Nalanda was a Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India. The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna near the city of Bihar Sharif, and was a centre of learning from the fifth century CE to c. 1200 CE. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The highly formalized methods of Jain and Buddhist learning helped inspire the establishment of large teaching institutions such as Taxila, Nalanda, and Vikramashila which are often characterised as India's early universities. Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. The liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age resulted in a period of growth and prosperity until the ninth century. The subsequent centuries were a time of gradual decline, a period during which the tantric developments of Buddhism became most pronounced in eastern India under the Pala Empire.
At its peak, the school attracted scholars and students from near and far with some travelling from Tibet, China, Korea, and Central Asia. Archaeological evidence also notes contact with the Shailendra dynasty of Indonesia, one of whose kings built a monastery in the complex.
Much of our knowledge of Nalanda comes from the writings of pilgrim monks from Asia such as Xuanzang and Yijing who travelled to the Mahavihara in the 7th century. Vincent Smith remarked that "a detailed history of Nalanda would be a history of Mahayanist Buddhism". Many of the names listed by Xuanzang in his travelogue as products of Nalanda are the names of those who developed the philosophy of Mahayana. All students at Nalanda studied Mahayana as well as the texts of the eighteen (Hinayana) sects of Buddhism. Their curriculum also included other subjects such as the Vedas, logic, Sanskrit grammar, medicine and Samkhya.
Nalanda was very likely ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khilji in c. 1200 CE. However, according to the archaeologists Krishna Deva and VS Agarwala, evidence reveals a “complex history of destruction, abandonment and reoccupation” at Nalanda that pre-dated the arrival of Muslims. While some sources note that the Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion for a while longer, it was eventually abandoned and forgotten until the 19th century when the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India. Systematic excavations commenced in 1915 which unearthed eleven monasteries and six brick temples neatly arranged on grounds 12 hectares (30 acres) in area. A trove of sculptures, coins, seals, and inscriptions have also been discovered in the ruins many of which are on display in the Nalanda Archaeological Museum situated nearby. Nalanda is now a notable tourist destination and a part of the Buddhist tourism circuit.
Historical figures associated with Nalanda
Shantirakshita - Google Art Project
Aryabhata
Aryadeva, student of Nagarjuna
Atisha, Mahayana and Vajrayana scholar
Chandrakirti, student of Nagarjuna
Dharmakirti, logician
Dharmapala
Dignaga, founder of Buddhist Logic
Nagarjuna, formaliser of the concept of Shunyata
Naropa, student of Tilopa and teacher of Marpa
Śāntarakṣita, founder of Yogācāra-Mādhyamika
Shilabhadra, the teacher of Xuanzang
Xuanzang, Chinese Buddhist traveller
Yijing, Chinese Buddhist traveller
Tourism
The Xuanzang Memorial Hall at Nalanda
Nalanda is a popular tourist destination in the state attracting a number of Indian and overseas visitors.[122] It is also an important stop on the Buddhist tourism circuit.[121]
Nalanda Archaeological Museum
Nalanda archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Survey of India maintains a museum near the ruins for the benefit of visitors. The museum,opened in 1917, exhibits the antiquities that have been unearthed at Nalanda as well as from nearby Rajgir. Out of 13,463 items, only 349 are on display in four galleries.[123]
Xuanzang Memorial Hall
Xuan Zang Memorial Hall
The Xuanzang Memorial Hall is an Indo-Chinese undertaking to honour the famed Buddhist monk and traveller. A relic, comprising a skull bone of the Chinese monk, is on display in the memorial hall.
Nalanda Multimedia Museum
Another museum adjoining the excavated site is the privately run Nalanda Multimedia Museum.[125] It showcases the history of Nalanda through 3-D animation and other multimedia presentations.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda
