Revived Nalanda – the World’s Oldest Buddhist University – must be led by a Committed Buddhist as in the past
Posted on August 1st, 2013
Shenali D Waduge
In 1193 A.D. Nalanda, the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s oldest Buddhist university was ransacked and destroyed by foreign invaders led by the Turkish Bakhityar Khiliji because the 14 acre ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-giver of knowledgeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ was a strong pillar of Buddhism and attracted students from all over the then known world, including countries such as Turkey and Persia.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The invaders burnt to ruins the magnificent library and other architectural masterpieces of the Nalanda University.
In 2006, it was announced that Nalanda University was to be revived with the efforts and contributions of numerous countries. However, the issue is that old Nalanda was essentially a Buddhist place of learning promoting Buddhist beliefs and philosophy ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” the new architects are ironing out a creation of ancient Nalanda with a modern twist to include subjects that are taught in general universities thereby denying the Buddhist niche that Nalanda epitomized.
The Buddhist leaders and the Buddhist world need to make clear that if Nalanda is to be revived it must remain a Buddhist university both in its aims and objectives, promoting Buddhist idealism and not be turned into a secular one. Nalanda must remain true to its origins, attached to its moorings, and reflect its unique heritage and the set of beliefs it fostered for over 700 years until it was brought down through death and destruction by invading Islamic armies that had no respect for the othersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ beliefs and the institutions that sustained and promoted such beliefs through study and learning. It would be outrageous if this new initiative of a group of people led by Amartya Sen ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” Professor at Harvard University were to achieve what the iconoclasts could not do; erase old Nalanda from public memory that is still kept alive by the well preserved ruins of that outstanding Buddhist University.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Why cultural heritage is important
Cultural heritage is the legacy ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ tangible cultureƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (buildings, monuments, books, landscape, works of art and artifacts),ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ intangible cultureƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (traditions, language, knowledge, folklore) andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ natural heritageƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ (biodiversity and culturally significant landscapes) belonging to a group that they inherited from past generations, to be maintained in the present for the benefit of future generations.
Preservation and Conservation become two important attributes towards ensuring that cultural heritage is unique and irreplaceable. This is why UNESCO has declared 936 World Heritage Sites, 725 cultural, 183 natural, 28 mixed properties in 153 countries.
In modern times where structural engineering cannot match the marvels of histories past, what needs to be reiterated is that cultures that left legacies for present generations to feel proud of their ancestors should not be despised or subtly desecrated because a handful of other cultures did not leave such legacies. Therefore, liberals and secularists and those who believe in iconoclasm should not use their positions to dilute the pride that cultures and heritage sites continue to provide and Nalanda is just one case in point.
Sacrilege
It would be totally out of context and tantamount to religious sacrilege to declare the revival of a Buddhist institution where it was a seat of Buddhist learning for over a period of 700 years with 2000 Buddhist teachers and 10,000 Buddhist students, Medium of learning was in Sanskrit. Curriculum covered different forms of Buddhism including Theravada, Buddhist law, Buddhist politics. Theravada administration, astronomy etc, and then in the same breadth say that important subjects relevant to AsianƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ integration would be taught at the new Nalanda without allocating a special place to Buddhist studies and Buddhist ideals.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Hieun Tsang, says that 100 lectures were delivered daily. It was referred to as ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-internationalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ because the Buddhist students came from China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, Myanmar, Mongolia etc. The 3 libraries at Nalanda (Ratna-Sagara, Ratna-Nidi and Ratna-Ranjana) were 9 storeys high.
“When Xuanzang was at Nalanda, it was a vibrant place, packed with scholars, with seminars, teaching and debate. It was a kind of Buddhist ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Ivy LeagueƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ institution — all the deepest ideas about Buddhism were explored and dissected at Nalanda.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ (Mishi Saran, an Indian author now based in Shanghai).
The Dalai Lama himself has hailed Nalanda as the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-source of all the [Buddhist] knowledge we have.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Indeed, the foundations of what we now call Tibetan Buddhism were formed at Nalanda.
Brilliant Buddhist luminaries at Nalanda
Legend has it that Nalanda was graced by the presence of some of IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s most brilliant Buddhist luminaries such as Nagarjuna and his closest disciple Aryadeva ( being a Sinhalese from Anuradhapura), Dharmapala, Silabhadra, Santarakshita, Kamalaseela, Bhaviveka, Dignaga, Dharmakeerthi among others. The works they left behind are mostly available in Tibetan and Chinese translations. The originals perished when foreign invaders under Bhaktiar Khilji, the invader of Magadha, set fire to Nalanda and beheaded the monks. When the monks were about to have their meals. This is revealed in the archeological remains which show food abandoned in a great hurry. Charred rice from the granaries also reveal this sad tale.
