A Quest for Knowledge

                               NALANDA UNIVERSITY

             The establishment of the ancient Nalanda as an undisputed seat of learning was a natural consequence of the time and place in which it was situated. Nalanda University was able to meld multiple discourses and to embrace knowledge in its entirety to become uniquely attractive for all seekers of pure knowledge. 
            The profound knowledge of the Nalanda teachers attracted scholars from places as distant as China, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Mongolia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and South East Asia. These scholars have left records about the ambience, architecture and learning of this unique university. The most detailed accounts have come from Chinese scholars and the best known of these is Xuan Zang who carried back many hundred scriptures which were later translated into Chinese. Nalanda has been a seat of knowledge for over eight centuries in the ancient kingdom of Magadha. It has been a renowned centre for learning from the 5th century until it was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji in the 12th century.
            Nalanda is proclaimed as, “One of the most important universities in the world, was developed not in the medieval west, but right here in India: Nalanda University… was instrumental in producing people who are capable of understanding and articulating what it means to have universal knowledge, knowledge that is applicable across cultures and across times.” 
                    Eight hundred years after the destruction of Nalanda, former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, while addressing the Bihar State Legislative Assembly, in March 2006 mooted the idea of reviving the university. 
Almost simultaneously, a proposal termed the “Nalanda Proposal” was forwarded to Government of India by Singapore. This proposal sought the re-establishment of a University like Nalanda which would once again be the focal point of Asia.
                Since it is the endeavour of the University to develop a sustainable campus which will have a net zero or near zero environmental impact, the first of its kind in the world; special attention was paid to the manner in which each of the schemes addressed the issues of sustainability.




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