Tuesday, February 16, 2021

What the ruins of the original Nalanda university tell us about an old civilization of India ?

 
Our knowledge of Nalanda comes from three kinds of primary sources: archaeology, epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) and texts that survived in foreign lands after Buddhism and its texts disappeared from India by the mid-second millennium. Our chief sources for Nalanda are the writings of Xuanzang and Yijing, who spent two to three and ten years there, respectively. They’ve left us a portrait of its life in the seventh century, including its physical spaces, practices and rhythms of daily life, finances, curriculum and other features of its monastic community.


Legends have long traced Nalanda’s origins to the Buddha himself. One that Xuanzang recorded in the seventh century CE speaks of a naga (serpent) named “Nalanda” who once lived in a pond in a mango grove, later the site of the Mahavihara. “Five hundred merchants,” he adds, “bought [the mango grove] for ten kotis of gold pieces and gave it to the Buddha,” who preached the law here for three months. From then on, it became a site of teaching and learning, and even Nagarjuna, the leading figure of Mahayana Buddhism and a “second Buddha” to some, was said to have taught here in the second century CE.


When Faxian passed through the adjoining “village of Nala” in c 407 CE, he noted a stupa with relics of Sariputra, one of the two closest disciples of the Buddha. Sariputra, the locals told Faxian, was a native of Nala and so was cremated at the site of the stupa. Oddly, no community of monks had grown around the relics of a figure as eminent as Sariputra. Faxian did not mention any such community. It’s therefore reasonable to conclude that there was no monastery at Nalanda when Faxian visited in the early fifth century CE.


Nalanda Mahavihara likely arose a few years after Faxian’s visit – during the reign of Kumaragupta (reigned c 414-55 CE) – and lasted around eight centuries. The site’s legendary links with great names may well have shaped the decision to locate the monastery there.


After its demise in the thirteenth century, Nalanda lay forgotten and buried under mounds of earth for centuries. It was Stanislas Julien’s French translation of Xuanzang’s travels in 1853 that kindled interest among colonial archaeologists in identifying the site, which they soon did. In 1862, Alexander Cunningham and the freshly minted Archaeological Survey of India, which he founded, surveyed the site. The ASI led formal excavations and restorations at Nalanda from 1915-37 and then again from 1974-82.


Their work uncovered eleven monasteries, six temples and a giant stupa, aka the Great Monument. The monasteries, laid out in a row, face a parallel row of temples directly across. A 30-metre-wide path runs between the two rows. Each monastery, averaging about 40m x 60m, is made of oblong red bricks, once plastered with a paste of lime and sand. In Yijing’s time, there were seven monasteries, all “very similar in general appearance and layout; if you see one, you have seen all the seven”.


Entering one of the monasteries, I imagine being a monk in the seventh century and seeing what he would’ve seen: A Buddha shrine greets me by the main entrance. Walking through a thick-walled corridor, I reach an inner courtyard. It is enclosed on all four sides by two storeys of rooms, perhaps thirty-two on each floor. A veranda lines the courtyard on all four sides; stone pillars hold up a wooden roof over it. The open courtyard has a podium for lectures, a brick oven/stove, a well (with an octagonal cross-section, supposedly inspired by the eightfold path) and bathrooms with covered drains leading out.


Parts of the courtyard floors that aren’t brick or stone are daubed with a mixture of dried cow dung and straw, which provides termite repulsion, thermal insulation and a cleaner, firmer surface than mud. All rooms in the monastery have walls that are multiple feet thick. Teachers and students live together in the monastery; each year before the monsoon, the eldest monks are given the best rooms. Monks training to become temple priests get a room with a purpose-built niche for a holy image, to which they offer flowers and incense after bathing each morning.


Rooms host either one or two monks and have wooden doors. The monks sit on simple chairs, wood blocks or small mats. Each morning, the monks roll up their mattresses – two sewn sheets of cloth with a layer of wool in between. Pillows are stuffed with “home products, such as wool, hemp-scraps, the pollen of Typha latifolia, the catkins of the willow, cotton, reed, Tecoma grandiflora, soft leaves, dry moths, the ear-shells, hemp or beans”.


The monks store books and utensils in niches cut into the thick walls. All this reminds me of my own spartan hostel room at IIT Kharagpur, which too had just enough room for a narrow cot, a desk and a chair, and a cupboard with stone slabs for shelves.

I walk up to the Great Monument, which is still decorated with a few fine sculptural panels of stucco or stone. It has multiple stairs going to the top. In Yijing’s time, it had a “hall with mosaic floor”, a seat “made of gold and studded with jewels” and “an image of the Buddha Tathagata” turning the Wheel of Law. I try to imagine “the ornamentation of the [Great Monument that] was delicate and superb”, according to Yijing.


At its base may have been the famous library of Nalanda, though a Tibetan source speaks of a library with nine storeys, which seems implausible for the building technology of the day. In any case, the library’s location remains uncertain. It held the sorts of manuscripts that the Chinese pilgrims came in search of (at least eight finely illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts created at Nalanda during the Pala period still survive).


