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Ancient institutions of learning in the Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent has a long history of education and learning from the era of Indus Valley civilization. Important ancient institutions of learning in ancient India are the Buddhist Mahaviharas of Takshashila, Kashmir Smast, Nalanda, Valabhi, Pushpagiri, Odantapuri, Vikramashila, Somapura, Bikrampur, Jagaddala.

Takshashila or Taxila

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First university

The University of ancient Taxila was a renowned Buddhist ancient institute of higher-learning located in the city of Taxila as well. According to scattered references that were only fixed a millennium later, it may have dated back to at least the fifth century BC.[1] Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the sixth century BC.[2] The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis.[1]

 
Ruins of University of Taxila

Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the fifth century AD.[3]

It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BC, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the fifth century AD.

Important Teachers

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Important teachers that are said to be teaching at university of Taxila include;

Important Students

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Important pupil from ancient University of Taxila includes;

  • King Pasenadi of Kosala, a close friend of the Buddha.
  • Jivaka, court doctor at Rajagriha and personal doctor of the Buddha.[7]
  • Charaka, the Indian "father of medicine" and one of the leading authorities in Ayurveda, is also said to have studied at Taxila, and practiced there.[8][9]

Somapura Mahavihara

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Somapura Mahavihara in Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon District, Bangladesh is among the best known viharas, monasteries, in the Indian subcontinent and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It was one of the largest residential university in ancient India. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is one of the most famous examples of architecture in pre-Islamic Bangladesh. It dates from a period to the nearby Halud Vihara and to the Sitakot Vihara in Nawabganj Upazila of Dinajpur District.[10]

Nalanda

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Nalanda University ruins

Nalanda (Pali: नालंंदा) was an ancient Buddhist Mahavihara, a revered university which served as a renowned centre of learning, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India.[11] The university of Nalanda obtained significant fame, prestige and relevance during ancient times, and rose to legendary status due to its contribution to the emergence of India as a great power around the fourth century.[12] The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna, and was one of the greatest centres of learning in the world from the fifth century CE to c. 1200 CE.[13] Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[14][15]

Mithila University

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University of Mithila was famous for Nyaya Sutra and logical Sciences. It was gradually started from the philosophical conferences held by Seeradhwaja Janaka, the Ikshwaku king of Mithila at his court. Janaka was an ancient Hindu king of Videha which was located in Mithila region, approximately in the 8th or 7th century BC. The rulers of the Videha kingdom were called Janakas. He also appears in epic Ramayana as a father of Goddess Sita, who was married with God Shri Ram. His original name was Seeradhwaja and he had a brother named Kushadhwaja. His father's name was Hrasvaroman, a descendant of the king Nimi. These philosophical conferences led to the formation of a seat of learning and this seat of learning converted into the university of Mithila.

Valabhi University

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The Valabhi University was an important centre of Buddhist learning and championed the cause of Hinayana Buddhism between 600 CE and 1200 CE. Valabhi was the capital of the Maitraka empire during the period 480-775 CE. It was an important port for international trade located in Saurashtra, present day it is called Vallabhipur located in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat in western India, identical with the old state of Vala. For some time, the university was considered to be a rival to Nalanda, in Bihar, in the field of education. In September 2017, the Indian central government started to consider a proposal to revive the ancient university.[16]

Sharada Peeth

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Sharada Peeth is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in present-day Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India.[17]

Library at Sharada Peeth

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Sharada Peeth was also valued by scholars across the Indian subcontinent for its library, and stories detail long journeys they would take to consult it.

 
17th-century birch bark manuscript of Pāṇini's grammar treatise from Sharada Peeth

Important Students

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The important pupil who studied here include:

 
Thonmi Sambhota, inventor of Tibetan script
 
Ruins of Sharada Peeth

Pushpagiri Vihara

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Pushpagiri (Odia: ପୁଷ୍ପଗିରି) was an ancient Buddhist mahavihara or monastic complex located atop Langudi Hill (or Hills) in Jajpur district of Odisha, India. Pushpagiri was mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang (c. 602 – c. 664) and some other ancient sources. Until the 1990s, it was hypothesised to be one or all of the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udayagiri group of monastic sites, also located in Jajpur district. These sites contain ruins of many buildings, stupas of various sizes, sculptures (many now removed to museums), and other artifacts.

However, archaeological excavations conducted at Langudi Hills during 1996-2006 resulted in the discovery of another site, with inscriptions describing the local monastery as puṣpa sabhar giriya, and identified by the excavators as Pushpagiri. This has now become the general view among scholars. The site has now been made accessible for tourism.

The visit of Xuanzang indicates that Pushpagiri was an important Buddhist site in ancient India. Along with Nalanda, Vikramashila, Odantapuri, Takshashila and Vallabhi, it is believed to be a major ancient centre of learning. It flourished between 3rd and 11th centuries CE.[29]

Odantapuri University

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Odantapuri (also called Odantapura or Uddandapura) was a prominent Buddhist Mahavihara in what is now Bihar, India. It is believed to have been established by Gopala I in the 8th century. It is considered the second oldest of India's Mahaviharas after Nalanda University and was situated in Magadha.

