Nalanda University New Campus Inaugurated, Know Interesting Facts And History Of World’s First Residential University

Nalanda University Historic Significance: Established in the fifth century, the Nalanda University is believed to be the first residential university in the world and is located in Rajgir, Nalanda district of Bihar. Designated as an Institute of National Importance (INI), the international university is a postgraduate university and offers Masters and PhD courses. The university is in the headlines again as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated its new campus today, on June 19. On this monumental day, read to know about the history and significance of the university, interesting facts about the institute and how it was destroyed centuries ago…

When Was Nalanda University Founded?

The exact date when the Nalanda University was founded is still not known but it is said that the university was started in the fifth century CE and it reached its peak in the eighth and ninth centuries CE, during the reign of Pala Dynasty. With subjects ranging from Ayurveda, astronomy and mathematics to Buddhism, grammar and Indian philosophy, students from across the world came to Nalanda to study, including China.

Nalanda University: Historical Significance

The Nalanda University was one of the most prestigious institutes in the world at that time and admission here was extremely tough including a string of interviews with the top professors teaching there. Aryabhatta, the Indian scientist who invented zero, was also a professor at the university; Buddhist masters like Silabhadra and Dharmapala tutored the students at Nalanda. One of the biggest highlights of the Nalanda University was its library – Dharma Gunj (Mountain of Truth) which had over nine million manuscripts which were handwritten on a palm-leaf and the world’s richest repository of Buddhist knowledge.

How Was Nalanda University Destroyed?

The Nalanda University, world’s first residential university which held great importance across the world, was set ablaze in the 1190s, by a Turko-Afghan military general Bakhtiyar Khilji. According to reports, the fire was so massive that it kept raging for almost three months, completely destroying the prestigious educational institution and reducing it to mere ashes. Six centuries later in 1812, the university was rediscovered by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, a Scottish surveyor and it was identified as the ancient university in 1861 by Sir Alexander Cunningham.