Nalanda was a place for advanced learning, not basic education. Some of its teachers both taught and composed path-breaking treatises and commentaries. A Nalanda education held serious cachet in the scholastic community, and it took in the best and the brightest. Or as Xuanzang puts it, they were “men of the highest ability and talent...there are many hundreds whose fame has rapidly spread through distant regions”.


Aspiring students had to be at least twenty years old and pass an oral exam at the monastery’s entrance. They had to “show their ability by hard discussion” and demonstrate a deep knowledge of “both old and new books before getting admission”. No more than two or three out of ten were admitted, and even they were promptly humbled by the caliber of their teachers and co-students. Nuns were admitted too but little record of their lives survives.

Source: https://scroll.in/article/985565/what-the-ruins-of-the-original-nalanda-university-tell-us-about-an-old-civilisation-of-india


Monday, February 24, 2020

New research at Nalanda varsity to raise farmers’ income !!

At Rajgir-based Nalanda University in Bihar, a new research entitled “Aquifer Storage & Recovery for Sustainable Agriculture” (ASRA) is being carried out by the School of Ecology and Environment Studies to create a model of “Aquifer Storage and Recovery” (ASR) technology using floodwaters to provide an opportunity to farmers to raise their income.

The research is being undertaken with support from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research.

The model aims to help farmers of south Bihar to raise their income through agriculture and allied activities with the help of assured irrigation from reuse of water stored beneath the surface during episodes of high rainfall, run-offs and water logging.

The project will benefit farmers by making them co-participants in the process...widespread recharge activities during the rainy season over several years is likely to build up an underground water bank...ASRA research will reveal if there is a net recharge of aquifers and if there is a positive impact on the natural water systems related to underground aquifers,” said a Nalanda University note.

‘Avant-garde courses’

“Innovative research is the only way forward for a global institution such as Nalanda. Our effort therefore has been to have avant-garde courses at the University and research aimed at building new regional structures with global peace and growth in the direction of development through emerging new research,” said Prof. Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the University.

Aquifer map

The university research is essentially focused on converging water solutions that primarily address the irrigation needs of an agrarian community but could also provide drinking water security with appropriate safeguards.

The project would also deliver a comprehensive aquifer map for recharge and estimation of the potential injection of surface water into the selected aquifer.

“A model for implementation, including awareness, local capacity and chain of facilities, will be available in a manual to ensure sustainability of the technology and wider adoption in the region in areas with similar hydro logical characteristics,” the University note on the research further said.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/new-research-at-nalanda-varsity-to-raise-farmers-income/article29483591.ece

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Nalanda University hasn’t received any contribution from East Asian countries since 3 years : MEA !!

Nalanda University is one of the oldest universities in India, dated back to 400 AD was founded during the reign of Gupta Emperor. It was ruined by Turkish leader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 but in 2006, former President APJ Kalam proposed the idea of reviving the university. So, in 2010, the university came into existence through Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU) between countries making Nalanda University an International Varsity supported by Australia, China, Laos and Thailand. But lately, MEA announced that no funds have been received from the countries for the last three years.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) led by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar informed the parliamentary committee that the last contribution by the participating countries was in August 2016 and only India has been contributing with the last installment released in July 2019.

“Nalanda University is an excellent institution for intellectual, philosophical and historical studies and the delay in the project completion is highly condemnable,” the committee said.

Before August 2016, Australia and China granted $1 million each, Thailand gave $132,000 while Laos gave $50,000. The construction of the university is said to be finished by 2021-2022.

Nalanda University situated in Bihar has been named as an ‘International Institute of National Importance’ by the Parliament of India. Lord Buddha, Mathematician Aryabhatta, Emperor Harshvardhan and Buddhist master Atisa are said to be a part of the original Nalanda University.
Source: https://bit.ly/37smosX

Sunday, December 29, 2019

BJP Demands Name Change Of Bihar Railway Station To Nalanda Or Rajgir !

A BJP member today made a demand in Rajya Sabha to name the Bakhtiyarpur Railway Station in Bihar after famous Buddhist tourist spots, saying it was a matter of concern that oppressor Bakhtiyar Khalji who destroyed Nalanda University was still being glorified.
Gopal Narayan Singh (BJP) demanded that Railways immediately change the name of Bakhtiyarpur Railway Station to Nalanda or Rajgir, saying Khalji had destroyed the world-famed Nalanda University and killed 2,000 to 3,000 Buddhist monks.

He said the magnitude of destruction could be gauged from the fact that books of the university kept burning for two to three years.

He said burnt books are still being recovered in fresh excavations in 6 km area around the university and the government should immediately remove the name of the oppressor from all such places.

Raising another issue, Prashant Nanda (BJD) demanded a masterplan for conservation and protection of world famous Konark Temple in Odihsa, a UNESCO heritage site.

Samir Oraon (BJP) raised the issue of neglect of tribals even after over 70 years of Independence and demanded that a separate autonomous university for tribals be set up in Jharkhand.
Source: https://bit.ly/2SG3879

Friday, December 20, 2019

New research at Nalanda varsity to raise farmers’ income !!

