Education in Ancient India c7.s5.2

c7.s5.2

An International University: Vikramaśilā monastery, founded by king Dharmapāla in the 8th century, was a famous centre of international learning for more than four centuries. King Dharmapāla (c. 775-800 A. D.) was its founder; he built temples and monasteries at the place and liberally endowed them. He also erected several halls for the lecturing work. His successors continued to patronise the University down to the 13th century.¹ The monks of the establishment were usually distinguished scholars and the fame of the monastery soon spread beyond the Himalayas. There was continuous intercourse going on between Tibet and Vikramaśilā for four centuries. A special guest house was maintained for the use of Tibetan scholars coming to learn at the feet of Indian Pandits.² One cannot help admiring the continuous tradition of high scholarship that was maintained at Vikramaśilā throughout its history. Tibetan sources inform us that Buddha, Jñānapāda, Vairochana, Rakshita, Jetāri Ratnākara-Śānti, Jñāna-śrī-mitra, Ratnavajra, Abhayankaragupta, Tathāgata-rakshita and a host of other Vikramaśilā scholars wrote numerous books in Sanskrit and translated scores of them in Tibetan. The most distinguished in this galaxy of Vikramaśilā scholars was undoubtedly Dīpaṅkara Śrī-Jñāna, more commonly known as Upādhyāya Atīśa, who flourished in the 11th century A.D. He went to Tibet at the invitation of its king Chan Chūb and played an important part in the reformation of the Buddhism of that country. As many as 200 books, both original and in translation, have been attributed to him by the Tibetan tradition.³