Nalanda University

Context: The Nalanda University was established under the Nalanda University Act 2010, by the Ministry of External Affairs. The new campus of Nalanda University was inaugurated in 2024 and is located close to the ruins of the ancient university in Bihar’s Rajgir town. The University now has over 1200 students.

Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Nalanda University.

About Nalanda Mahavihara: 

Introduction:

• Nalanda Mahavihara, the 5th-12th Century AD (in ancient and medieval Magadha) university is considered to be one of the greatest centres of learning in ancient India.
• The ruins of ancient Nalanda University in Bihar was declared as the World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2016.
• The details of the university can be found in the writings of the famous Chinese traveller Huang Tsang. According to him, there were 10,000 monks and 2000 teachers at Nalanda at that time.

Foundation of the Mahavihara: 

• Nalanda was established during the Gupta Empire period (3rd–6th century CE), and was supported by numerous Indian and Javanese patrons, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
• The numismatic evidence discovered at Nalanda suggests that Kumaragupta I was the founder patron of Nalanda. 
• Kumaragupta’s successors, Budhagupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya, and Vajra, later extended and expanded the institution by building additional monasteries and temples. Nalanda, thus flourished through the 5th and 6th centuries under the Guptas.
• It was also patronized by King Harshavardhana of Kannauj (7th century CE) and the Pala rulers (8^th-12th century CE). 
• After the fall of the Palas, the monks of Nalanda were patronised by the Pithipatis of Bodh Gaya.

Curriculum and associated scholars: 

• The curriculum at Nalanda was a skill full of secular and religious knowledge, of the theoretical and the practical.
• Curriculum of Nalanda included major Buddhist philosophies like Mahayana, Madhyamaka, Yogachara, Sarvastivada, Hinayana, Samkhya
• The curriculum also included other subjects like the Vedas, Sanskrit grammar, medicine, logic, mathematics, astronomy, arts, medicine and even metal casting technique. 
• The mahavihara had a renowned library that was a key source for the Sanskrit texts that were transmitted to East Asia by pilgrims like Huang Tsang. 
• Many texts composed at Nalanda played an important role in the development of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism.
  • Examples: Works of Dharmakirti, the Bodhisattvacharyavatara of Shantideva and the Mahavairocana Tantra. 
• One of the things that set Nalanda apart from other schools of the time was that it took international students from countries like Korea, Japan, China, Tibet and other parts of Asia.
• Part of Nalanda’s mission was to bring Buddhism to the world. 
  • Nalanda was famed for its learned professors, or Upajjhaya (Upadhaya). 
• Famous scholars associated with the Mahavihara: Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Vasubandhu, and Asanga. 
• In the 1190s, the university was destroyed by a marauding troop of invaders led by Turko-Afghan military general Bakhtiyar Khilji, who sought to extinguish the Buddhist centre of knowledge during his conquest of northern and eastern India.