The University of Nalanda c13.44

c13.44

From the number of unsuccessful students, which was seven or eight in ten, it is evident that the examination must have been very strict. Students of moderate talent were not only bound to fail to get admission but by their non-admission they even forfeited their fame as eminent debators.¹ This entrance examination, as it is clear from words like "other quarters" and "strangers," seems to have been held for those students, who had not received their 'primary' and 'secondary' education at Nālandā. But for students who had received their 'primary' and 'secondary' education at Nālandā and who were generally those who had embraced Buddhism, no such examination was necessary. They had to study, first, the Buddhist works and then works of other faiths and systems.² Then in course of time, when they had finished certain works, they were placed in charge of various departments of the University, majority of them being appointed as ācāryas.