An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c10.s5.3

v1.c10.s5.3

Another such example is the site of NĀLANDĀ. Monastery 1 there, the most important of the monastery group, has nine structural phases. The find of an inscribed copper-plate of the Pāla king Devapāla (c. 810-50) has rendered it possible not only to date of one of these phases and its associated antiquities but also to formulate the relative chronology of the underlying and overlying phases. Similarly the fifth phase, with its interesting stucco figures, of the imposing main temple could be ascribed to the 6th century on the basis of an inscribed brick found within the core of a votive *stūpa* belonging to that phase of the temple. This inscription on the brick is dated in the year 197 which, referred to the Gupta era on the palaeographic considerations, works out to be A.D 516-7.