ནཱ་ལེནྡྲའི་གཙུག་ལག་ཁང་ངོ་སྤྲོད་སྙིང་བསྡུས། (བོད་རྒྱ་དབྱིན་གསུམ།)

Nalanda: The World’s Earliest University Burned Down by Turkic Invaders

The University of Bologna, founded in 1087, is widely recognized as the world’s oldest university, followed by Oxford University established in 1167. However, Nalanda in India should be considered the world’s first university in the modern sense. Unfortunately, very few historical records about Nalanda remain, as most documents were destroyed along with Nalanda itself. Information about Nalanda now primarily relies on Tibetan literature and the travel records of Xuanzang.

Nalanda (Sanskrit: नालंदा, Nālandā; Tibetan: དཔལ་ནཱ་ལེན་དྲ།) was an ancient place name in India, located near Rajgir in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, about 90 kilometers southeast of the modern city of Patna in Bihar. A Buddhist monastery called Nalanda Monastery was originally built there, which became the highest seat of learning and academic center for Buddhism in ancient central India. Nalanda Monastery was vast in scale, once housing up to 9 million volumes in its library. It produced generations of scholars, and at its peak, over 10,000 monk-scholars gathered there.

In 2016, Nalanda was listed as a World Heritage site. The exact time of Nalanda Monastery’s establishment or formation is unknown. In ancient times, Nalanda was a settlement. It was the birthplace of Shariputra, a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha, and one of the earliest areas where Buddhism spread. Legend has it that the site was originally Amrapali Garden, later bought by 500 merchants who donated it to the Buddha, who then taught there for three months. Through the construction efforts of successive kings, Nalanda Monastery became grand and magnificent.

The Sanskrit word “Nalanda” means “insatiable giving” or “giving without weariness.”

During its peak, Nalanda Monastery had over 100 lecture platforms daily, with courses including Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. By the 8th century, Nalanda Monastery had become an academic center for Vajrayana and an important spiritual site.

In the 11th century CE, Turkic invaders attacked Nalanda Monastery.

In 1204, the last abbot of Nalanda, Shakyashribhadra, fled to Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Thropu Lotsawa.

In 1235, the Tibetan translator Chag Lotsawa arrived at Nalanda Monastery and found a 90-year-old teacher named Rahula Shribhadra teaching over 70 students. Rahula is considered the last teacher at Nalanda Monastery before it was completely abandoned and fell into ruin.

Nalanda Monastery reached the pinnacle of Buddhist studies, but unfortunately, the Turkic invader Bakhtiyar Khalji was determined to uproot Buddhism from India completely. In 1193 CE, Khalji’s destruction of Nalanda is considered one of the most significant events in the decline of Buddhism in India. Persian historian Minhaz recorded in his chronicles that after Khalji invaded Nalanda, he burned the library for several months. “The smoke from the burning books rose like black smoke from a small mountain for many consecutive days.”

The monastery and library suffered severe damage, and many Nalanda monks fled to Tibet for refuge. From then on, Nalanda Monastery lost its former glory and was gradually forgotten, becoming ruins.

Countless Indian, Tibetan, and Eastern Buddhist scholars and philosophers came from Nalanda Monastery. One name stands out above all: ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ། Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna taught and served as abbot at Nalanda. He was a famous Mahayana Buddhist philosopher, honored as the “Second Buddha” in Indian Buddhist history. Active between 150-250 CE, he first developed the Madhyamaka philosophy of emptiness, laying the foundation for Mahayana Buddhist thought. He is best known for his works “Mulamadhyamakakarika” and “Mahaprajnaparamita Upadesa.” Nagarjuna widely influenced various Mahayana Buddhist schools; the Madhyamaka school considers him its founder, while the Yogacara and Tathagatagarbha schools also often use his works to prove the correctness of their doctrines.

The core teachings of Tibetan Buddhism’s exoteric and esoteric traditions also originated from Nalanda Monastery’s teachings and traditions. In the 8th century CE, Shantarakshita (Tibetan: ཞི་བ་འཚོ།), who first began teaching Buddhism in Tibet, was a great scholar from Nalanda. At the invitation of the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen, he established Samye Monastery and served as its first abbot. Padmasambhava, also a great adept from Nalanda Monastery, is considered one of the founders of Tibetan Buddhism. Marpa the Translator, the teacher of Milarepa, also studied at Nalanda.

The reconstruction of Nalanda University has been put on the agenda, with multiple Asian countries jointly funding its construction. Nalanda University has already begun enrolling students. Regardless, when one recalls the unparalleled academic prosperity of Nalanda Monastery in its heyday and witnesses today’s ruins, it is deeply saddening.