Key Facts about Nalanda University

About Nalanda University:

• Nalanda stands out as the most ancient university on the Indian Subcontinent.
• It was founded by Kumargupta of the Gupta dynasty in Bihar in the early 5th century, and it flourished for 600 years until the 12th century.
• 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.  
• It had students from far-flung regions such as China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. 
• The students at Nalanda were expected to follow a strict code of conduct and were required to participate in daily meditation and study sessions. 
• 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 centre of intellectual activity up until it was destroyed in the 12th century AD, in 1193, by Turkish ruler Qutbuddin Aibak's general Bakhtiyar Khilji.
• After six centuries, the university was rediscovered in 1812 by Scottish surveyor Francis Buchanan-Hamilton and later identified as the ancient university by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1861.
• The Chinese monk Xuan Zang has offered invaluable insights into the academic and architectural grandeur of ancient Nalanda.
• It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.