Nalanda Mahavihara was one of the great seats of Buddhist education
for nearly seven hundred years between the 5th to 12th century A.D. The
word 'Nalanda' is derived from 'nÄla' meaning a stem of a lotus flower. It is a
symbol of generating knowledge or wisdom and 'dÄ' means to give. Nalanda,
therefore, means place to bestow knowledge or wisdom. It is said that 10,000
students and 1500 ÄcÄryas resided in Nalanda at one time.
During the lifetime of the Buddha Nalanda was an important centre of
religious activity. The Buddha's chief disciples, SÄriputta and MoggallÄna,
came from the nearby villages of NÄlaka and Kulika. The names of several lay
followers of the locality also figured prominently in the literary sources.
According to early sources, Nalanda was a 'yojana' away from the
outskirts of RÄjagriha, the capital of the great Magadhan Empire. The Buddha
and his disciples often stayed for a night in the PÄvÄrika Mango Grove. The
Pali literature records that Prince PÄvÄrika constructed a halting place in the
grove, then donated it to the Buddha. The Buddha delivered ten discourses
there. On his last journey from RÄjagriha to Kushinagar, the Buddha spent
one night at Nalanda.
According to TÄrÄnÄtha, the Tibetan historian, king A oka, in the third
century BC, constructed a st pa at the birthplace of SÄriputta in the village of
Nalanda. On his way to RÄjagriha, the Chinese traveller Fa-hien worshipped
at the st pa, but he made no reference to Nalanda or the Mahavihara,
perhaps because the Buddhist monastic establishment at that time had not
taken a viable shape.
Placement
Ancient Nalanda had a rich heritage of attracting scholars from Southeast Asian countries. Efforts are now being made to revive this tradition. Applications are welcome from serious scholars interested in pursuing independent or collaborative research.
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