History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.401

v2.c24.s1.401

It is outside the scope of this work to show from the numerous inscriptions and copper-plate grants that have been published so far, how ancient kings and rich private persons made substantial grants to famous schools, colleges and universities. There were famous universities at Takṣaśīlā (modern Taxila), Valabhī, Benares, Nālandā, Vikramaśīlā &c. For an account of the university of Nālandā in the 7th century reference may be made to the accounts given by the two Chinese travellers Yuan Chwang (vide Watters vol. II. pp. 109, 246) and Itsing ('Records of the Buddhist Religion' by Dr. Takakusu pp. 154, 177 &c.). Most of those seats of learning were endowed. One of the earliest of such grants is that of the Pallava Nṛpatuṅga-varman (Bahur Plates, E. I. 18 p. 5) whereby three villages were bestowed as a source of revenue (vidyābhoga) for the promotion of learning to the residents of a seat of learning (vidyāsthāna, a college) at Vāgūr. The Kāvyamīmāṁsā of Rājaśekhara (in chap. 10) calls upon the king to hold assemblies of poets and learned men, to arrange for their examination and to distribute rewards to them in the manner of such ancient kings as Vāsudeva, Sātavāhana, Śūdraka, Sāhasāṅka. It also says that in Ujjayinī such poets as Kālidāsa, Meṇṭha, Bhāravi, Haricandra were examined and in Pāṭaliputra (modern Patna) such famous śāstrakāras as Pāṇini, Vyāḍi, Vararuci, Patañjali, Varṣa, Upavarṣa, and Piṅgala were examined.