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Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32: Chapter XXIV: Universities

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c32

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Chapter XXIV: Universities

I. Nālandā

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¹ *References.*—(1) H. D. Sankalia's *University of Nālandā* [Indian Historical Research Institute Series]; (2) Dr. S. C. Vidyābhushaṇa's *Mediaeval School of Indian Logic*, and (3) *History of Indian Logic*; (4) P. Basu's *Indian Teachers of Buddhist Universities*, and (5) *Indian Teachers in China*; and the Source-books: (6) Buniyo Nanjio's *Catalogue of Buddhist Tripiṭaka*, and (7) Dr. P. C. Bagchi's *Le Canon Bouddhique En Chine*.

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**Early History.** Nālandā was the name of an ancient village which Cunningham [*Ancient Geography of India*, p. 468] identified with modern Baragaon, 7 miles north of Rajgir in Bihar. The earliest mention of the place is that in the Buddhist scriptures which refer to a Nālandā village near Rājagṛiha with a Pāvārika (or Pāva) Mango Park in Buddha's time [*Sum. Vil.*, p. 35; *Maj. Nik.*, vol. i, p. 377; cf. *Dīgha*, i, 221, 212; ii, 81–4]. The Jain texts carry the history earlier than the Buddhist. It was the place where Mahāvīra had met Gosāla and was counted as a *bāhira* or suburb of Rājagṛiha where Mahāvīra had spent as many as fourteen rainy seasons [*Bhagavatī Sūtra*]. A later Jain work, *Sametasikhara Tīrthamālā*, even mentions Burgaon as the then name of Nālandā. According to *Sūtrakṛitāṅga* [*SBE.*, xlv, 420], Nālandā had hundreds of houses and counted a rich citizen, Lepa, possessed of many "slaves, cows, buffaloes, sheep, horses, beds, seats, vehicles, chariots, gold and silver wares", who offered his hospitality to the Buddha and became his disciple. Next, Tārānāth, in his *History of Buddhism* (of *c.* A.D. 1500), records the tradition that Nālandā was the birthplace of Sāriputta whose *Chaitya* was seen by Asoka who added a temple to it. And "in this way the first founder of the Nālandā *vihāra* was Asoka" (p. 72). But the place did not become educationally important before the rise of Mahāyāna Buddhism at the beginning of the Christian era. Tārānāth makes Nāgārjuna spend a large part of his life at Nālandā, with which he also associates his pupil, Ārya Deva. As these two Buddhist literary celebrities are generally assigned to the fourth century A.D., we may conclude that the institution had by that time become sufficiently known to have attracted scholars from the South from which both of them hailed. The importance of the place may be traced to the further interesting fact testified to by Tārānath that a Brahman contemporary of Nāgārjuna, Suvishṇu by name, erected there as many as 108 temples for the conservation of the Abhidharma of the Mahāyāna. It is also said [*cf. JASB.*, vol. i, N.S., p. 227] that the celebrated Buddhist Logician, Diṅnāga, came on invitation to Nālandā where he defeated in argument the Brahman Sudurjaya and other Tīrtha dialecticians. Since Diṅnāga was a disciple of Vasubandhu, he must have lived about A.D. 400. This story shows that Nālandā even in the fifth century was still the seat of Brahmanical learning and the chosen home of the Tīrthikas. This fact may explain why it has not received any notice in the hands of Fa-Hien in whose evidence we come, however, upon solid historical ground.

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**Nālandā as known to Fa-Hien.** Nālandā, when Fa-Hien visited it, was called Nāla and was known as the place "where Śāriputta was born, and to which also he returned, and attained here his *pari-nirvāṇa*. Over the spot (where his body was burned) there was built a tope" which Fa-Hien found "still in existence" (p. 81, Legge's ed.). This is all that Fa-Hien could record about the condition of the institution in the fourth century which within the next three centuries grew up to be the greatest centre of Buddhist learning, as observed and described by Hiuen Tsang who stayed there for the total period of about five years. There is, however, a view that Fa-Hien did not at all visit Nālandā, and that the village, Nāla, which he had visited as the birthplace of Sāriputta, is called Nālaka or Nalagrāma in the Sudarśana Jātaka.

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**Account of Hiuen Tsang: Its Name.** Hiuen Tsang mentions two traditions regarding the origin of the name of Nālandā given to the monastery It was called after a dragon living in a tank in a Mango Park existing to the south of the monastery. This tradition is rejected by Hiuen Tsang but accepted by I-tsing (Watters, ii, 166). Hiuen Tsang prefers the Jātaka story referring the name to the epithet "Insatiable in giving" (*na-alam-dā*), which was won by the Buddha for his liberality in a former birth as king of this country.

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**Its Original Endowment.** He further informs us regarding the origin of the monastery that its grounds were the gift to the Buddha by 500 merchants who bought them up for the purpose for as many as "ten koṭi of gold coins" (ib., 164).

