The University of Nalanda c18.22

c18.22

The area directly influenced by the Art of Nālandā in India may be comparatively smaller than that either by the Gupta in the fifth or Rāshtrakuta or Pallava in the sixth century onwards.⁴ But, after becoming generally common in Magadha (the modern province of Bihar), it spread in the east to Java, Sumatra, Cambodia, China, and in the north to Nepal and Tibet. The following quotation from Taranath will bear out the truth of our latter statement: "In the time of King Dharmapāla, there lived in Varendra (Northern Bengal) an exceedingly skilful artist named Dhimān, whose son was Bitpālo; both of these produced many works in cast-metal as well as sculptures and paintings which resembled the works of the Nāgas. The father and son gave rise to distinct schools. In painting, the followers of the father were called the Eastern School; those of the Magadha were called followers of the Madhyadeśa School of painting. So in Nepal, the earlier schools of art resembled the Western School; but, in the course of time, a peculiar Nepalese School was formed, which, in painting and casting, resembled the Eastern types.”¹