Nalanda

In ancient India, Nalanda was the most renowned Buddhist University.  It derived its name from Na-alam-da, meaning Insatiable in Giving, one of the names by which the Lord Buddha was known. It was a lovely resort, where saints and ascetics belonging to different sects and creeds gathered. Mahavira, the Jain Tirthankara, spent a good part of his missionary life here, passing as many as 14 rainy seanons (versa vasa); a beautiful temple was later erected in his memory. Maskari Gosala met Mahavira for the last time here. Buddha, during his missionary journeys in Magadha, often stopped at well-populated Nalanda, visiting a mango park called Pavarika Ambavana. Its owner, Pavarika Setthi, later donated it to the order of Buddha. Buddha held discussions here with Upali Gahapati, a great lay devotee, and Digha Tapassi, a chief disciple of Mahavira, and converted them to his doctrine. Emperor Asoka built a monastery here. Nalanda, in course of time, became a full-fledged University and a great centre of Mahayana Buddhism.

Established in the 5th century B.C. it remained a center of learning till the 12th century A.D. when it was destroyed by Muslim invaders. Lord Mahavira and the Buddha both taught here for years. Hsuan Tsang the Chinese traveler studied here in the 7th century A.D. and there is a monument in his memory. He was one amongst many of those from East and Southeast Asia who came here to study logic, meta-physics, medicine, prose composition and rhetoric. Huen Tsang mentioned that Nalanda surpassed any other institution in the ancient east in the magnitude and standard of education. The monastery was built in Kushan style and consisted of a row of cells around a central courtyard. There was accommodation for ten thousand students who used to study under the guidance of about fifteen hundred learned teachers.

The university of Nalanda offered free educational and residential facilities to students, for it was supported by a number of villages. It’s library, Ratna Sagar, is believed to have contained nine million volumes. It is not surprising, then, that the destruction of this university dealt a crippling blow to Buddhist education in India.

The Nalanda Museum situated across the road houses some exquisite bronzes of the 9th and 10th centuries, Pala dynasty, and other remains excavated at the site. The beautiful Thai Temple and the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, a centre for research in Pali and Buddhist studies, are 2 kms from the main site.