Nalanda University restored at last, after 800 years
New Nalanda University campus.
Ram temple at Ayodhya got rebuilt and inaugurated after nearly 500 years of its destruction by a General of Babur. Now Nalanda University has been rebuilt and inaugurated after nearly 800 years of its destruction by Bakhtiyar Khilji. Nalanda embodies India’s identity, respect, value, and mantra.
The new campus built with INR 1700 crores got inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday 19 Jun 24. He said, ” I am happy that I got the opportunity to visit Nalanda within 10 days after swearing in as PM for the 3rd time…Nalanda is not just a name, it is an identity and respect. Nalanda is a value and mantra…fire can burn books, but it can’t destroy knowledge.”
Foreign envoys of 17 countries attended the inauguration whose Ruins had been declared a UN Heritage site in 2016. The World’s oldest University and one of the most prestigious , it was attacked thrice in its history and destroyed finally in 1220 AD. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Nalanda University Chancellor Arvind Panagariya attended the inauguration ceremony.
The University, the finest educational instution of the World, had been established in Rajgur in 5th Century BC by Kumaragupta of Gutta Dynasty. It was the golden period of the Indian subcontinent.It further flourished under Harshavardhan and later under the Pala Emperors.
As per Hiuen Tdsang the Chinese traveller there were 10000 Budhist monks and 2000 teachers at the University at that time.Aryabhata the most eminent astronomer and mathematician who gave the concept of Zero, that this World has produced till date was the Head of this University at that time. It’s library had over 90 lakh books.
As a full-fledged university it focused not only on religious knowledge but also spread knowledge about architecture, astronomy, philosophy, medicine, grammar, mathematics, and many other subjects. Students not only from India but from China, Tibet, Korea, and Central Asia joined Nalanda university. As it was a residential university, students lived there & gained knowledge in various subjects.
It is very surprising that in the absence of todays computer etc technologies how the Nalanda university was able to teach the above subjects. Some subject like astron9my is so difficult even nowadays also. From this perspective Nalanda is incomparable.
Nalanda University was an architectural masterpiece. It was made entirely of bright red bricks with elevated walls and a huge gate to the entrance. The compound had many temples, stupas, classrooms, meditation halls, etc. along with lakes and parks. The main attraction of the university was the library which was called “Dharma Gunj” meaning Mountain of Truth. It was well equipped & colossal housed in nature. The library was huge comprising three multi-storeyed buildings. These buildings also had names – Ratnasagar ( Ocean of Jewels), Ratnodadhi (Sea of Jewels), and Ratnaranjaka (Jewel Adorned).
The most sacred books and manuscripts were kept in Ratnodadhi. It was a building that was nine stories high. It is said that Nalanda had Upanishads in original writings. Also, even Sanskrit books like Astasahasrika, Prajnaparamita, etc. were destroyed by the invasions.
The first attack on Nalanda took place between 455 AD to 470 AD when Guptas were ruling. This attack was done by the Hunas- a central Asian tribal group who had entered India through the Khyber Pass. They attacked just for looting the wealth of the University. Hunas looted all of them and left. As the destruction was not very severe, Skanda Gupta, of the Gupta Empire, re-established it and made further improvements. At that time the famous library of Nalanda was established.
The second attack on Nalanda happened during the early 7th century. This attack was done by the king of Bengal, Goudas Rajvansh. The main reason behind this attack was the political imbalance. At that time, the emperor of Kannuj, Harshavardhana was ruling. Many historians said that there was a conflict between Harshavardhana & Goudas Rajvansh. To take revenge, Goudas Rajvansh attacked Nalanda University. However, the destruction was not fatal. Harshavardhana re-established the university and again Nalanda started sharing knowledge throughout the world.
In 1193 AD Bakhtiyar Khilji, a General of Qutubuddin Aibak attacked Nalanda university. This attack was so fatal that after this nobody could build the Nalanda university again.
Historical accounts suggest that attack was part of a larger campaign to suppress Buddhist institutions in the region. Khilji’s forces attacked Nalanda due to a combination of factors, including religious intolerance, the wealth of the university, and possibly strategic considerations. The sack of Nalanda led to the decline of this renowned centre of learning in ancient India.
A story goes that Bakhtiyar Khilji was so sick no Hakim of his could do anything to help him recover his health condition. Then someone suggested him to seek help of Rahul Sri Bhadra who was the principal of Nalanda University at that time.
Rahul Sri Bhadra successfully treated him. However instead of feeling grateful Khilji became very insecure and decided to eradicate all the knowledge of Ayurveda because he was troubled by the idea that an Indian scholar knew more than his hakims. This was only the reason for attacking the Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khilji.
In his work Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Minhaj-i-Siraj described how thousands of monks were murdered as Khilji made every effort to eradicate Buddhism and establish Islam.
As the only intention of Bakhtiyar Khilji was to destroy the source of knowledge, he first attacked the library of Nalanda. He put fire in the libraries that contained around 90 lakhs of books at that time. Some books were original in writing. Historians believe that it took three months to completely burn down all the books. Bakhtiyar Khilji not only destroyed the library but also, killed all the monks and scholars residing in the university as he didn’t want that knowledge to flow from scholars to scholars. As this destruction was so fatal, no other king was able to rebuild it. Hence the flow of knowledge of Nalanda came to an end.
Nalanda was forgotten until the ASI started excavations in 19C. Nalanda was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on January 9, 2009. In 2010, the Indian Parliament approved a bill that called for the restoration of the University of Nalanda. It formally reopened for academic purposes on September 14, 2014. Only 15 candidates, out of a total of 1000 applications from throughout the world, were accepted to honour the old selection procedure. The government has designated it as an “Institute of National Importance.”
