Gupta Age - Society and Civilization of Harshvardhan's Period — HISTORY STD 11 Arts — Question
Gujarat BoardEnglish MediumSTD 11 ArtsHISTORYGupta Age - Society and Civilization of Harshvardhan's Period5 Marks
Question
“Nalanda University was a university.” - Discuss in detail.
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Answer
There was a "Nalanda Vidyapeeth" near a village called Badgaon in Patna district of Bihar.
It was located north of the ancient palace.
This place became a "Jain Tirth" as Mahavira Swami performed Chaturmas fourteen times in this university.
Nalanda was the headquarters of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.
Kumaragupta built a monastery here in the fifth century. Nalanda's fame then increased.
There were three great libraries called "Ratnasagar", "Ratnodadhi", and "Ratnaranjak".
Which contained invaluable treasures of thousands of manuscripts.
Chinese pilgrims Yuan-shuang and Itsing have described the university's traffic.
In addition to the philosophy of "Buddhism" Brahmanism, science, social weapons, art, logic, grammar, Ayurveda, Sankhya Yoga, jurisprudence, etc. were studied here.
Fees are not charged from students in this university.
It was supported by donations from kings and nobles.
There were $300$ small and large rooms for class lectures and discussions.
There was a rush to get admission in this university.
You have to take an exam for admission. The examinees were called "Dwar Pandits".
His test was so rigorous that only two or three out of ten students succeeded.
The student who came out of Nalanda after studying was considered as the ideal student of India.
When Yuan-shwang was admitted to the university, there were $8500$ students and $1510$ teachers.
Among the principals of this university were Shilbhadra, Nagarjuna, Asang, Vasubandhu, Dignath etc.
Nalanda University was at the forefront of education during the $5th$ to $11th$ centuries $AD$.
The splendor of Nalanda University diminished when Vikramshila Vidyapeeth was promoted during the reign of Dharmapala, the king of the Palvansh of Bengal.
During the invasion of Vikramshila by Bakhtiar Khalji in the early $13th$ century, the university was destroyed and valuable texts were burnt.
Many students from all over the country and abroad used to come to study and do research at Taxila and Nalanda universities.
Yuan-shuang took $657$ manuscripts with him to China.
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