A Brief note on Nalanda Mahavihara

The history of Nalanda in the 1st millennium BCE is linked to the nearby city of Rajagriha the capital of Magadha and the trade routes of ancient India. Early Buddhist texts state that Buddha visited a town near Rajagriha called Nalanda on his peregrinations. The name Nalanda conjures up a picture of ancient Mahavihara, which was a great seat of Buddhist education for nearly 700 years between the 5th to 12th centuries AD.

The Nalanda Mahavihara site is in the State of Bihar, in north-eastern India. It comprises the archaeological remains of a monastic and scholastic institution dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. It includes stupas, shrines, viharas (residential and educational buildings), and important artworks in stucco, stone, and metal. Nalanda stands out as the most ancient university in the Indian Subcontinent. It engaged in the organized transmission of knowledge over an uninterrupted period of 800 years. The historical development of the site testifies to the development of Buddhism into a religion and the flourishing of monastic and educational traditions.

Numerous seals and sculptures have been found at Nalanda. The official monastic seals bear as usual the wheel-and-deer insignia and the legend Shri-Nalanda-maha-vihariyarya-bhiksu-sanghasya. Seals belonging to different rulers or officers of territorial units have also been found. Nalanda was an important center of bronze-casting; over 500 bronzes of Buddha and Buddhist divinities of Tantrayana-Vajrayana, of which Nalanda became the focus in the Pala period, have been recovered from here. The influence of Nalanda bronzes spread, along with Buddhism itself, to southeast Asian countries.

That Nalanda continued to be an important seat of learning from the 4tsh century to the 9th century AD cannot be doubted. The clay seals of Vainya Gupta, Budha Gupta, and Kumara Gupta, found at Nalanda, are collectively the best testimony regarding its prominence from the 4th to the 7th centuries AD. Though the Gupta monarchs had patronized it and one of them, Shakariditya, according to Hiuen- Tsang, had founded it and though this does not seem to have been really the case, still the most prosperous period of this great institution was from the 6th to the 9th centuries AD. This was due to the unstinted and liberal patronage of the Palas who outshone the Guptas in making rich endowments to this great seat of learning.

Nalanda Mahavihara

Nalanda, a large Buddhist monastery, now in ruins, was one of the most publicly acknowledged Mahaviharas of ancient India located in the ancient Magadha kingdom (modern Bihar). It remained a learning center from the 7th century BCE through c. 1200 CE and is many a time categorized as one of the early universities of India along with other institutions like ‘Vikramashila’ and ‘Taxila’. The patronage of the Gupta Empire saw this Mahavihara prosper during the 5th and 6th centuries as also during the reign of emperor Harsha of Kannauj. Recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Nalanda not only boasts of being one of the most revered Buddhist tourism sites in India but also continues to draw attention from scholars, historians, and archaeologists.

During the Gupta period

The accounted history of Nalanda dates back to the Gupta Empire with a seal confirming the founder of the place as the 5th-century CE Gupta monarch Shakraditya who was identified as emperor Kumaragupta. A coin of the monarch was found at the site. Expansions and development including building new temples and monasteries took place during the reign of his successors namely Buddhagupta, Baladitya, Tathagatagupta, and Vajra. Among them the 12th Gupta emperor Narasimhagupta Baladitya was raised under the guidance of Vasubandhu, a very influential Buddhist monk, scholar, and Mahayanist philosopher from Gandhara. Clay sealing of Baladitya was found in Nalanda. A 91 m high vihara encompassing a Buddha statue and a sangharama was built by him.

The archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar

The Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara is located in the Northeastern state of Bihar, India. Spread over an area of 23 hectares the Archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara presents remains dating from circa. 3rd BCE with one of the earliest, the largest of its time, and longest-serving monastic cum scholastic establishments in the Indian Subcontinent from 5th CE – 13th CE before the sack and abandonment of Nalanda in the 13th Century. It includes stupas, chaityas, viharas, shrines, many votive structures, and important artworks in stucco, stone, and metal. The layout of the buildings testifies to the change from grouping around the stupa-chaitya to a formal linear alignment flanking an axis from south to north. The historic development of the property testifies to the development of Buddhism into a religion and the flourishing of monastic and educational traditions.

Who established Nalanda Mahavihar university?

Kumargupta founded Nalanda university in the 5th century A.D. He was also called shakraditya.

Nalanda University was constructed during the rule of Kumar Gupta of the Gupta dynasty. whose identity is uncertain and who might have been either Kumargupta I or Kumar Gupta II and 1197 A.D, supported by patronage from the Hindugupta rulers as well as Buddhist emperors like Harsha and later emperors from the pala empire.

Mahayana monks Asnagna and Vasubandhu said to have found Nalanda in 400-500AD. Nalanda was a huge monastic educational establishment. Primary teaching focused on Mahayana Buddhism yet included other secular subjects as well like Grammar, logic, epistemology, and sciences.

Scope of the study at Nalanda

The Nava Nalanda Mahavira is a relatively new institute dedicated to the study and research of pali literature and Buddhism. It invites students from foreign countries as well. The institute was founded with an aim to develop it as a center of higher studies in Pali and Buddhism along the lines of ancient Nalanda Mahavihara. The Nava Nalanda Mahavihara has been accorded the status of a deemed to be university by the University Grants Commission of India.

Imparting practical knowledge and learning were applauding aspects of the study at Nalanda. The theoretical teachings were also introduced into the lives of the monks practically. Education, as conceived and understood by the custodians and professors of Nalanda did mean their all-around development that is intellectual, moral and spiritual, and aesthetic. Inside the maha vihara, every follower was trained to live a highly moral and spiritual life according to the advice laid down by Buddha. Outside of the Mahavihara, Nalanda’s education covered both leading a successful and peaceful life in the society and at times getting jobs in the royal administration.

Conclusion

The discussion shows that the growth of Nalanda Mahavihara marked the beginning of institutional learning in the ancient Indian education system. Nalanda was the oldest Buddhist learning center. Nalanda Mahavihara establishment with a huge campus, thousands of teachers and students, and many lecture halls with free lodging, and boarding. It has its own contribution to the development of Buddhist philosophy and logic and to the expansion of Buddhism.