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**Later Endowments: Construction of six storied Monasteries.** This original endowment was the precursor of a continuous series of endowments through the centuries by a succession of sovereigns. The endowments took the form of buildings as well as lands from which came the wherewithal for the maintenance of the University. Hiuen Tsang thus mentions six monasteries as having been built by as many kings and these constituted the Nālandā establishment in his time. These six kings¹ were Śakrāditya, his son and successor Buddhagupta, Tathāgatagupta, Bālāditya, his son and successor Vajra, and an unnamed king of Mid-India. The King of Mid-India may be taken to be Harsha. He built a *vihāra* of brass at Nālandā [*Life*, p. 159], a high wall round the buildings, and a *saṁghārāma*, besides making provision for feeding forty monks daily [Watters' *Yuan Chwang*, i, 216, 218; ii, 170]. He was free for all this benefaction after disposing of that great enemy of himself and Buddhism, Śaśāṅka, King of Gauḍa [as suggested by H. Heras in *JBORS.*, xiv 15]. At the formal opening of the monastery built by Bālāditya, "Brethren from all quarters were present by invitation of the king" (ib.). Of these six monasteries, the oldest, the Śakrāditya monastery, was probably not in a fit condition to be used as residence for monks at the time of Hiuen Tsang's visit, because he refers to the custom of forty Brethren being daily sent from another monastery to take their food there so as to keep up the memory of the establishment and of its generous founder. The University area was marked off by a lofty enclosing wall being built with one gate.² The gate opened into the great college, from which were separated eight other halls, standing in the middle of the Saṁghārāma [*Life*, p. 111]. The buildings, all storied ones, were majestic in their size and height, with richly adorned towers, fairy-like turrets appearing like pointed hill-tops, and observatories lost in the mists of the morning. Even the upper rooms towered above the clouds, and from their windows one could see the winds and clouds producing ever new forms, and from the soaring eaves the sunset splendours and the moonlit glories. This observation of Hiuon Tsang is corroborated by the Nālandā Stone Inscription of Yaśovarman of the eighth century A.D., stating how the row of monasteries (*vihārāvalī*) had their series of summits (*śikhara-śreṇī*) licking (*avalehi*) the clouds (*ambudhara*). Down below, the grounds were variegated by deep, translucent ponds bearing on their bosom the blue lotus intermingled with Kanaka flower of deep red colour, while at intervals the Āmra groves spread over all their shade. The massive external grandeur of the buildings contrasted with the delicate artistic beauty of their interior. "All the outside courts, in which are the priests' chambers, are of four stages. The stages have dragon-projections, and coloured eaves, pearl-red pillars, carved and ornamented, richly adorned balustrades, while the roofs are covered with tiles that reflect the light in a thousand shades. These things add to the beauty of the scene. The Saṁghārāmas of India are counted by myriads, but this is the most remarkable for grandeur and height" (ib.). Hiuon Tsang also remarks: "In this establishment, the work of a succession of sovereigns, the sculpture was perfect and really beautiful" [Watters, ii, 165]. He also saw an image of Buddha in the Śakrāditya monastery [ib.]. I-tsing saw eight halls and 300 apartments in the whole monastery (p. 154).

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¹ It is difficult to establish the historicity or chronology of these six kings. Śakrāditya may be taken to be Kumāragupta I (A.D. 414–454) on the ground that Kumāragupta assumed the title of Mahendrāditya and Mahendra is the name of Śakra or Indra. Buddhagupta is the Gupta Emperor Budhagupta (c. A.D. 475–500). Bālāditya perhaps corresponds to Narasiṁhagupta Bālāditya of imperial Gupta dynasty or the last Gupta emperor of that name who had fought the Hūṇas about A.D. 525. He may also be identified with "Parameśvara" Bālādityadeva, King of Magadha, of Gupta Inscription No. 46 of Fleet. The other two names, Tathāgatagupta, and Vajra, are not identified. There is also a view that Buddhagupta = Skandagupta; Tathāgatagupta = Puragupta (who showed his faith in Buddhism by placing the Crown Prince under Vasubandhu as tutor when he was known as King *Vikramāditya* and took the title of "*Śrī Vikramaḥ*" on his coins); and Vajra = Kumāragupta II.

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² Dr. Spooner rejects this particular interpretation of the original passage which, in his view, does not refer to "the main enclosing wall of the entire precinct but rather the wall of the Tārā temple on the north" [*A.S. Report*, 1916–17, Eastern Circle, p. 45].

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**Their remains as unearthed.** It may be noted that the truth of these remarks regarding the artistic wealth of the Nālandā buildings is being amply borne out by the archæological explorations carried out at their site. Cunningham declared that the sculptures found here were the finest in all India. Of the entire monastic complex, up to now have been unearthed (1) one monastery to the south, (2) the north-west corner of another, the northern monastery (3) the remains of a temple building farther to the north-east, and (4) another monastery to the west of (1).

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As regards (1), the most southerly of the big monastic complexes, the main dimensions have been traced out. The north wall has a length of 203 ft. and a thickness of 6 ft. 6 in., while the side walls measure 168 ft. in length and 7 ft. 6 in. in thickness. The walls are "composed of most superior bricks, NĀLANDA.

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No. 1—Bird's-eye view of Monasteries, showing cells with verandah, courtyard, well and shrine.

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of a light yellowish tint, and admirable texture, fitted together so perfectly that in some places the joints between the bricks are altogether inconspicuous. As brickwork, the construction is remarkable, far superior to any modern work that I have seen in recent years" [D. B. Spooner in A.S. Report, 1915–16, Eastern Circle, p. 35]. The rectangle formed by the main walls was lined with cells measuring severally 9 ft. 6 in., 10 ft. 11 in., and 12 ft. Some of these were single-seated and some double-seated with one or two benches of stone provided for sleeping. Each room also shows a niche to hold a lamp and another to hold books. Ovens of large sizes have also been unearthed, showing the common kitchen and messing of the monks in the monastery.

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It has been found that this monastery had been repeatedly built over through successive ages and that at least five distinct monasteries have stood at different periods upon this spot. The lowest and oldest structure has yielded numerous antiquities comprising large sculptures and statuettes in stone and metal, attesting the high quality of the art. The finds at this site include multiple examples of the official seal of the Nālandā establishment, of the Śrī-Nālandā-Mahāvihara-Ārya-Bhikshu-Saṁghasya or "Venerable Community of Monks in the Great Vīhāra of Śrī-Nālandā". The Nālandā official seal curiously shows the same insignia as that of the monastery at Sārnāth, viz. the Wheel of Dharma flanked by two gazelles.

