Nalanda University, Nalanda - Affiliated Colleges

Here are some mind-blowing facts about Nalanda University.

• Nalanda University was established by Kumar Gupta. It is an ancient center for higher education that was once located in Bihar, India.
• Nalanda University is the second oldest university in India right behind the University of Takshila. From around the 5th century CE up till the year 1197 CE, the university served the purpose of an educational and religious center.
• It covered a total area of around 14 hectares in present-day Bihar.
• Many scholars and students visited the university for educational purposes. Some of them were even from far away countries like Persia, Greece, Tibet, and China.
• The library situated at Nalanda University is one of the oldest and the largest libraries in the world. 

Many historians claim that Mahatma Budha visited the university and took shelter there for a while due to which the university was also popularly known as the center of Buddhist education from the 5th century to the 12th century.

Most of the things we know about Nalanda University are from Tibetan traditions and preachings. There are many accounts about Nalanda by Hiuen Tsang and Yijing who preached Buddhism in China by adapting many texts from Nalanda University.

Apparently, there are four doxographies on Buddhist philosophies taught at Nalanda which are as follows.

• Sarvastivada Vaibhasika (which is based on early orthodox Kashmiri Buddhist tradition)
• Sarvastivada Sautrantika
• Madhyamaka, the Mahayana philosophy of Nagarjuna
• Chittamatra, the Mahayana philosophy of Asanga and Vasubandhu

Along with these, for major preachings, Nalanda also focused on Vedic learning which revolved around Vedic texts, rituals, Samkhya, and the Vedangas. Medicine, law, astronomy, city planning, linguistics, and reasoning were also part of their curriculum.

Taxila, also known as Takshashila, flourished in the kingdom of Gandhar from 600 BC to 500 AD.

• This university taught 68 subjects and, according to ancient texts, the minimum entry age was 16.
• At one point, it had 10,500 students from Babylon, Greece, Syria, and China.
• Master teachers taught the Vedas, languages, grammar, philosophy, medicine, surgery, archery, politics, warfare, astronomy, accounts, commerce, documentation, music, dance, and other performing arts, futurology, the occult, and mystical sciences, and complex mathematical calculations.
• The university's masters panel included legendary scholars such as Kautilya, Panini, Jivak, and Vishnu Sharma. As a result, the concept of a full-fledged university emerged in India.
• During the 800 years that the university was in operation, it rose to prominence. Its campus was one mile long and half a mile wide. It also had 300 lecture halls with stone benches for seating, as well as laboratories and other facilities.
• For astronomical research, the university, for example, had a towering observatory called the Ambudharaavlehi. It was home to a massive library known as Dharma Gunj, or the Mountain of Knowledge, which was housed in three buildings known as Ratna Sagar, Ratnodavi, and Ratnayanjak.
• The entrance examination was extremely difficult, with only three out of every ten students passing it. Despite this obstacle, the Chinese traveler Hien Tsang wrote in his diary that Nalanda University had 10,000 students and 200 professors.

Nalanda University in modern-day Bihar was also a great university with a library that once housed 9 million books. It served as a hub of learning for scholars from all over Asia. Many Greek, Persian, and Chinese students attended classes at Nalanda. The university was destroyed in the 11th century by pillaging Muslim invaders who overran India.

NU is situated in an isolated town called Rajgir. It is renowned for its Buddhist history, hills, and hot springs. The campus of Nalanda University is settled near the railway station. It is set to complete its reconstruction by the end of this year. 

Currently, the University uses the Rajgir International Convention Center for its functioning. It is a splendid facility with an auditorium of various sizes, seminar rooms, an art gallery, a film theater, and a cafeteria.

There are 3 residential houses for students namely - Ajathshatru, Tathagat, and Maitri. There is a proficient academic staff which is thirty. Most of the cultural or gathering activities are organized in the Ajathshatru (boy’s hostel) which might be annoying sometimes because it is a hostel, not an auditorium.

If you are looking for financial aid, there might be negligible help, so think before you leap.

Nalanda University will have its campus completed by the end of 2021 and it is early to decide this prior to that.

• The campus will have 7 schools, all for post-graduate and doctoral students, offering courses in science, philosophy, spirituality, and social sciences.
• Despite the new appearance, NU has attracted over 1,000 applications from around the world from 40 different countries. However, only 15 students have been selected, including one each from Japan and Bhutan and the rest from India
• Applications have been received from the US, Russia, England, Spain, Germany, Japan, Myanmar, Austria, and Sri Lanka, among others, as also from West Asian and Southeast Asian countries - such a huge variety of countries speaks of everything.

China, Singapore, and Australia had pledged millions of dollars for the project. Let's be optimistic and hope for the best future.