Nalanda University
Nālandā is an ancient Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE. It has been called “one of the first great universities in recorded history.” Some buildings were constructed by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great. The Gupta Empire also patronized some monasteries.
The complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as China, Greece, and Persia. Nalanda was sacked by Turkic Muslim invaders under Bakhtiyar Khalji in 1193, a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.
The library of Nalanda, known as Dharma Gunj (Mountain of Truth) or Dharmagañja (Treasury of Truth), was the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time. Its collection was said to comprise hundreds of thousands of volumes, so extensive that it burned for months when set aflame by Muslim invaders. The library had three main buildings as high as nine stories tall, Ratnasagara (Sea of Jewels), Ratnodadhi (Ocean of Jewels), and Ratnarañjaka (Delighter of Jewels).
Located in Nalanda University, an ancient international Buddist university in Bihar, India. Nalanda is one of the oldest universities in known history. At one time it housed approximately 10,000 students and 1,000 faculty. It was started in 427 CE