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No. (3) shows its plinth covered with an extensive series of sculptured plaques in stone comprising as many as 211 sculptured panels, all different, and thus important for the history of design in Ancient India.

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No. (2) shows a two-storeyed structure of which the few cells cleared yielded "one of the most perfect seated Buddhas", "quite a little gem" (*ib.*).

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No. (4) shows repeated occupation by successive structures being constructed not one above another but rather as outer integuments enveloping the older monument. At least three such successive envelopes are traceable with valuable stucco decoration on their innermost core. Among the finds of the site may be mentioned one colossal black-stone Bodhisattva still *in situ*, and a large and "very fine" figure of Avalokiteśvara.

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**Further Benefactions.** But besides gifts of buildings the University received gifts of lands. In Hiuen Tsang's time, "the king of the country remitted the revenues of about 100 villages for the endowment of the convent" (*Life*, p. 112). In I-tsing's time, "the lands in its possession bestowed upon the monastery by kings of many generations contained more than 200 villages" (p. 65). From these villages came to the monastery a daily supply of a large quantity of rice, weighing several hundred piculs (1 picul = 133⅓ lb.), and also of butter and milk, weighing several hundred catties (1 catty = 160 lb.) (*Life*, ib.). These provisions were contributed day by day by 200 householders in these villages (ib.).

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We may note here the history of royal benefactions which built up Nālandā and endowed its work for several centuries. After Harsha, Hiuen Tsang mentions King Pūrṇavarmā who "presented to Nālandā a figure of Buddha standing upright, and made of copper, 80 ft. high", to cover which he also had a pavilion erected of six stages [Watters, ii, 174]. This Pūrṇavarmā might have been a Maukhari (as suggested by H. Heras in *JBORS.*, xiv, p. 18). Again, one of the Seals found at Nālandā mentions a king named Sureśvaravarman and gives his genealogy [*Arch. S. Annual Report*, for 1917–18]. Further, an Inscription states that Mālāda, a minister of King Yaśovarmmadeva, made various gifts to the monks of Nālandā, provided for their daily food, and paid money which could buy up the whole Vihāra [*Epi. Ind.*, xx, 37]. Dr. Hirananda Sastri thinks this Yaśovarmmadeva is Yaśodharma of Mandasor Inscription and King of Malwa [*Modern Review*, September, p. 307; *Ep. Ind.*, ib., p. 41]. But it is more likely that he was King Yaśovarmmadeva of Kanouj (*c.* A.D. 728–745).

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Next followed the benefactions of the Pāla kings of Bengal. The name Dharmapāladeva occurs on a copper plate found at Nālandā bearing a defaced inscription [*Arch. S. R.*, 1926–7]. A number of metallic figures refers to King Devapāla [ib.]. Then there are two Inscriptions, one of which, as related below, refers to the construction at Nālandā of a Vihāra by Bālaputradeva, King of Suvarṇadvīpa (Sumātra), and the grant by King Devapāladeva of Bengal of five villages for the maintenance of this monastery at his request conveyed to the Pāla king by his ambassador named Balavarmman [*Ep. Ind.*, xvii, 310–327]. The other Inscription, called the Ghosrawa Inscription, relates how Devapāla favoured a Nālandā scholar named Vīradeva who was afterwards elected by the Assembly of Monks as the Head of the Vihāra [*Ind. Ant.*, xvii, 311]. Again, a figure of Goddess Vāgīśvarī bears an inscription which mentions King Gopāla II [*JASB.*, NS., iv, 105]. A Nālandā scholar named NĀLĀNDA No. 2.—A Stone Temple showing decorative store plinth.

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Kalyāṇamitra Chintāmani copied the valuable work *Ashṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā* in the sixth year of the reign of King Mahīpāla, son of Vigrahapāla, as a token of respect for the King. The same work was also copied in the reigns of Rāmapāla and Govindapāladeva who is not identified. Lastly, a votive Stūpa unearthed at Nālandā refers to the Gurjara-Pratihāra King Māhendrapāladeva who had conquered Magadha about the tenth century A.D. [*Arch. S. R.*, 1924-5, p. 86].

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**Free Education.** Out of the income of these estates the University provided for all its alumni free of cost their four requisites of clothes, food, bedding, and medicine. The number of the alumni in Hiuen Tsang's time "always" reached the figure of 10,000, counting "the priests belonging to the convent or strangers residing therein" (*Life*, ib.). The standard of living seems to have varied with the standing of the monks. Hiuen Tsang during his residence at Nālandā received each day 120 Jambiras (a fruit), twenty areca nuts, twenty nutmegs, an ounce of camphor, and a peck of the finest variety of rice called Mahāśāli rice which grew only in Magadha and nowhere else and was offered only to the king or to religious persons of great distinction It was "as large as the black bean", and, "when cooked, was aromatic and shining, like no other rice at all". Besides the supply of these provisions, "every month he was presented with three measures of oil, and, daily, a supply of butter and other things according to his need" (ib., p. 109). In I-tsing's time, the number of students supported at the monastery exceeded 3,000 (p. 65).

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**Concentration on Study.** The students "being so abundantly supplied", and having not had to worry about their material needs of life, "the four requisites," they could give themselves wholeheartedly to their studies and self-culture. "This is the source of the perfection of their studies to which they have arrived" (*Life*, p. 113). We have already noticed I-tsing's appreciation of this remarkable and necessary provision in Ancient Indian education.

