Nalanda University
About University
Nalanda University is a post-graduate, research-intensive international university located in Rajgir, Bihar, India. It’s a revival of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara, a renowned center of learning that thrived for over eight centuries, from the 5th to the 12th century CE. The modern university, established in 2010, aims to be an international institution for intellectual, philosophical, historical, and spiritual studies.
Key aspects of Nalanda University:
- The university’s name and historical significance are deeply rooted in the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara, a famous center of learning that attracted scholars from across Asia.
- The experience of being in this intellectual landscape is empowering with its seamless co-existence between nature and man, and between living and learning. The region vibrates with the positivity endowed by spiritual divines like Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavira who meditated in this region and with the scholarly traditions developed by great masters such as Nagarjuna, Aryabhatta, Dharmakirti who discoursed at the ancient Nalanda.
- The first residential university of the world founded at Nalanda by the magnanimity of Emperor Kumaragupta in 427CE and sustained by the conscientiousness of the learned monks and teachers, flourished for over 800 years till the end in 12th century CE.
- It is believed to possess 2,000 teachers and 10,000 students. Nalanda had attracted scholars to its campus from places as distant as China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and South East Asia.
- The most detailed accounts have come from Chinese scholars and the best known of these is Xuan Zang, who carried back many hundred scriptures which were later translated into Chinese.
- Nalanda is at once futuristic, for the ideals and standards of the ancient seat of learning have proven to be universal in their relevance as the feasible solutions to a shared and sustainable future for all, not just Asia. No wonder, the initiative for the revival of Nalanda University has been unanimously and enthusiastically welcomed the world over.