[jyotirmoy]

Nalanda University, 55 miles southeast of Patna, was an ancient seat of Buddhist learning, set up around 450 AD by King Kumar Gupta, who had laid foundations of the university. The university was further extended by Harshavardhana in the 7th century AD. After 200 years, it was rebuilt by king Devapala of the Pala dynasty. It was one of the world's first residential universities, accommodating 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers in its heyday. Students, scholars from various far away places like China came to Nalanda. It had become the major center for learning in Asia at that time. The campus reverberated with religious hymes & chants, students spent time on debates and over time three great libraries came up. The libraries had a huge collection of ancient & contemporary manuscripts.

The university thrived till one of the military generals of Qutb-ud-din Aybak. Muhammad Khilji conquered Bihar in 1193. The invading group was led by Mohammad Bakhtiar Khilji. It is said that he rode in with only eighteen horsemen. After his conquest he came to know the existence of Nalanda. He lost no time and rode to Nalanda with his team. In the city they were mistaken for horse traders, allowing them to surprise Raja Lakshman Sen in the middle of a meal. The latter fled out the palace's back door in bare feet. There after started the massacre and destruction.
Khilji ordered every person with shaved head to be killed. Hundreds of monks were killed and hundreds fled. Having butchered most of the residents Khilji turned to the library. On his order the libraries were set on fire. The fire raged on for days. The entire collection of valuable manuscripts & treatises were completely destroyed

After this almost as a consequence of his brutal act he led a disastrous campaign into Tibet and died in 1206  on the retreat. It is ridiculous that there is a railway station in Bakhtiar’s name on the Nalanda-Patna rail line. Well it happens in India.

[dzibead]

The Wikipedia entry for Nalanda has some good pictures of the ruins.  It must have been an amazing place.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda

[jyotirmoy]

Thanks dzibead for inserting the link.

Rajgir near Nalanda had been a very popular tourist destination especially for the Bengalis & Budhists. Detoriation of law & order now has resulted in very few people visiting this amazing ruins. The area had emerged as the biggest producer of illegal fire arms which were greatly sought by the politicians & their cronies. These were mainly used for inter gang warefare & capturing polling booths during elections. Thanks to election commission these booth capturings at gun point have gone.

[batistuta]

That is a very sad story, Jyotida. What a loss to learning. And that ....... has a Railway station Named after him, Ouch.

[jyotirmoy]

Yes sad indeed. Barbaric acts by the Spaniards destroyed the library of the Mayas.

[priya]

Quote

The entire collection of valuable manuscripts & treatises were completely destroyed

Why is it that so many of these despots (call them what you like) feel threatened by books and all the knowledge they contain?

[priya]

Quote

The entire collection of valuable manuscripts & treatises were completely destroyed

Why is it that so many of these despots (call them what you like) feel threatened by books and all the knowledge they contain?

[iwanttogoback]

because the most dangerous things in the world are thoughts.

[batistuta]

priya, on Aug 17 2007, 05:32 PM, said:

Why is it that so many of these despots (call them what you like) feel threatened by books and all the knowledge they contain?

Priya, They encounter something much more refined and cultured than what they are used to and they do what they do best.

[Hyderabadi]

iwanttogoback, on Aug 17 2007, 08:05 AM, said:

because the most dangerous things in the world are thoughts.

Well said! Goes both ways though....

On a side note, we had four 'houses' in my school - Nagarjuna, Nalanda, Taxila ( Takshasila ) and Vijayanagar, all centres of learning. I was in the Nalanda House.

[batistuta]

Hyderabadi, on Aug 17 2007, 05:54 PM, said:

Well said! Goes both ways though....

On a side note, we had four 'houses' in my school - Nagarjuna, Nalanda, Taxila ( Takshasila ) and Vijayanagar, all centres of learning. I was in the Nalanda House.

Off-topic, We had four houses in My school too, They were named, Very Imaginatively, Yellow, Green, Blue and Red. .

[Hyderabadi]

batistuta, on Aug 17 2007, 08:31 AM, said:

Off-topic, We had four houses in My school too, They were named, Very Imaginatively, Yellow, Green, Blue and Red. .

Ours had colors assosiated with them too:
Nagarjuna         : Red
Nalanda            : Blue
Taxila               : Yellow
Vijayanagar      : Green