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**Admission.** The conditions of admission to Nālandā show that it was run as an institution of higher learning or postgraduate studies. The institution was noted for its specialization in the last stages of a University education, for aiding in the solution of doubts, and training in the arts of disputation and public speaking. "Hence," says Hiuen Tsang (Watters, ii, 165), "foreign students came to the establishment to put an end to their doubts and then became celebrated." Some of these, according to I-tsing [ed. Takakusu, p. 26], came even from Mongolia. From the *Life* of Hluen Tsang [pp. xxvii-xxxvi] we learn that several foreign scholars from distant countries like China, Korea, Tibet, and Tokhara came to India for study at Nālandā, and securing valuable MSS. of Buddhism, during the short interval of forty years between the visits of Hiuen Tsang and I-tsing. They also came to achieve fame as scholars. I-tsing, like Hiuen Tsang, also testifies to this fact: "There eminent and accomplished men assemble in crowds, discuss possible and impossible doctrines, and after having been assured of the excellence of their opinions by wise men, become far famed for their wisdom" (p. 177). Thus Nālandā was practically a Research Institute for advanced students and was the highest court of judges of intellectual worth. The stamp of its approval was necessary for any opinion to gain currency in the country. The highest academic degree or distinction of the times was a Fellowship of Nālandā. As noted by Hiuen Tsang, "those who stole the name of Nālandā brother were all treated with respect wherever they went" (Watters, ib.). No wonder that this highly coveted and valued degree was liable to be "*stolen*". Hence it was by no means an easy matter to obtain admission to Nālandā. The entrance examination of Nālandā was very strict, so that its standard might be in keeping with that of its studies. The percentage of failures at the Matriculation Examination was necessarily very large. According to Hiuen Tsang, only about 20 per cent could succeed in obtaining admission to the University by passing its entrance test, and yet the University was never in want of students whose strength was 10,000 at that time! The doors of the University, comprising mainly "schools of discussion", were jealously guarded by the specialists in discussion, expert religious controversialists, who were always ready with difficult problems to try the competence of the claimants for admission. "Of those from abroad who wished to enter the Schools of Discussion, the majority, beaten by the difficulties of the problems, withdrew; and those who were deeply versed in old and modern learning were admitted, only two or three out of ten succeeding" [Watters, ii, 165].

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Considering the character of the Entrance Examination, the age of the students at admission must have been very high. It was as high as 20, considering their previous studies. According to I-tsing, a student at 15 had to study *Vritti-sūtra* which he finished at 20, after which he studied Philosophy for two or three years at advanced institutions like Nālandā or Valabhī [Takakusu, ed. I-tsing, pp. 175, 177, 181]. At the same time, it must be noted that this high age of admission applied only to the post-graduate section of Nālandā, and for advanced and external students. Nālandā also had its Department of Secondary Education for regular internal students for whom the above tests of admission did not apply. It admitted youngsters, the Brahmachārīs and Māṇavakas, freely, as already stated.

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**Standard of Scholarship.** When the Entrance Examination was such a hard, and thoroughly sifting, process, the quality of the material to be handled and fashioned by the University was assured. The academic life was lived there at a very high level, both on its intellectual and moral side. The students of Nālandā "were looked up to as models by all India", as observed by Hiuen Tsang (ib.). They were all ideal Buddhists "in the strictness with which they observed the precepts and regulations of their Order" (ib.). According to the *Life* (p. 112) "the priests dwelling here are, as a body, naturally or spontaneously dignified and grave, so that during the 700 years since the foundation of the establishment, there has been no single case of guilty rebellion against the rules". Their intellectual life corresponded to an equally strict standard and attained an equally high level of efficiency and success. A picture of that life is thus drawn by Hiuen Tsang: "In the establishment were some thousands of Brethren, all men of great ability and learning, several hundreds being highly esteemed and famous; learning and discussing they found the day too short; day and night they admonished each other, juniors and seniors mutually helping to perfection." The average standard of intellectual equipment and learning of the Nālandā students is thus indicated by our pilgrim: "If among them were any who did not talk of the mysteries of the Tripiṭaka, such persons, being ashamed, lived aloof" (ib.).

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**1,500 Teachers in Charge of 8,500 Students.** Out of the total number of 10,000 resident monks at Nālandā, as many as 1,510 belonged to the ranks of teachers. Of these, "there are 1,000 men who can explain twenty collections of Sūtras and Śāstras; 500 who can explain thirty collections and perhaps 10 (including Hiuen Tsang) who can explain fifty collections." Over them all, and over the entire establishment, presided Śīlabhadra, unique in learning and character. He "alone has studied and understood the whole number (of the collections of the Sūtras and Śāstras). His eminent virtue and advanced age have caused him to be regarded as the chief member of the community" (*Life*, p. 112).

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**One hundred Lectures per day.** As many as one hundred chairs or pulpits were arranged every day for the lectures or discourses by so many teachers living there, "and the students attend these discourses without any fail, even for a minute" (ib.). This means that a hundred different subjects were daily taught to as many different classes of students, and that work was going on at the colleges at all hours, except those prescribed for sleep.

