The University of Nalanda c9.160

c9.160

The importance of this inscription can never be over-estimated. Not only Nālandā had acquired the patronage of a Pāla King of Bengal, Dēvapāladēva, but had secured even the patronage of a king from far off Suvarṇadvīpa and Yavadvīpa, the modern islands of Sumatra and Java. And this patronage was of no mean degree, consisted as it did of a monastery, and grant of five villages for its maintenance and preservation, while it places King Bālaputradeva in the same distinguished category of Kings, Kumāragupta I, Narasimhagupta and Harṣa who contributed to the rise and development of Nālandā and gave it a unique position among the centres of learning.