Nalanda

Also called: Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda Mahavihara World Heritage Site, Nalanda UNESCO · Topic: Gupta Empire and the Classical Age · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"; Class 7, Ch 3 "Empires and Kingdoms: 6th to 10th Centuries"; Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"; Class 7, Ch 5 "India, a Home to Many"

Meaning

Nalanda Mahavihara was a great Buddhist monastery and centre of learning in Bihar. It was founded by the Gupta king Kumaragupta I (413–455 CE) in the 5th century CE. [3][4] It matters because it shows a Vaishnava dynasty (kings who worshipped Vishnu) paying for a Buddhist school. It also became the model for later universities in Asia, and since 2016 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [3][4]

Explanation

Background: why it came up under the Guptas

• The Guptas were Vaishnavas, but they funded other faiths too.
• They paid for Buddhist viharas (Buddhist monasteries that were also places where students lived and studied), including Nalanda.

• This kind of open-minded support is one reason some historians call the Gupta period the "classical age".

• The Guptas did not start learning at Nalanda. The site has remains going back to the 3rd century BCE. [3]

• What the Guptas did was pay for a large, planned campus. That campus turned the place into a famous centre of study.

• It was part of a wider Gupta-age culture of learning. In the same period, Aryabhata worked at nearby Kusumapura, and Ayurveda texts were codified (old scattered knowledge collected and fixed into settled books).

Main features: the campus

• Layout: the campus was built to a plan and covers more than one square kilometre. [3]
• Buildings: excavations have found six major brick temples and eleven monasteries. [3]
• Other remains: stupas, shrines, viharas, and art made of stucco (a hard plaster), stone and metal. [3]
• Material: most buildings are of brick, set out in neat rows of monasteries facing the temples.
• How it worked: monks and students lived in the monasteries and studied there. That made it a residential institution, not just a temple.

How it changed over time

• 5th century CE: founded under Kumaragupta I. [3][4]
• 7th century CE: according to standard textbook history, it was supported by Harsha of Kannauj.
• The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang studied and taught here, and he wrote about it.

• Another Chinese pilgrim, Yijing, came later in the same century.

• c. 8th–12th centuries: the Pala kings of Bengal and Bihar kept supporting it. They also built new monasteries such as Vikramashila.

• c. 1200 CE: it declined and was sacked. This is traditionally linked to raids by the forces of Bakhtiyar Khilji, and the burning of its library is part of that story. The exact details are debated, so use "c." and "traditionally".
• Overall span: the site was in use from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. [3]

Results and legacy

• It became the model for later Buddhist universities across Asia.
• It gave the Chinese pilgrims a reason to travel to India. Their accounts are now key sources for Indian history.
• Its ruins are now a World Heritage Site, and it stands as a symbol of India's old tradition of learning. [3][4]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: founded in the 5th century CE, during the Gupta age (c. 300–600 CE). The site as a whole runs from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE. [3]
• Founder: Kumaragupta I (413–455 CE), Gupta dynasty. [3][4]
• Later patrons: Harsha (7th century) and the Palas, according to textbook history.
• Place: Nalanda, Bihar, about 88 km from Patna. [3][4]
• Heritage status: UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List on 15 July 2016, as the "Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar". [3][4]
• How we know about it:
• Excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1915–37 and 1974–82. These uncovered the 6 temples and 11 monasteries. [3]
• Travellers' accounts by the Chinese pilgrims Xuanzang and Yijing.
• Art remains in stucco, stone and metal found on the site. [3]

Don't confuse with

• Vikramashila: also a Buddhist monastic university in Bihar, but the Pala king Dharmapala founded it, not the Guptas. Nalanda is older and was founded by Kumaragupta I.
• Takshashila (Taxila): an older centre of learning in the north-west (now in Pakistan). Nalanda is in Bihar, and it is a planned Buddhist mahavihara with a Gupta founder.
• Nalanda University (modern): a new university near Rajgir, set up by an Act of Parliament in 2010. The UNESCO site is the ancient ruins, not the new university.
• Kusumapura: the place near Patna where Aryabhata worked and wrote the Aryabhatiya (499 CE). [2] It is not the same place as Nalanda, though both are in the Patna region.

Prelims Hooks

• Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by Kumaragupta I (413–455 CE) of the Gupta dynasty. [3][4]
• It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 15 July 2016. [3][4]
• ASI excavations (1915–37 and 1974–82) found 6 brick temples and 11 monasteries. [3]
• The site's span is 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE. Its art is in stucco, stone and metal. [3]
• Location: Bihar, about 88 km from Patna. [3][4]
• Trap: the Guptas were Vaishnavas, yet they funded the Buddhist Nalanda. "Guptas were Buddhist patrons, so they were Buddhists" is wrong.

Mains Points

• State support for learning crossed religious lines. Vaishnava Gupta kings paid for a Buddhist mahavihara. [3]
• Later, Harsha and the Buddhist Palas carried on that support.

• Use this in answers on India's traditions of tolerance and on the state's role in education.

• A model of residential, organised higher learning. It had a planned campus of temples and monasteries over more than 1 sq km. [3]

• It drew scholars from China and other parts of Asia, so it was an early centre of cultural exchange and "soft power".

• Heritage and memory. Its slow decline and sack (c. 1200, traditionally linked to Bakhtiyar Khilji) are often used to talk about lost knowledge.

• Good answers keep to the evidence: excavations, pilgrims' accounts, and the 2016 UNESCO listing [3][4]. They should also note that some historians debate how far the "classical age" label fits.

Related concepts

• Aryabhata
• Aryabhatiya
• Hindu-Arabic numerals
• Bakhshali manuscript
• Surya Siddhanta
• Varahamihira
• Bhaskara I
• Virahanka
• Kalidasa
• Abhijnanashakuntalam

Read more

• Knowledge: science, letters, medicine, learning