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**Range of Studies, both Brahmanical and Buddhist.** Accordingly, the courses of study offered by the Nālandā University covered a wide range, almost the entire circle of knowledge then available. They were drawn from the different fields of learning, Brahmanical and Buddhist, sacred and secular, philosophical and practical, sciences and arts. The students at Nālandā, as stated in the *Life* (ib.), "all study the Great Vehicle, and also the works belonging to the eighteen sects, and not only so, but even ordinary works, such as the Vedas and other books, the Hetuvidyā, Śabdavidyā, the Chikitsāvidyā, the works on Magic or Atharvaveda, the Sāṁkhya; besides these, they thoroughly investigate the 'miscellaneous' works" (ib.). Hluen Tsang himself became a student of Nālandā for the study of the Yoga-śāstra, in which the Nālandā Chancellor, Śīlabhadra, was the highest living authority (ib., p. 107). His study of the Yoga-śāstra was followed by his study of other subjects like Nyāya, Hetuvidyā, Śabdavidyā, and the like,-as also of the books of the Brahmans with the wide area of knowledge covered by them including philological, legal, philosophical, astronomical subjects, and the Sanskrit Grammar of Pāṇini (*Life*, p. 121). "Thus he penetrated, and examined completely, all the collections of Buddhist books and also studied the sacred books of the Brahmans during *five* years"¹ (ib., p. 125). Thus Nālandā was the centre of all higher learning in all its branches. And so while it attracted a keen student of Mahāyāna like Hiuen Tsang who, though already a "Master of the Law", and honoured as such in India, yet found it profitable to stay there for some time for further intellectual progress, it equally attracted keen students of Hīnayāna like I-tsing, who took advantage of its education for fully a decade. Verily, Nālandā had the merit of collecting at one centre the available authorities on every subject of learning.

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¹ This is probably the source of the statement of Legge (*Fa-Hien*, p. 81 n.), that Hiuen Tsang lived at Nālandā for five years!

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**Famous Teachers mentioned by Hiuen Tsang.** Thus the fame of Nālandā as a centre of learning was principally due to the fame of its teachers among whom Hiuen Tsang mentions (with his penetrating characterizations) "Dharmapāla (the predecessor of Śīlabhadra as Chancellor of the Nālandā University) and Chandrapāla, who gave a fragrance to Buddha's teachings, Guṇamati and Sthiramati of excellent reputation among contemporaries, Prabhāmitra of clear argument, and Jinamitra of elevated conversation, Jñānachandra of model character and perspicacious intellect, and Śīlabhadra, whose perfect excellence was buried in obscurity".

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It may also be noted that Hiuen Tsang himself soon counted as one of the best products of Nālandā by his mastery of Mahāyāna Buddhism. For instance, when the emperor Harsha, while touring through Orissa, found there the dominance of Hīnayāna, whose priests ridiculed him for his misplaced gifts to Nālandā, he at once answered them by sending for four accomplished teachers of Mahāyāna from Nālandā. The four teachers selected for this deputation to Orissa included Hiuen Tsang himself, besides three others named Sāgaramati, Prajñāraśmi, and Siṁharaśmi [*Life*, p. 160]. Assam also was another kingdom which asked for Hiuen Tsang's spiritual ministration. Its king, Kumāra (Bhāskaravarman) sent for him with a letter carried by a special messenger to Śīlabhadra, the Abbot of Nālandā, whose delay in sending him caused the dispatch by the king of two more messengers and a threat of a military invasion of Nālandā and its destruction! [ib., pp. 170, 171. 187]. The King of Assam was in his turn given a similar rebuff by his more powerful chief, Harsha, asking him to send back the Chinese Pilgrim, then his guest, on pain of "losing his head". Thus Hiuen Tsang was very much in request for his learning which he had acquired as a student of Nālandā University.

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It is interesting to note that the late Dr. D. B. Spooner actually discovered a seal of Bhāskaravarman at Nālandā, probably the very seal accompanying his letter of demand to Śīlabhadra for Hiuen Tsang's deputation to his kingdom of Kāmarūpa, as guessed by K. N. Dikshit [*J BORS.*, 1920, p. 131].

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**Ranking of Monks.** It has been already seen that the resident monks, according to Hiuen Tsang's account, took precedence on the basis of their extensive rather than intensive knowledge.

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Their rank depended upon the range of their studies rather than upon the depth of their knowledge of a particular subject. It was on this basis that Śīlabhadra was elected to the Chancellor's position in the University. The different grades of the monks carried with them different privileges. The University was duly jealous and mindful of the dignity that should belong to the position of its official head. Access to the Chancellor was not made cheap or easy. Interviews with him were of the nature of formal and ceremonial functions. This is shown by the account given of Hiuen Tsang's reception at Nālandā and of his presentation before the Chancellor. As his reputation as a scholar had already preceded him, the University sent a deputation of four of its most distinguished Professors to escort him. At a farmhouse on the way, he halted for short refreshment where a great crowd gathered to greet him, consisting of 200 priests and some thousand lay patrons. They formed an imposing procession, carrying standards, umbrellas, flowers, and perfumes, and thus led the pilgrim to the gates of Nālandā. Then a formal meeting was held with the Sthavira in the chair by which a special seat was given to the distinguished visitor. Next, the Karmadāna was directed to sound the Ghaṇṭā and proclaim: "Whilst the Master of the Law (Hiuen Tsang) dwells in the Convent, all the commodities used by the priests and all the appliances of religion are for his convenience, in common with the rest." The meeting then selected twenty persons, noted for their learning and dignified bearing, to conduct Hiuen Tsang to the august presence of the Chancellor. When the party arrived, the chief almoner presented the Chancellor "with all things necessary without stint, paying his respects according to the proper ceremonial, approaching him on his knees and kissing his foot, and bowing his head to the ground. The usual greetings and compliments being finished, the Chancellor ordered seats to be brought and spread out, and desired Hiuen Tsang and the rest to be seated. When seated, he asked the visitor from what part he came. In reply he said: 'I am come from the country of China, desiring to learn from your instruction the principles of the Yoga Śāstra' " (*Life*, p. 107). After this formal introduction, Hiuen Tsang was assigned to the Bālāditya College with his residence fixed for a week at the house of the learned and aged scholar, Buddhabhadra, and, later, in an independent dwelling in accordance with his learning and status, together with an ample supply of provisions already described.

