NALANDA
UNIVERSITY - ART AND CULTURE
News: PM Modi
inaugurates new Nalanda University campus in Bihar
What's
in the news?
●
Recently,
The Prime Minister inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University, an
international University, close to the site of the ancient ruins of Nalanda in
Rajgir, Bihar.
Nalanda
University:
●
Nalanda
stands out as the most ancient university on the Indian Subcontinent.
Built
by:
●
It
was constructed by Kumar Gupta of
the Gupta dynasty in Bihar in the early 5th century, and it flourished for 600
years until the 12th century.
Key
takeaways:
●
During
the era of Harshavardhan and the Pala
monarchs, it rose to popularity.
●
It
was a center of learning, culture, and intellectual exchange that had a
profound impact on the development of Indian civilization and beyond.
●
Nalanda
was a monastic establishment in the
sense that it was primarily a place where monks and nuns lived and studied.
●
It
used to teach all the major philosophies of Buddhism.
Uniqueness:
●
It
had students from far-flung regions such as China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.
●
Subjects
such as medicine, the ancient Indian
medical system Ayurveda, religion, Buddhism, mathematics, grammar, astronomy,
and Indian philosophy were taught there.
●
It
continued to be a center of intellectual activity up until it was destroyed in the 12th century AD, in 1193, by
Turkish ruler Qutbuddin Aibak's general Bakhtiyar
Khilji.
Important
Takeaways:
●
The
chronicles of seventh century Chinese traveler Hsuan Tsang provide the most detailed description of ancient
Nalanda.
●
Hsuan
Tsang estimated that at the time of his visit, the monastery housed 10,000
students, 2,000 teachers, and a gargantuan retinue of servants.
Present
Status:
●
The
campus of Nalanda University was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
●
The
campus spread across 455 acres, it is located in Rajgir, roughly 100 km from Patna, and merely 12 km away from the
ruins of the eponymous ancient Buddhist monastery.
Go
back to basics:
●
In 2007, the proposal to re-establish
Nalanda was endorsed at the East Asia
Summit in Mandaue, Philippines. This endorsement was reiterated in the East
Asia Summit of 2009, in Hua Hin, Thailand.
●
Nalanda
University admitted its very first batch
of fifteen students in 2014, to the School of Historical Studies, and the
School of Ecology and Environmental Studies.
●
Nobel
Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen,
who had been associated with the project since 2007, became the University’s
first Chancellor, and then-President Pranab Mukherjee became the first Visitor.