look news india
Nalanda, the world's first residential university, has such an ancient history that many books have been written about it. It is said that when the world started building universities, Nalanda had created its hundred-year legacy.
After a long wait of about 800 years, Nalanda University is returning to its old form. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University. Amidst the news of the inauguration of the new campus and new pictures, its history is also being discussed a lot.
So let us know the history of Nalanda University, which great people have studied here and what kind of education Nalanda was known for.
When it comes to the top universities in the world, Oxford and Cambridge are the first names that come to mind, but Nalanda University is even older than that. Nalanda is made up of three words – Na, Alam and Da. It means a gift with no limits. The university was built in the 5th century during the Gupta period and by the 7th century it had become one of the great universities in the world. It was part of a large Buddhist monastery and is said to have an area of about 57 acres. Some reports claim its area to be even more. According to reports, the university was built on a mango orchard given to Gautam Buddha by some merchants.
The world 200 years ago:
The modern world came to know about this huge university during the 19th century. This university was buried underground for many centuries. In 1812, the local people in Bihar found the intellectual idols. Later, many foreign historians came to know about this university while studying it.
Who taught here?
Nalanda University was also special because great teachers like Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita, Shantarakshita and Aryadeva taught here from time to time. Many people from India and abroad came here to study.
If we talk about the people who studied here, then people from many countries used to come here to study. Famous Chinese travellers and scholars Huen Tsang, Fa-Hien and Itsing also studied here. Huen Tsang was a disciple of Nalanda's Acharya Sheelbhadra. Huen Tsang studied law at Nalanda University for 6 years.
This university is considered a storehouse of knowledge. Apart from religious texts, many subjects like literature, religion, logic, medicine, philosophy, astronomy were taught here. It is said that the subjects taught here at that time were not taught anywhere else. This university led the world on the path of knowledge for 700 years.
How big was the campus?
The grandeur of this university was that it had 300 rooms for study, 7 big rooms and a 9-storey library. For in-depth study of every subject, a 9-storey library was built here, which had more than 90 lakh books. It is said that when the fire broke out, their library kept burning for 3 months. From this you can guess how many books there would be.
This university has been illuminating the world with India's knowledge for centuries.
Despite such a wonderful and glorious history, Nalanda had to face many hardships. After its 700-year long journey, it was attacked and burnt down by Bakhtiar Khilji in the 12th century. It is said that once Bakhtiar Khilji fell seriously ill. He was treated in many ways but Khilji, annoyed with this treatment, set the university on fire in anger.