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[Figure: NĀLĀNDA No 3—A Monastery showing cells with verandah, courtyard, furnace, and well]

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**Special Provision for Hiuen Tsang.** Among the privileges pertaining to the status attained by Hiuen Tsang are mentioned. the supply of menial servants and of a riding elephant (ib., p. 110). Two attendants were allowed to Hiuen Tsang, one of whom was a Māṇava and another a Brahmachārī. I-tsing saw the "venerable and learned priests at Nālandā ride in sedan-chairs but never on horse-back, while their necessary baggage is carried by other persons or taken by boys" (probably the Māṇavas and Brahmachārīs) (p. 30). The menial staff of the monastery included "porters" (p. 145).

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**Academic Titles.** The ranking of monks led to the institution of titles indicative of the different degrees of status, standing, and grade to which they belonged. The highest title was *Kulapati* for the head of an institution numbering 10,000 students, as stated in a Smṛiti Text: "*Munīnāṁ daśasāhasraṁ yonnadānena poshaṇāt* | *adhyāpayati viprarshiḥ asau kulapatiḥ smṛitaḥ*." The next title of distinction was *Paṇḍita*. At the University of Vikramaśīlā (*c.* A.D. 800), it indicated a degree conferred on a successful graduate. But at Nālandā it was reserved only for the Head of the whole Vihāra [Tārānāth, p. 161; Vidyābhūshaṇa, *Medieval Indian Logic*, p. 79].

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**Distribution of Rooms.** Besides these privileges, the rooms of the monks were distributed according to their rank. Before the Varshā season or the rains set in, "rooms are assigned to each member; to the Sthaviras better rooms are given and thus gradually to the lowest. In Nālandā such rules are practised at present" (p. 86).

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This annual assignment of rooms was made at Nālandā not by any individual authority or official, but by "the great assembly of priests". This democratic method had a double advantage, as pointed out by I-tsing: "for it removes one's selfish intention, and the rooms for priests are properly protected" (ib.).

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**Time-table.** The daily duties of the monks at Nālandā were regulated strictly according to time, which was measured by means of the clepsydra. The day was one of eight hours, each of which was indicated by four immersions of the smaller bowl in the larger vessel of water. Each such immersion was indicated by one stroke of a drum, while the completion of one hour as defined above was announced by four strokes of a drum, two blasts of a conch-shell, and an additional beat of the drum.

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The second hour ends at noon when eating is not allowed. The afternoon, like the forenoon, comprises two hours. The expiry of the first hour at night is announced by beat of the drum by the sub-director or Karmadāna himself. Sunrise and sunset are announced by beat of drum at the outside of the gate of the monastery by "the servants and porters" stationed there (p. 145).

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**Bath.** Just as there was a time for meals, there was also one for baths. We have already seen the mention in Hiuen Tsang's account of the ponds existing in the grounds of Nālandā. The same observation occurs in the account of I-tsing, who thus describes a bathing scene there: "There are more than ten great pools near the Nālandā monastery and there every morning a ghaṇṭī (gong) is sounded to remind the priests of the bathing hour. Everyone brings a bathing sheet with him. Sometimes a hundred, sometimes a thousand priests leave the monastery together and proceed in all directions towards these pools, where all of them take a bath." The Vinaya rules were followed on the subject. There were also arrangements for baths in the monastery, if one did not like to go to the pond [p. 109].

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**Democratic Management.** According to I-tsing, the rules and regulations governing life in the monasteries were more strict at Nālandā than elsewhere (p. 65). We have already given I-tsing's account of them. We may only here repeat that, in spite of its size and numbers, the affairs of the University, from the annual assignment of rooms to the trial and punishment of offences against the fraternity and expulsion of recalcitrants, were administered on democratic principles by the entire body of the students. The recognition of the principle that the cause of discipline among students is best promoted by boldly leaving it in their hands is in accordance with up-to-date pedagogic ideals, while as regards the other important matter of the assignment of rooms according to seniority, the same method, as observed by I-tsing, was the most efficacious in the prevention of heartburnings and petty-mindedness, and it was so graceful for seniors to place themselves in the hands of the juniors as regards the details of their physical life and comforts. Thus the harmony of the establishment was secured by the due combination of the principles of autocracy and democracy in its management, the former principle applying only to the spheres of the intellectual and moral training of the alumni where guidance and direction were indispensable. The harmony of relations among the vast numbers of the teachers and the taught at Nālandā became an established tradition marking the entire course of its history, so that Hiuen Tsang could observe that during seven centuries there was not on record a single instance of that harmony being marred by a guilty rebellion.

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**Harmony of Life in the midst of utmost diversity of Studies and Beliefs.** That harmony will be regarded as a still more surprising achievement when it is considered how it was established in the midst of wide and acute differences among the monks in their opinions and beliefs. The monks at Nālandā were not a homogeneous community They were drawn from the different denominations of the Buddhist Church and carried into the University all the strife and discord of its different sects and schisms. But what still further added to the heterogeneous composition of the University was its admission of students of even non-Buddhistic systems of learning and courses of study. Indeed, Nālandā flung its gates wide open to all systems and schools of thought and belief in the country and became the arena where they might fight out their supremacy in debates and discussions. As we have already seen, Nālandā was known both in India and abroad for its "schools of discussion" which foreign students were so anxious to enter, that they might return with the best credentials for their capacity as preachers. It is difficult to say on the basis of our available evidence how far Nālandā offered any regular courses of instruction for beginners. We are told that students there, learning and discussing, found the day too short, while every student was expected to be well up in the mysteries of the Tripiṭaka as the minimum qualification.

