The University of Nalanda c13.191

c13.191

The case of students who had not given themselves up to the service of humanity, but who still resorted to the Buddhist centres of learning to acquire knowledge and through it sought the profession they wished for, was different. Those who wanted to become government servants, not petty clerks, but those who hankered after higher ministerial posts in the Government, these, having received a degree in the famous Universities like Nālandā and Valabhi, in the shape "of having been assured of the excellence of their opinion by wise men,"¹ and thus acquiring distinction proceeded to the king's court to try the sharpness of their wit.² And the king followed a very strange and healthy procedure, a procedure which reminds us of the parliamentary elections in countries like England. Like the party seeking power and making all sorts of promises to the electorate, these freshers from the Universities, seeking to be appointed in the practical government, presented their schemes and showed their political talent to the king and the assembly.³