The University of Nalanda c15.4

c15.4

Streams of pilgrim-students wended their way to Nālandā in search of knowledge from China, Tibet and Korea.² In India itself the princes of Magadha³ in Central India, of Kashmere⁴ and sons of many lords and nobles came to study at Nālandā from such distant provinces as Kāñchipura⁵ (modern Conjeeveram) in the South, Puruṣapura⁶ (modern Peshawar) in the North and Samatata in the East.⁷ Moreover, it was at Nālandā that King Harṣa,⁸ the overlord of Northern and Central India and the King of Yavadvīpa (Java) and Suvarṇadvīpa (Sumatra), Mahārāja Bālaputradeva,⁹ built *vihāras* for students to prosecute their studies.