Ancient · Buddhist · India

Nalanda Mahavihara

Nalanda, Bihar · 25.1358°, 85.4426°

Monastic universityGuptaMahavihara (brick)UNESCO World Heritage

Sacred since

427 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

founded 5th c. CE (Kumaragupta I)

patron: Gupta and Pala emperors

History & significance

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.

Sthala katha — the legend

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.

Reaching there

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.

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