The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.
Nalanda, Bihar · 25.1358°, 85.4426°
The greatest university of the ancient world — at its height home to up to 10,000 monks and masters of logic, medicine, mathematics and tantra, drawing Xuanzang and Yijing across deserts and seas. Its Pala-era professors carried Buddhism to Tibet. Destroyed around 1200 in Bakhtiyar Khalji's raids; its excavated brick core is UNESCO-listed, with a revived Nalanda University nearby.
What follows is the temple’s own traditional account, transmitted through liturgy and local memory. It is recorded here as tradition, not as attested history.
Xuanzang recorded that Nalanda's library, the nine-storeyed Dharmaganja, burned for months — its three great halls named Ocean of Gems, Sea of Gems, and Jewel-adorned.
The excavated Mahavihara lies 13 km from Bihar Sharif, 90 km from Patna, 95 km from Gaya and 110 km from Bodh Gaya, all on good roads with regular buses. Rajgir is the closest railway station, though the district administration calls Gaya, 95 km off, the nearest convenient railhead; the nearest airport is Patna at 89 km. Cycle rickshaws, autos and tongas are the only local transport to the ruins.
coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-26 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Gupta
Answers only from cited records
Opening the line…