Nālandā was an ancient higher-learning institution in Bihar, India.[1] The site is located about 88 kilometres southeast of Patna, and was a religious centre of learning from the fifth century AD to 1197 AD.[2][3] Nalanda flourished between the reign of the Śakrāditya (whose identity is uncertain and who might have been either Kumaragupta I or Kumaragupta II) and 1197 AD, supported by patronage fr
om the Hindu Gupta Empire as well as Buddhist emperors like Harsha and later emperors from the Pala Empire.[4]
The complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. (488 by 244 metres)[5] At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as Tibet, China, Greece, and Greater Iran.[6] Nalanda was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty under Ikhtiyar ad-Din Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193. The great library of Nalanda was so vast that it is reported to have burned for three months after the invaders set fire to it, ransacked and destroyed the monasteries and drove the monks from the site. In 2006, Singapore, China, India, Japan, and other nations, announced a proposed plan to restore and revive the ancient site as Nalanda University. Another ancient university, Tiladhaka, has been discovered at Telhara, Nalanda district.
