Early medieval · Buddhist · India

Vikramashila

विक्रमशिला विश्वविद्यालय

Antichak, Bhagalpur, Bihar · 25.3244°, 87.2867°

Buddha (Vajrayana mahavihara)Pala—Buddhist circuit

Sacred since

780 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

late 8th–early 9th c. (Pala)

Pala

History & significance

One of the three great Pala mahaviharas alongside Nalanda and Odantapuri, founded by Dharmapala at Antichak near Kahalgaon and reputedly set up in response to a perceived decline at Nalanda. Its excavated plan is a huge square monastery of 208 cells around a cruciform stupa; it taught over a thousand students and was destroyed around 1193 by Bakhtiyar Khalji, its history preserved largely in Tibetan sources such as Taranatha.

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