The University of Nalanda c13.172

c13.172

India, of ancient times presents to us such a variety of students, totally different from each other not only in age but even in social status and attitude towards life, that it is hazardous to lay down one general definition of their aims and prospects. Students like Satyakāma Jābāla, fatherless and without a gotra realized Brahma, and in their turn, became teachers of others, for instance, Upakośala Kāmalāyana,¹ while kings like Ajātaśatru² and Aśvapati Kaikeya³ instructed such famous sages as Gārgya Bālāki and others. And to add to our wonder we are told that Indra resided for no less than 100 years with Brahmā to know the nature of the Ātmā.⁴ Statements such as these at once bewilder us. We are at a loss to know what the actual aim, in fact, the life of an average, ordinary student was.