The University of Nalanda c14.1

c14.1

DURING the long period in which the Nālandā University flourished, many new Universities had arisen in different parts of India. A University, whose rise was perhaps conterminous with that of Nālandā, and whose fame also was not very inferior to it, was that of Valabhi. In every respect, it rivalled with Nālandā. Like the Imperial Guptas, who built Nālandā, the first building (convent) of the University was built by Duḍḍā, the daughter of the sister of Dhruva I.¹ And even after its foundation, the University continued to enjoy the patronage of the rulers of Valabhi, in the shape of grants of villages for its maintenance, and buildings for its students. Again it was at Valabhi that the famous monastery called Śri Bappapāda was founded by Ācāryya Bhadanta Sthiramati². In a previous chapter we have seen that this Sthiramati had composed many treatises and was perhaps a pandit of Nālandā. Both the Chinese travellers found Valabhi in a flourishing condition. Hiuen Tsiang says, "There are some hundred saṅghārāmas, with about 6000 priests,"³ while, according to I-Tsing⁴, Valabhi was as great and famous as Nālandā, for, there were only two Universities to which the students in I-Tsing's time generally resorted to, to acquire the stamp of culture and refinement, after finishing their ordinary higher education.