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India holds a significant place in world history as a land of rich culture and heritage. Through the ages India has sustained a lot of foreign intrusion from invaders and has been robbed of most of its embellishments. The remains are a rich source of enormous learning and culture. One such centre of learning in ancient India was Nalanda.
Location
A tourist has to travel 90 kms south from the city of Patna, capital of Bihar and 62 kms from the city of Bodhgaya to visit the disintegrated remains of this ancient University.
History
Nalanda was recognised as a Buddhist site for higher education from 427 to 1197 CE. Many Indian Emperors had patronised the site including Emperor Ashoka and Emperor Harshavardhana. Buddha visited Nalanda quite a number of times, but the centre boomed with the Gupta Empire. Ruins reveal a bow mark on the floor, which was the logo of the Gupta Empire. It was between the 5th and 12th centuries that the place prospered the most. Xuan Zang visited the place during the 7th century. He has written about the architecture, the monastic life and the learning process.The emblem of the University was set in terracotta.
The site had a huge campus which could accommodate 10000 scholars and 2000 teachers at a time. The architecture at Nalanda displayed supreme craftsmanship. There were multiple compounds, temples, meditation rooms and class rooms. Special mention need to be made of its library, which was a nine storey building to preserve books. Monasteries were constructed by the Gupta rulers in the Kushan form of architecture, which consisted of rows of cells around a courtyard.Emperor Ashoka and Harshavardhana also contributed in the construction of “viharas” or monasteries.
A wide spectrum of subjects were taught here that attracted students from many foreign nations like Japan, Turkey, China, Persia, Tibet, Korea and Greece. Nalanda was at the peak of prosperity, between the sixth and the ninth century when the university attracted maximum students from across the world. During its flourishing days, a number of monasteries were built by the Pala rulers.
During the Pala reign, a lot of monasteries were built in Bengal and Magadha. The monasteries were under the supervision of the government. They were well co-ordinated and functioned as one single body. This developed the scope of Buddhist learning during this era. This reduced the singularity of Nalanda but helped monks to relocate from place to place as it formed an interlinked group if institutions.
Many reasons count for the downfall of the Nalanda University. In 1193 the Turkish ruler Bakhtiyar Khilji ransacked the University of its beauties. However, historians claim this was one of the later causes for the downfall of Nalanda. Earlier the Brahmins along with the Jains tried to ruin this great centre. The growing popularity of Buddhism made the other sects communal and they turned envious and destroyed the place. To preserve its heritage, an International centre for Buddhist studies was set up here in 1951.
Attraction
The ruins of Nalanda are the main attraction, which is spread over an area of 14 hectares. Some of the temples and monasteries are still evident. The Archaeological Museum and the Nava Nalanda mahavir, a centre of Buddhist studies, along with theXuan Zang hall are other attractions. A sun temple at Surajpur Baragaon hold interest as does Silao for its sweet delicacy “Khaja”.
The greatness of Nalanda has not subsided with time. It is still a great attraction amongst tourists as well as students of ancient history.
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