The University of Nalanda c16.6

c16.6

But this answer will not suffice, for we know from a Tibetan source, *Pag-sam-jonzang* that the temples and *vihāras* were repaired once again by a sage, named Mudita Bhadra.¹ Further, "after this, one Kukkutasiddha, a minister of some king of Magadha, erected a temple." Thus, there is evidence of the external regeneration of the monastic order. Yet this was short-lived, for, according to another tradition, the buildings were razed to the ground by a stupid act of two mendicants. Ridiculed by the young monks, they are said to have propitiated the Sun for twelve years, performed a sacrifice and alleged to have thrown living embers on the stately structures which reduced them to ashes.² Credibility of the account, we shall examine afterwards, along with the question of Nālandā's date of destruction at the hands of the Mohammedans. But, still the problem, *viz.*, why could not the University be rebuilt, monks reinstated and the whole institution given a new lease of life remains unsolved.