The 1,500-year-old 'Nalanda Buddhist University' is a Buddhist monastic university in ancient Magadha (present-day Bihar), India.
Nalanda was established during the Gupta Empire, and supported by many Indian and Javanese patrons – both Buddhist and non-Buddhist.
For about 750 years, its faculty included several respected scholars of Mahayana Buddhism. Nalanda Mahavihara taught six major Buddhist schools and philosophies such as Yogachara and Sarvastivada, as well as subjects such as grammar, medicine, logic and mathematics.
After its decline, Nalanda was largely forgotten until Francis Buchanan-Hamilton surveyed the site in 1811–1812 after nearby locals drew his attention to a large complex of ruins in the area. However, he did not associate the mounds and ruins with the famous Nalanda. This link was established in 1847 by Major Markham Kitto. Alexander Cunningham and the newly formed Archaeological Survey of India conducted an official survey in 1861-1862.
Systematic excavation of the ruins by the ASI did not begin until 1915 and was completed in 1937. A second round of excavation and restoration took place between 1974 and 1982.
The ruins of Nalanda today stretch about 488 meters (1,600 ft) from north to south and 244 meters (800 ft) from east to west. Excavations revealed eleven monasteries and six major brick temples arranged in an ordered layout. A 30 m (100 ft) wide road runs from north to south, with temples to the west and monasteries to the east.
Many of the structures show evidence of several periods of construction, with newer buildings surfacing on the ruins of older buildings. Many buildings also show signs of fire damage at least once.
Faxian, also known as Fa-hsien, was a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim monk who traveled to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He spent 10 years in India in the early 5th century, inspiring other Chinese and Korean Buddhists to visit India over the centuries and visiting major Buddhist pilgrimage sites, including the Nalanda region. He mentions many Buddhist monasteries and monuments throughout India. However, he makes no mention of any monastery or university in Nalanda, although he was looking for Sanskrit texts and brought back to China a large number of them from other parts of India. There are no archaeological finds of Buddhist monuments in Nalanda before 400...
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