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Thus it is that Nālandā had the signal merit of bringing together Schools, whose "tenets would keep them isolated", at an age when "controversy runs high, and heresies on special doctrines lead many ways to the same end", as observed by Hiuen Tsang [Watters, i, 162]. Nālandā became the common meeting-ground, in the India of the times, of the warring sects and creeds, with their "possible and impossible doctrines" [I-tsing, p. 177], and an opinion approved and recognized there would at once obtain a universal currency. The victors in these All-India Tournaments of Debate at Nālandā would be victorious over every opposition. But while its intellectual life was thus a round of animated controversies and acrimonious debates between contradictory and incompatible opinions and beliefs, that did not mar the academic repose and peace of Nālandā as a seat of culture. She faced boldly the intellectual differences of the times, the profound and earnest disagreements in opinions and cherished beliefs, in the very fundamentals of life, and presented a larger ideal which would evolve a common life and concord out of the divisions. That ideal was Freedom, Freedom of Thought, Opinion, and Belief, Toleration that would not constrain conscience, the first principle of a sound and scientific education. A writer in the *Hibbert Journal* [vol. xiii, p. 165] characterizes the Nālandā education as "an experiment in liberty of teaching". That ideal was nothing new to Buddhism.

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It was derived from Brahmanism with its remarkable absence of any official creed and its readiness to accommodate within its pale a wide variety of deities and beliefs. Buddhism thus imbibed "the flexibility which marked the methods of the older faith". The founder of Buddhism was well known for his consideration towards followers of other creeds whom he did not like to convert in haste, while this large and catholic ideal utters itself in no uncertain and feeble tones in some of the edicts of Asoka who stood for "the growth of the essence of the matter in all sects". The ideal of Liberty leads to that of social service. The inspiration of this ideal is responsible for the administration of the University on a democratic basis as far as possible. Under this inspiration the Saṁgha counts more than the individual monks, the whole is always greater than the part. Thus sectarian differences are merged in a common life and service, in the service to a common ideal. Nālandā stood for this larger synthesis to be realized in and through life, in which the theoretical and conventional differences were reconciled.

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But the position is best explained in the eloquent words of the writer in the *Hibbert Journal* above referred to: "The secret of union lies in a common life, a common moral ideal, the conception of the service of man as realized in the person of Gotama, who, in the oft-repeated formula of the early texts, chose the homeless life for the welfare of gods and men, that he might become a Buddha, and lift off from the world the veils of ignorance and sin. That was the secret of the extraordinary missionary enthusiasm which carried the noble and the sage amid incredible hardships all through Middle Asia in the centuries preceding Hiuen Tsang, 'moved by the desire to convert the world'; for as the Chronicler of Ceylon remarks in relating the triumphs of an earlier date, 'when the world's welfare is concerned, who would be slothful or indifferent?' To this principle Buddhism has been always faithful. It has never made theological tests the basis of religious communion. Wide as have been its internal variations, it has always asked the disciple, ‘Have you the right disposition?’ rather than, ‘Have you the true belief?’ Neither among its different Schools, nor towards the rival establishments of Brahmans and Jains, or the philosophical sects that lay outside all three, the Agnostics and Materialists, did it ever raise the cry that the faith was in danger or kindle the fires of persecution.

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Such was Buddhist teaching in India in the seventh century a.d.” The same writer refers to another confirmatory picture in the well-known contemporary record, Bāṇa’s *Harsha-charita*, of similar educational conditions of Liberty and Toleration obtaining at a centre of learning of a different, though common, type. That was the hermitage of a Buddhist recluse in the forest of the Vindhya, Divākaramitra by name, who was a Brahman by birth and education. The reputation of his learning drew to his out-of-the-way and remote retreat crowds of students of all possible Schools of thought and belief: there were Buddhists of different varieties, “perched on pillars, dwelling in bowers of creepers, lying in thickets or in the shadow of branches, or squatting on the roots of trees”; there were Jains in white robes and worshippers of Krishṇa; there were ascetics of various orders, Sāṁkhists, Lokāyatikas, Vedāntins, followers of Nyāya and Vaiśeshika, of the Institutes of Law and of the Purāṇas, adepts in sacrifices and even Grammarians and others beside, “all diligently following their own tenets, pondering, urging objections, raising doubts and resolving them, discussing and explaining moot points of doctrine, in perfect harmony.” The harmony is depicted as extending to the brute creation. True to the promises of the Yoga doctrines, the *Ahiṁsā* of the sage pervades the entire environment.

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We read of lions lying like lambs near the sage’s seat, nay, of tigers turning vegetarians under his Buddhist teaching! “Doubtless this is in large part a satire; but the satire would have been unmeaning, had there been no basis for it in fact. These forest instructions were really many centuries old. Here was a University of another type, more flexible still, because unembarrassed by establishments needing great revenues for maintenance.” “Some day, perhaps,” continues the writer, “the great Universities of the West may deem these voices of the dim and distant past yet worth attention. They are more than mere curiosities of literature. They are the witness of the East to the abiding principle that the first condition of the quest for Truth is Liberty."