At Rajgir-based Nalanda University in Bihar, a new research entitled “Aquifer Storage & Recovery for Sustainable Agriculture” (ASRA) is being carried out by the School of Ecology and Environment Studies to create a model of “Aquifer Storage and Recovery” (ASR) technology using floodwaters to provide an opportunity to farmers to raise their income.

The research is being undertaken with support from the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research.

The model aims to help farmers of south Bihar to raise their income through agriculture and allied activities with the help of assured irrigation from reuse of water stored beneath the surface during episodes of high rainfall, run-offs and water logging.


“The project will benefit farmers by making them co-participants in the process...widespread recharge activities during the rainy season over several years is likely to build up an underground water bank...ASRA research will reveal if there is a net recharge of aquifers and if there is a positive impact on the natural water systems related to underground aquifers,” said a Nalanda University note.


‘Avant-garde courses’
“Innovative research is the only way forward for a global institution such as Nalanda. Our effort therefore has been to have avant-garde courses at the University and research aimed at building new regional structures with global peace and growth in the direction of development through emerging new research,” said Prof. Sunaina Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the University.

Aquifer map
The university research is essentially focussed on converging water solutions that primarily address the irrigation needs of an agrarian community but could also provide drinking water security with appropriate safeguards.

The project would also deliver a comprehensive aquifer map for recharge and estimation of the potential injection of surface water into the selected aquifer.

“A model for implementation, including awareness, local capacity and chain of facilities, will be available in a manual to ensure sustainability of the technology and wider adoption in the region in areas with similar hydrological characteristics,” the University note on the research further said.
Source: https://bit.ly/34FbZs3

Nalanda University hasn’t received any contribution from East Asian countries since 3 years !!

Nalanda University is one of the oldest universities in India, dated back to 400 AD was founded during the reign of Gupta Emperor. It was ruined by Turkish leader Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 but in 2006, former President APJ Kalam proposed the idea of reviving the university. So, in 2010, the university came into existence through Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU) between countries making Nalanda University an International Varsity supported by Australia, China, Laos and Thailand. But lately, MEA announced that no funds have been received from the countries for the last three years.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) led by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar informed the parliamentary committee that the last contribution by the participating countries was in August 2016 and only India has been contributing with the last installment released in July 2019.

“Nalanda University is an excellent institution for intellectual, philosophical and historical studies and the delay in the project completion is highly condemnable,” the committee said.

Before August 2016, Australia and China granted $1 million each, Thailand gave $132,000 while Laos gave $50,000. The construction of the university is said to be finished by 2021-2022.

Nalanda University situated in Bihar has been named as an ‘International Institute of National Importance’ by the Parliament of India. Lord Buddha, Mathematician Aryabhatta, Emperor Harshvardhan and Buddhist master Atisa are said to be a part of the original Nalanda University.

Source: https://bit.ly/2sNFkmQ

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

15th Finance Commission praises achievements of Nalanda University !

The Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission N K Singh appreciated the Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University, Prof Sunaina Singh, for making giant strides in building the academic architecture of the varsity besides accelerating the construction work of the new campus from a mere 0.28 per cent to 40 per cent within a year.

Appreciation from the Commission's Chairman and its members came following Prof Sunaina Singh’s comprehensive presentation on achievements of the varsity during the members visit to the campus. Prof N K Singh expressed happiness over the introduction of new academic roadmap, opening a new School of Languages, outreach activities in the villages in varsity’s neighbourhood, administrative reforms, opening health centre for students and staff, fixing norms for financial transparency and so on.

The Chairman expressed hope that he was looking forward to classes being conducted in the new campus early next year. It may be mentioned here that Prof Sunaina Singh after her successful stint in Hyderabad as Vice-Chancellor of the English & Foreign Languages University which elevated to head Nalanda University.  The varsity has partnered with 18 East Asia Summit Member countries to revive, build and promote the ancient seat of knowledge. Prof. Sunaina Singh was selected from among nearly 200 candidates for the prestigious post.

During her presentation to the members of the Finance Commission, Prof Sunaina Singh explained the progress being made by the varsity. Prof Singh also presented to the Commission matters related to the status of enhancement of the academic programmes. The enrollment status of students starting from 12 in 2014 to the current year numbering more than 300, plan of setting up of four research centres and PhD programmes in 2019 indicated the progress being made.

The university is also supporting locals by employing them in various capacities. Prof. Singh wrapped up stating that the aim was to complete the construction by 2020, and introduce four more schools by the time the campus is ready. The members of the Finance Commission team included experts like Shaktikanta Das, Former Revenue Secretary, Prof Anoop Singh, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, Washington DC and Dr Ashok Lahiri, former Economic Advisor to the Government of India. The Members of the Commission planted saplings to mark the occasion.
Read more: https://goo.gl/UxZdiv

What the ruins of the original Nalanda university tell us about an old civilization of India ?

  Our knowledge of Nalanda comes from three kinds of primary sources: archaeology, epigraphy (the study of inscriptions) and texts that surv...