The University of Nalanda c17.17

c17.17

One question that strikes us regarding this monastery is, whether it was a storeyed building. From Hiuen Tsiang’s account it appears that Nālandā did have some buildings which had at least 3 to 4 storeys.² From various reasons given below we are inclined to think that not only monastery No. I was a storeyed building, but it was perhaps the highest of all other similar buildings. The reasons are: (1) the discovery of a well and wide dog-legged stair-case, which show a daily connection with the building beneath. (2) The thickness of the walls, which indicates that the walls were purposely made thick so as to build other storeys above them. (3) What we now call different levels of occupation at different periods were in fact various floors of the same building (we do not mean all the 9 levels) and occupied at the same time. The reason for so interpreting the various levels is that the nine levels otherwise presuppose as many destructions, which was never the case. The buildings were destroyed at the most thrice or four times and not as many as nine times. (4) Lastly, the discovery of a stone column-base in monastery No. 4 seems to be conclusive evidence of the existence of at least a second storey in this monastery.³ Hence monastery No. I also had storeys, and very likely the greatest number, as would appear from a series of levels.