Vikramashila

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Vikramashila (Sanskrit: विक्रमशिला) was one of the two most important centres of learning in India during the Pala Empire, along with Nalanda. Its location is now the site of Antichak village, Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

Vikramashila was established by the Pala emperor Dharmapala (783 to 820 AD) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda. Atiśa, the renowned pandita, is sometimes listed as a notable abbot. It was destroyed by the forces of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1193.[30][31]

Bikrampur Vihara

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Bikrampur Vihara is an ancient Buddhist vihara at Raghurampur village, Bikrampur, Munshiganj District in Bangladesh.[32]

Jagaddala Mahavihara

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Jagaddala Mahavihara (fl. late 11th century - mid-12th century) was a Buddhist monastery and seat of learning in Varendra, a geographical unit in present north Bengal in Bangladesh.[33] It was founded by the later kings of the Pāla dynasty, probably Ramapala (c. 1077–1120), most likely at a site near the present village of Jagdal in Dhamoirhat Upazila in the north-west Bangladesh on the border with India, near Paharapur.[34] Some texts also spell the name Jaggadala.

Other

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Further centres include Telhara in Bihar[35] (probably older than Nalanda[36]), Kanchipuram, in Tamil Nadu, Manyakheta, in Karnataka, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh Nagarjunakonda, in Andhra Pradesh, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (eighth century to modern times),Abhayagiri Vihāra, and Jetavanaramaya, in Sri Lanka.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Scharfe, Hartmut; Bronkhorst, Johannes; Spuler, Bertold; Altenmüller, Hartwig (2002). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. Education in ancient India. p. 141. ISBN 978-90-04-12556-8.
  2. ^ "History of Education", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
  3. ^ Marshall 1975:81
  4. ^ Lowe & Yasuhara (2016), p. 62.
  5. ^ Watters, Thomas (1904-01-01). On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, 629-645 A.D. Dalcassian Publishing Company.
  6. ^ Lusthaus, Dan; Vasubandhu
  7. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House Publishing Group. p. 256. ISBN 9781588369840.
  8. ^ Lowe, Roy; Yasuhara, Yoshihito (2016). The Origins of Higher Learning: Knowledge networks and the early development of universities. Routledge. p. PT62. ISBN 9781317543268.
  9. ^ Gupta, Subhadra Sen (2009). Ashoka. Penguin UK. p. PT27. ISBN 9788184758078.
  10. ^ Rahman, SS Mostafizur (2012). "Sitakot Vihara". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  11. ^ "History | District Nalanda, Government of Bihar | India".
  12. ^ "Ancient Universities in India" (PDF). All India Council for Technical Education. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 May 2021.
  13. ^ Scharfe, Hartmut; Bronkhorst, Johannes; Spuler, Bertold; Altenmüller, Hartwig (2002). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. Education in ancient India. p. 149. ISBN 978-90-04-12556-8.
  14. ^ "Four sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List". whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Chandigarh's Capitol Complex makes it to UNESCO's World Heritage List". Economic Times. 18 July 2016. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  16. ^ Prashant Ruperal: Ancient Vallabhi University to be revived, The Times of India, September 24, 2017, accessed on September 25, 2017.
  17. ^ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. 7. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  18. ^ "Ramanuja's revelation of the 'secret mantra'". The Hindu. 2016-08-04. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  19. ^ Pollock, Sheldon (2006). The Language of the Gods in the World of Men. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 182. ISBN 0520245008. ...accordingly, being stored in its most perfect form in the temple of the Goddess of Speech in the far-off land of Kashmir, from where Hemacandra acquired his supremely authoritative exemplars, grammar was at the same time clearly a precious cultural good, one that could be imported and whose very possession secured high prestige for its possessor.
  20. ^ Suri, Chandraprabha. Prabhavakacharita.
  21. ^ Singh, Sahana (2017). The Educational Heritage of Ancient India. Chennai: Notion Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-947586-53-6. Hemachandra is noted to have requested for a copy of all the earlier grammar works that had been written until then, and which were only available in their complete form in the library of Sharada university.
  22. ^ Pollock 2006, pp. 588–89
  23. ^ Thomas, Frederick William (1951). "The Tibetan Alphabet". In Eckhardt, Karl August; Pedersen, Holger; Littmann, Enno; Latte, Kurt (eds.). Festschrift zur Feier des Zweihundertjährigen Bestehens der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen (in German). Springer. pp. 146–165. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-86704-0_7. ISBN 978-3-642-86704-0. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  24. ^ Norbu, Thubten Jigme; Turnbull, Colin M. (1968). Tibet. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 140. ISBN 0-671-20559-5. OCLC 1513.
  25. ^ Shakabpa, W. D. (2010). One Hundred Thousand Moons: an Advanced Political History of Tibet. Translated by Maher, Derek F. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-474-3076-6. OCLC 717020192.
  26. ^ Rizvi (1996), pp. 58-59.
  27. ^ Kalhana (1900). Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅginī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. Translated by Stein, Marc Aurel. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, Ltd. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9788120803718.
  28. ^ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. pp. 85, 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  29. ^ Scott L. Montgomery; Alok Kumar (2015). A History of Science in World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 9781317439066.
  30. ^ Alexis Sanderson (2009). "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period". In Einoo, Shingo (ed.). Genesis and Development of Tantrism. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo. p. 89.
  31. ^ Eaton, Richard (December 22, 2000). "Temple desecration in pre-modern India". Frontline. 17 (25): 62–70.
  32. ^ "Archaeology - Ancient Buddhist Vihara found in Munshiganj". www.buddhistchannel.tv. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  33. ^ Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. by Dutt, Sukumar. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London 1962. pg 377
  34. ^ UNESCO World Heritage website
  35. ^ "TELHARA (NALANDA) EXCAVATION A Brief Report" (PDF). yac.bih.nic.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  36. ^ "Telhara University's ruins older than Nalanda, Vikramshila". firstpost. 14 December 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
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