Nalanda university architecture

Nalanda University is an international and research-intensive university located in the historical city of Rajgir in Bihar, India. It was established by an Act of Parliament to emulate the famous ancient university of Nalanda, which functioned between the 5th and 13th centuries.

Nalanda University boasted a campus with 9 million books and architecture so vast, it took 3 months to burn down completely. Read about the world’s oldest, cultural, and international university.

Unearthing the gems of knowledge, architecture, and livelihood in the historical ruins of Nalanda University, that once served as a pillar of Buddhism in India.

mattepainting

Ruins of the ancient Buddhist university of Nalanda.

Library of Nalanda University, Dharma-Gunj (Mountain-of-Truth) / Dharma-gañja (Treasury-of-Truth), was the-most-renowned repository of HIndu and Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time. Its collection was said to comprise hundreds of thousands of volumes, so extensive that it burned for many months when set aflame by Turkish invaders. Library had three buildings as high as nine-stories tall, Ratnasagara (Sea-of-Jewels), Ratnodadhi (Ocean-of-Jewels), and Ratnarañjaka…

Founded in the 5th Century, India's Nalanda University is believed to be the world's first residential university. Established more than 500 years before Oxford University, at its peak Nalanda hosted over 10,000 students from around the world and was considered one of the greatest centres of learning in the ancient world. The university was destroyed around the end of the 12th Century, its legendary library burnt to the ground and much of its ancient knowledge lost. It wasn't until the 19th…

Taxila University The oldest known university in India, older than the Nalanda University established in 10 BC. Taxila's origins are thousands of years old starting around 1000 BC. It was named after King Taxiles of Hydaspes (Gandhara- the region between Indus and Jhelum). It produced scholars like Charaka & Panini, boasting teachers like Chanakya. At Taxila, about 68 disciplines were taught to thousands of pupils who came from far and wide.

North India is full of history, architecture, natural beauty and color. Seeing all of it in one go is well-nigh impossible, given its size, but we decided to cover some of it in our first long driving holiday in India, all of 5,057 KM in 3 weeks. We are sharing some of the beautiful and […]

-bihar-nalanda-university-ruins-india