, India has made a significant contribution to the globe via education. When we look at India’s past, we can see that there were numerous Indian universities that were well-known across the world at the time and drew researchers from all over the world. Nalanda was one of such renowned universities and impacted significantly to the world.