The University of Nalanda c9.180

c9.180

From the account of Hiuen Tsiang it appears that there were at least six colleges at Nālandā. For each king, beginning with Kumāragupta I down to Harṣa, built a *vihāra* or *saṅghārāma* at Nālandā. And if we include the *vihāra* built by Bālaputradeva, King of Suvarṇadvīpa, then there would be no less than seven *vihāras*. As a matter of fact, when I-Tsing visited Nālandā, at least a century before Bālaputra thought of building a *vihāra* at Nālandā, there were already in existence eight colleges¹ (halls, as I-Tsing calls them), having as many as 300 rooms.²