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**Library.** We have already seen that I-tsing stayed for his studies at Nālandā for the long period of ten years (A.D. 675–685), during which he collected there some 400 Sanskrit texts amounting to 500,000 slokas (p. xvii). This shows that Nālandā possessed a well-equipped library. Information on the Nālandā University Library is given in the Tibetan accounts, from which we know that the Library, situated in a special area known by the poetical name of Dharmagañja (Mart of Religion), comprised three huge buildings, called Ratnasāgara, Ratnodadhi, and Ratnarañjaka, of which Ratnasāgara, which was a nine-storeyed building, specialized in the collection of rare sacred works like *Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra* and Tāntrika books like *Samājaguhya* and the like. "After the Turushka raiders had made incursions in Nālandā, the temples and chaityas there were repaired by a sage named Mudita Bhadra. Soon after this, Kukuṭasiddha, Minister of the King of Magadha, erected a temple at Nālandā, and while a religious sermon was being delivered there, two very indigent Tīrthika mendicants appeared. Some naughty young novice-monks in disdain threw washing-water on them. This made them very angry. After propitiating the sun for twelve years, they performed a yajña, fire-sacrifice, and threw living embers and ashes from the sacrificial pit into the Buddhist temples, etc. This produced a great conflagration which consumed Ratnodadhi" [Dr. S. C. Vidyābhushaṇa's *Mediaeval School of Indian Logic*, p. 146].

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**History after I-tsing.** Tibetan sources give some further interesting evidence on the history of Nālandā after I-tsing. It appears that the Tibetan king, Srong-tsan-Gampo (acc. A.D. 630), anxious to introduce to his country Indian writing and learning, sent to India his minister, Thon-mi, with a large quantity of gold to be given away as presents to the Indian scholars.

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Thon-mi first approached the famous Brahman Sanskritist, Lipidatta by name, and, having learnt Sanskrit and the scripts under him, repaired to the Nālandā University, and there placed himself under the tuition of the teacher named Āchārya Devavid Siṁha, who imparted to him instruction in both Brahmanic and Buddhist sacred literature. It is said that Hiuen Tsang came to Nālandā just at the time when the Tibetan student was staying there. The next notice of Nālandā that we get is in connexion with the Tibetan King Thi-srong-den-stan (A.D. 743-789), who invited to Tibet the two Indian sages Padma Sambhava, a native of Udyāna, and Śānta Rakshita, a native of Gaur, who was then the Chancellor of the Nālandā University. In Tibet the two Indian scholars became involved in a religious controversy with a great Chinese scholar and, being unable to defeat him, induced the king to send for the famous Professor of Tantras at Nālandā named Kamalaśīla in A.D. 750. Kamalaśīla, in the presence of the assembled court, vanquished his opponent who was then asked by the king to leave Tibet.

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That the fame of Nālandā continued unabated and even travelled beyond the borders of India is evident from the Inscription of Yaśovarman of the eighth century A.D., already cited, extolling the learning of its scholars and also from another Inscription recording how a king of Java and Sumatra, Bālaputradeva by name, had a monastery built at Nālandā, and also induced his friend, King Devapāla of Bengal, to make a grant of five villages towards the maintenance of this new monastery and expenses of adding to its Library MSS. copied for the purpose [*Epi. Ind.*, xvii, 310].

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*Nālandā Scholars in Foreign Countries.* The success of Nālandā as a seat of learning is singularly demonstrated by the demand of foreign countries for the services of its trained scholars in introducing to them the saving knowledge and wisdom of India, which they were so keenly seeking.

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We have already seen how the Far Eastern countries paid homage to India as their holy land and sent out pilgrims to gather the harvest of her learning and return home to sow its seeds in a new soil. The outstanding characters in this fruitful cultural intercourse were Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, and I-tsing, but there were hosts of other pilgrims to India whose names and achievements are not known to us. We have already referred to several such pilgrims who had followed Hiuen Tsang and preceded I-tsing during the short interval of only forty years. They were Thonmi, Hiuen Chiu, Taouhi, Hwui Lu, Tang, Taou-sing, Āryavarman, Buddhadharma, all of whom sought Indian Wisdom as students of Nālandā as its chief centre and repository. In the same (seventh) century, we have also to record the visits of the Chinese monks, Ou-Kong and Ki-ye, to Nālandā.

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*Nālandā Literature and Scholars in Tibet.* It is, however, to be understood that this cultural intercourse between these Asiatic countries and India was not one-sided. India was equally zealous in spreading abroad the message of her Truths. In this extension of her culture to foreign countries, the students of Nālandā took the lead. Nālandā deputed her own students to propagate Buddhism in Tibet and China. Nālandā had already equipped herself for this task by organizing at the University a School of Tibetan studies. Its scholars, learning Tibetan, employed themselves upon the task of translating into Tibetan select Buddhist works from Sanskrit. They created the Literature which converted Tibet to a new religion. These books have survived their mortal authors and are immortal creations carrying on their beneficent work to this day as the source of spiritual nourishment of an entire people.

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We shall now briefly refer to some of these works which had effected a religious revolution in Tibet only to demonstrate and properly appraise the magnitude and value of Nālandā's achievements as a seat of learning.

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**Works of Ārya Deva.** We have already seen that Ārya Deva was one of the earliest scholars of Nālandā who had lived in about the fourth century A.D. He was the author of three works, all of which are introduced to Tibet in its own language. His last work, known as *Madhyamaka-bhramaghāta-nāma*, was actually written by him at Nālandā, it is said, at the request of Hdsambuhi-glin-gi-rgyal-po (Jambudvīpa Raja) Sukhāchārya (*alias* Udayi, Sadvaha), and was translated into Tibetan by Upādhyāya Dīpaṁkara Śrī Jñāna (who was born in A.D. 980).

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