The University of Nalanda c9.6

c9.6

The reason why Hiuen Tsiang considers the latter account as true can be easily explained. He was a devout Buddhist. And when he wrote this account he only voiced the feelings of the Buddhists who had invented a legend to explain the name Nālandā. The story sounds like one of the *Jātaka* tales which describe the previous lives of Buddha. We cannot, however, place credence in this explanation, for the simple reason that even when Buddha was alive, the place was called by that name.¹