The University of Nalanda c16.26

c16.26

To accomplish this task, as it were, the Destroyer sent the Mohammedan adventurer, to which we have already made a general reference. In the graphic language of the chronicler, “Bakhtiyār Khilji went to the gate of the fort of Behār with only two hundred horses, and began the war by taking the enemy unawares.” Continuing he says, “Muhammad Bakhtiyār with great vigour and audacity rushed in at the gate of the fort and gained possession of the place. Great plunder fell into the hands of the victors. Most of the inhabitants were Brāhmans with shaven heads. They were put to death. Large number of books were found there and when the Muhammadans saw them, they called for some persons to explain their contents, but all the men had been killed. It was discovered that the whole fort and city was a place of study. In the Hindī language, the word Behār means a college.”¹