India's lost university to rise from ashes

AFP ^ | 12 September, 2010 | AFP

[James C. Bennett]

NEW DELHI — Indian academics have long dreamt of resurrecting Nalanda University, one of the world's oldest seats of learning which has lain in ruins for 800 years since being razed by foreign invaders. Now the chance of intellectual life returning to Nalanda has come one step closer after the parliament in New Delhi last month passed a bill approving plans to re-build the campus as a symbol of India's global ambitions.

Historians believe that the university, in the eastern state of Bihar, once catered for 10,000 students and scholars from across Asia, studying subjects ranging from science and philosophy to literature and mathematics.

Founded in the third century, it gained an international reputation before being sacked by Turkic soldiers and its vast library burnt down in 1193 -- when Oxford University was only just coming into existence. Piles of red bricks and some marble carvings are all that remain at the site, 55 miles (90 kilometres) from Bihar's state capital of Patna.

"Nalanda was one of the highest intellectual achievements in the history of the world and we are committed to revive it," said Amartya Sen, the renowned economist and Nobel laureate who is championing the project.

"The university had 2,000 faculty members offering a number of subjects in the Buddhist tradition, in a similar way that Oxford offered in the Christian tradition," he said at a promotional event in New Delhi. The new Nalanda University has been allocated 500 acres (200 hectares) of land near its original location, but supporters who have lobbied for the cause for several years admit that major funds are needed if Nalanda is to rise from the ashes.

"Income from a number of villages, and funds from kings, supported the ancient Nalanda."

[James C. Bennett]

 

 

 

 

 

Ruins of Nalanda University

 

In 1193, the Nalanda University was sacked by the Islamic fanatic Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turk; this event is seen by scholars as a late milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. The Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj, in his chronicle the Tabaquat-I-Nasiri, reported that thousands of monks were burned alive and thousands beheaded as Khilji tried his best to uproot Buddhism and plant Islam by the sword; the burning of the library continued for several months and "smoke from the burning manuscripts hung for days like a dark pall over the low hills."

- Scott, David (May 1995). "Buddhism and Islam: Past to Present Encounters and Interfaith Lessons". Numen 42 (2): 141. doi:10.1163/1568527952598657.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[James C. Bennett]

Ping!

[sitetest]

“Islamic fanatic”

But you repeat yourself.

[Red Badger]

Indian academics have long dreamt of resurrecting Nalanda University, one of the world's oldest seats of learning which has lain in ruins for 800 years since being razed by foreign invaders.

See what happens when you don't control your borders?........

[ClearCase_guy]

Muslims burn universities and all the books held by the university.

Don't worry. The First Amendment protects them.

[pillut48]

Nalanda was sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders under Bakhtiyar Khalji in 1193, a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.Source: wikipedia.com

Ah, yet another historical example of the peacefullness and tolerant "Religion of Peace". Brings a tear to my eye! /sarc

[Dr. Sivana]

How can a Buddhist university be older than Buddhism?

[ClearCase_guy]

The enormous mosque in Instanbul is older than islam.

(It used to be the church of Hagia Sophia when the city was known as Constantinople -- the Muslims like to put mosques right on top of the places they conquer.)

[James C. Bennett]

Buddha was born in 563 BC.

This university’s existence began around 400 AD.

[Will88]

Indian academics have long dreamt of resurrecting Nalanda University, one of the world's oldest seats of learning which has lain in ruins for 800 years since being razed by foreign invaders.

And who might those foreign invaders have been? Doesn't the writer know.

Let's see, there was a Muslim invasion of India in 1194.

[James C. Bennett]

The Tang Dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang left detailed accounts of the university in the 7th century. Xuanzang described how the regularly laid-out towers, forest of pavilions, harmikas and temples seemed to “soar above the mists in the sky” so that from their cells the monks “might witness the birth of the winds and clouds.”

Xuanzang states: “An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade.”

Xuanzang also writes: “The lives of all these virtuous men were naturally governed by habits of the most solemn and strictest kind. Thus in the seven hundred years of the monastery’s existence no man has ever contravened the rules of the discipline. The king showers it with the signs of his respect and veneration and has assigned the revenue from a hundred cities to pay for the maintenance of the religious.”

- Rene Grousset. In the Footsteps of the Buddha. JA Underwood (trans) Orion Press. New York. 1971 p 159.

[Cicero]

“Foreign invaders.” “Turkic invaders.”

We wouldn’t want to put the blame on Muslims for burning books and universities and monks, would we? Thank you, AFP, for being so informative.

[JerseyHighlander]

Muslim apologists and propagandists have repeatedly repeated the lie that this Muslim invasion led to a 200 year Golden Age in the Muslim-controlled sub-continent.

If these lies were repeated in Patna today in the local dialect, it would cause widespread rioting by the local Hindi population... yet it is repeatedly made in the Anglophonic media, over and over again, never challenged.

[Enchante]

Islam is a religion of peace so this must be hostile propaganda from those who refuse to submit

Most likely the place was razed by Jews who are always trying to embarrass Islam

If thousands of monks died horrible burning deaths then we can be sure that Islam had nothing to do with it.

[denydenydeny]

foreign invaders

This part of the history of U Islam is never taught in the West.

"The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history,"--Will Durant

[swarthyguy]

Our Oriental Heritage has been on my list for a while.

From the temples in what is now Afghanistan, and prior to that the Zoroastrians of Persia, the rivers of blood spilt by Islami invaders in historical India defies comprehension.

[colorado tanker]

Xuanzang’s story is well worth a read itself. He traveled the Silk Road from China to Bactria and then worked south and east into India to study for several years before returning to China.

[Will88]

This part of the history of U Islam is never taught in the West.

"The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history,"--Will Durant

I wonder what percentage of Americans even know that the Muslims invaded India and occupied it for several centuries. Here's a quote from Daniel Pipe:

As a contribution to research on the quantity of the Islamic crimes against humanity, we may mention that the Indian (subcontinent) population decreased by 80 million between 1000 (conquest of Afghanistan) and 1525 (end of Delhi Sultanate)..

And I've read that Durant estimates that the Muslims slaughtered 75,000,000 Hindus over several centuries.

Daniel Pipes article

[RobbyS]

Hadn’t heard this story, but this sure beats the claim that the library at Alexander was burned by fanatic Christians. The more we learn about the true history of Islam, the more it shows that the most obscurantist Christians were pikers compared with the Muslims. History would show that the English rescued
the people of the subcontinent from Muslim tyranny, because although it was exploitive, The Raj also gave the people such good government that the Indians have tried, with some success, to imitate it.

[James C. Bennett]

Agreed, although India’s constitution is largely based on the US constitution, adopted after the British left (Britain has no written constitution).