Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University, which was a famous international university hundreds of years ago. Now check out a news package about the specialty of this university.
Nalanda University, one of the world’s premier educational institutions, is located in the Rajkritham region of Bihar, 95 kilometers southwest of the capital Patna.
Founded in the 5th century AD by Kumara Gupta I, the son of Chandragupta II during the Magadha Empire, Nalanda University is also known by the special name “Mahavihara”.
Nalanda University is not only the best educational institution but also the best Buddhist monastery. Nalanda became the world’s first residential university and the world’s first international university.
The famous Chinese traveler Yuan Chuang studied at this university for a long time. In his travel notes, Yuan Chuang mentioned that there were more than 10,000 monks and 2,000 teachers in Nalanda, and students from China, Tibet, Korea, Indonesia, Persia, Turkey and many countries of Central Asia stayed and studied.
Nalanda University, with its eight separate subject road campuses, 10 temples, several meditation halls, separate classrooms for different subjects, 3 nine-story libraries, lakes and parks, had several lakhs of thatch footprints.
In 1193 AD, Nalanda University was attacked by Bakhtiyar Khilji, the chief of Delhi Sultan Qutbuddin Aibak’s army.
Destroying Nalanda to destroy all knowledge of Ayurveda and establish Islam by destroying Hinduism and Buddhism, Khilji set fire to Nalanda’s libraries, which contained about 90 lakh scrolls and manuscripts. Historians also say that Khilji, who did not want ancient Vedic knowledge to pass from scholars to others, killed all the monks and scholars who lived in Nalanda.
After this disaster, Nalanda was rediscovered in 1812 by a Scottish surveyor, Francis Buchanan-Hamilton. Later in 1861 Sir Alexander Cunningham identified it as the ancient university of Nalanda.
During the excavations in 1915, 11 monasteries and 6 brick temples were found. Also, various symbols like ancient coins, coppers, nitras and sculptures were found. Hence, Nalanda University was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
The revival of Nalanda University was initiated in 2006 by former President A.P.J. At the initiative of Abdul Kalam, the Nalanda University Bill was passed in 2010 on the recommendation of then Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In the year 2014, new students were admitted in Nalanda University from September. The Bihar state government allotted 455 acres of land for Nalanda’s new campus and seeded its revival. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen was the first Chairman of the Board of Governors of the new Nalanda University and its first Chancellor.
The new campus of Nalanda University inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi was designed by renowned architect Padma Vibhushan late B.V. Designed by Doshi. Integrating eco-friendly architecture with ancient Vastu principles, it is built with a zero carbon focus along with 100 acres of lush green water bodies.
A 6.5-MW DC-grid solar panel, a 500-KLD water treatment plant, a 400-KLD water recycling plant and an innovative 1.2-MW AC biogas-based waste-to-energy plant are also set up at the complex.
The campus has two academic blocks with 40 classrooms accommodating nearly 1,900 students, two administrative blocks, two large halls with over 300 seats and 550 student hostels, and dedicated residential areas with academic facilities for teachers and students.
In addition, essential facilities like a guest house, an international center, a dining hall with a seating capacity of 1,000, a dedicated theater with a seating capacity of 2,000 and a sports complex, a medical center, a business center and recreation rooms for teachers have been set up in the campus.
Nalanda University, which produced great scholars like Harshavardhana, Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, is still a symbol of 800 years of tradition.
Aryabhatta, the great mathematician who discovered zero to the world, was the leader, and the revival of this Nalanda has caused happiness among the world’s educationists.
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