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Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.s2.t8: (iv) Nālandā

Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c14.s2.t8

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(iv) Nālandā

v1.c14.s2.t8.1

At Buddha's time Nālandā was a small but prosperous village situated at a distance of a *yojana* from Rājagaha.² The usual residence of the monks was at the monastery *Pāvārika-ambavana*. There was another monastery midway between Rājagaha and Nālandā called *Ambalaṭṭhikā* where Rāhula stayed at times.³ From the nature of the discourses delivered there and from the particulars of the persons with whom Buddha entered into disputations, it appears that Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta had there a firm footing.⁴ Most of the discourses were intended to refute the doctrines of the Jaina faith, the disputants being Dīghatapassī, Upāli, Abhayarājakumāra, and Asibandhakaputta-gāmaṇi. From the *Bhagavatī Sūtra* also, we learn that Nālandā was the meeting place of Mahāvīra with Gosāla.

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² *Sum. Vil.*, p. 35; *Majjhima*, I, p. 377; *Dīgha*, I, p. 211. It is stated in Yuan Chwang's *Records* and *Mahāvastu* that Nālandā was the birth-place of Sāriputta, but in fact his birth-place was Nālaka which was an unimportant village near Nālandā.

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³ *Majjhima*, I, p. 414.

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⁴ *Ibid.*, I, pp. 379, 392 ff.; *Saṃyutta*, IV, pp. 110, 317, 323; *Mahāvastu*, III, p. 56.

Cites (4)