Mongols accept challengeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Nalanda University is no more not because Buddhists gave up learning Buddhism but because foreign invaders not only massacred the Buddhist monks and Buddhist students but burnt the books in the library. It is said that the books continued to burn over a considerable length of time with the sky turning black due to the smoke. It was in realizing the destruction that had occurred to the six great Buddhist Universities of India which had international fame beingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 1. Nalanda, 2. Vickramasila, 3. Odantapuri, 4. Jagaddala 5. Somapura and 6. Vallabhi, that stirred Buddhist Asia especially among the yellow race and particularly among Mongolians that accepted the challenge to free Asia from foreign domination and influence that led to counter attacks by Genghis Khan and decades later in time by his grandson Hulagu under whose leadership, the Mongols captured South West Asia, destroyed the greatest center of Islamic power,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Baghdad, including the Caliphate and also weakenedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Damascus considerably resulting in the shift of Islamic influence to the MamluksƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Cairo. These Mongolian attacks were meant to avenge the death and destruction that invaders from South West Asia, Middle East and West Asia had wrought on central Asians and people of the Indian sub ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” continent through repeated and unceasing invasions.
While being grateful to the donations from various foreign Governments to revive the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s most ancient university, what needs to be reiterated is that it should not be turned into simply a secular international university totally suppressing its Buddhist cultural identity. We like to see committed Buddhists leading dedicated Buddhist Universities. Buddhism is not a showboat religion. It is still very much a living religion and its practices and institutions must be preserved and respected accordingly.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Business ventures are important but not to the extent of transforming a highly venerated historic Buddhist educational institution into something else that will hardly have any Buddhist colouring. This is simply unacceptable to the Buddhists of the world.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
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August 1st, 2013 at 8:18 pm
True, I agree with SW’s contention that Nalanda should be a Buddhist university. However, I think that in the contemporary world, Nalanda would not survive if it were to adopt the extreme of a curriculum based on Buddhist philosophy only,
People like Shyaman Jayasinghe (Melbourne writer) and Ben Silva (of London) would be appalled by the idea of a university confined to Buddhist philosophy alone.
Even L. Jayasooriya (the self-described Buddhist revisionist) might object to revive Nalanda until we determine what Buddhism is really about.
The best approach is to follow the Middle Path and make Nalanda a true university straddling or avoiding the extremes of yin (say Eastern philosophy) and yang ( Western philosophy).
August 2nd, 2013 at 6:43 am
The new Nalanda University should retain an essentially Buddhist flavor while allowing other ideas, ancient & modern, to flourish as well. The essential Buddhist flavor which must be the predominant flavor in the new University could be reflected in the Board of Directors (2 or 3 prominent Buddhists, one could be the Dalai Lama), the architecture of the buildings & the surrounding gardens, the libraries, some of the courses of studies, and some of the food in the cafeterias.
For Indian authorities to let go Nalanda Buddhist heritage would be committing a bit of cultural suicide. What is prompting India to do so ?
Is the story of Jesus spending parts of his life in Kashmir/India having something to do with all this ?
August 2nd, 2013 at 11:49 am
One other ancient monastic Buddhist University of India was not mentioned and that was the university of Taxila which rivaled Nalanda and like Nalanda was destroyed by the Buddhists. During the time when Nalanda attracted scholars and students from the Buddhist world, many of it’s original scriptures were taken back to these Buddhist nations, including Sri Lanka.
My Grandfather was a Pali Scholar where Bikkus would come to him with ancient Buddhist scripts that were difficult to translate. Having stated that I believe that among Sri Lanka’s many Buddhist Viharas are documents from the Nalanda University including from others. Since most of Sri Lanka’s ancient Buddhist scriptures have not been destroyed there is a great possibility that Sri Lanka may have original works from many Indian Buddhist Universities including from Nalanda and Taxila
If so then Sri Lanka should build a monastic Buddhist university along the lines of the original structure of Nalanda. A comprehensive study of ancient manuscripts should be done to identify those from Nalanda and transfer them to this new Buddhist university. The architects and engineers should pattern the structure according to the ancient traditions. This would be a tribute to Buddhism after 30 years of a bloody war.
August 2nd, 2013 at 12:16 pm
Re the actual Destruction of both Taxila & Nalanda, here’s what a brief answer says :
“Who destroyed the libraries in Nalanda and Taxila Universities? Where were these located ?
There was a famous centre of education at Nalanda where Huen Shang the Chinese pilgrim who had come to India in 627 A.D. and stayed for two years for intensive studies of the Buddhist philosophy was destroyed by the Muslim invaders during Khilji’s attack in the 12th century.
The Taxila University was the oldest institute of its kind where scholars from Greece, Egypt, Anatolia, Persia, Turkey used to come from 4th century B.C. till 6th centuryA.D., but it was first destroyed by the Huns who had invaded India from North of present Russia in the 3rd Century A.D. But later what was left and grew during the intermitant period, the Muslim invaders destroyed in the !2th century A.D.”
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I would like to add here what I wrote earlier in under another article on the subject of Nalanda : Meditation rooms or a hall or two ought to be included in the new Nalanda University.
August 2nd, 2013 at 12:19 pm
The invading Portuguese destroyed a number of Buddhist temples and Buddhist libraries in Sri Lanka.
August 3rd, 2013 at 8:42 pm
I doubt it India will spend money to build Nalanda. they are interested only in hindu culture. sri lanka should money only if we are given the full control to manage it
August 5th, 2013 at 12:44 pm
If Sri Lanka spends money, it should be to upgrade our own ancient Buddhist sites and guard them properly.
There is something bigger going on in India, some sort of religio-political arrangement with the west. Now the theory is that Jesus Christ spent his missing years (age 13-28) and after the Crucifixion, in Kashmir/India.