Nalanda and Vikramshila: Bihar's ancient universities

In the seventh century, the Chinese monk Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) spent years at Nalanda, studying under the great teacher Shilabhadra. He later described a place of towering buildings and learned debate, where entry was so competitive that only a minority of those who sought admission passed the gatekeepers' questioning. Nalanda was, by any standard, one of the world's great centres of learning — and it stood in the heart of Bihar.

Nalanda Mahavihara

Founding and patronage

• Traditionally, Kumaragupta I of the Gupta dynasty (fifth century CE) is credited with founding the monastery at Nalanda.
• Later patrons included Harshavardhana of Kanauj (seventh century) and the Pala kings of Bengal and Bihar (eighth–twelfth centuries).
• Grants of villages supported the monastery, providing food, clothing and lodging for students and teachers.

What was taught

Nalanda was primarily a Buddhist (largely Mahayana) centre, but its curriculum was broad:

• Buddhist philosophy — Madhyamaka, Yogachara;
• logic (hetuvidya) and grammar (shabdavidya);
• medicine (chikitsavidya);
• the Vedas and other schools of Indian philosophy;
• astronomy and mathematics.

Teachers and scholars

Nalanda is associated with scholars such as Nagarjuna (by tradition), Aryadeva, Dharmapala, Shilabhadra, Dharmakirti and Shantarakshita, many of whom were influential across Asia.

Visitors

Library

Tradition speaks of a great library complex, Dharmaganja, with buildings named Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjaka.

Vikramshila

• Founded by the Pala king Dharmapala (late eighth / early ninth century).
• Located at Antichak, in Bhagalpur district, near the Ganga.
• A major centre of Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism.
• Known for its structured administration, with a council of scholars.
• Atisha Dipankara Shrijnana, one of its most famous teachers, travelled to Tibet in the eleventh century and played a key role in reviving Buddhism there.

Excavations

Excavations at Antichak revealed a large cruciform stupa at the centre of a monastery with many cells.

Odantapuri and others

• Odantapuri — near present-day Bihar Sharif (Nalanda district), associated with the early Palas; it is said to have influenced the design of the Samye monastery in Tibet.
• Somapura (in present-day Bangladesh) and Jagaddala were other Pala-era monasteries.

Destruction

Around the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, these monasteries were destroyed during the campaigns of Bakhtiyar Khalji, a general of the Delhi Sultanate. The chronicler Minhaj-us-Siraj (in the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri) describes an attack on a fortified monastery in Bihar, often identified with Odantapuri. Nalanda and Vikramshila also declined and were abandoned in this period.

Rediscovery and heritage

• Alexander Cunningham and later archaeologists identified and excavated Nalanda in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• The Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.
• Bihar thus has two cultural World Heritage Sites: the Mahabodhi Temple Complex (2002) and Nalanda (2016).

The new Nalanda University

• The idea of reviving Nalanda was supported by India and several East Asian countries.
• The Nalanda University Act, 2010 established the new university near Rajgir.
• It began classes in 2014, and its new campus was inaugurated in 2024.
• It is an international institution, focused on subjects such as history, Buddhist studies, ecology and sustainability.

Why Nalanda matters

• It is a symbol of India's tradition of learning, debate and openness to the world.
• It connects Bihar with the Buddhist countries of Asia — an asset in cultural diplomacy.
• It inspires debates on the quality of higher education in Bihar and India today.

Practice

Prelims-style:

1. Which Gupta ruler is traditionally credited with founding Nalanda?
2. Which Pala king founded Vikramshila, and where is it?
3. Which scholar from Vikramshila went to Tibet?
4. When was Nalanda Mahavihara inscribed as a World Heritage Site?
5. Under which Act was the new Nalanda University established?

Mains-style:

• "Nalanda was more than a university; it was a civilisational institution." Discuss.
• Examine the causes of the decline of Buddhist centres of learning in Bihar.