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| Destroyed Nalanda University |
Introduction:-
Before attacking Nalanda University, it is important to know about Nalanda. Friends, the rise of Nalanda University is believed to be in the 5th century. It was one of the oldest universities in the world. Its location is in present day Bihar.
The word Nalanda is a combination of three Sanskrit words Na-Alam-Da which means "the unstoppable flow of knowledge".
We get information about Nalanda University from the accounts of Chinese travelers like Hieun Tsang and Itsing. Hiuen Tsang visits Nalanda in the 7th century and attributes the establishment to Kumaragupta I as the founder of Nalanda University.Hieun Tsang writes that 10000 monks and 1510 teachers lived here, which means it used to be a residential university.People from countries like China, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Persia and Indonesia used to come to study in Nalanda.Along with Buddhism, subjects like astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, medicine and grammar were also taught here.Even some of the original manuscripts of the Upanishads were believed to exist here, as well as the students did not have to pay any fees here.
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Big names like Harshavardhana, Vasubandhu, Dharmapala, Nagarjuna, Padmasambhava and Hiuen Tsang are among those who studied here.It is also believed that the great Astronomer and mathematician Aryabhata was the head of this university. This center of knowledge flourished for about 800 years.But suddenly in the 12th century it is lost in the darkness of the past. The story behind this is very exciting.
Invasion Of Nalanda:-
Friends, Nalanda had not one but three attacks, it was rebuilt after the first two attacks, But the third attack proves fatal for it.First of all, Hunas under the leadership of Mihirkul attacked in AD 455-467 during the time of King Skandagupta.Hunas were basically a Central Asian tribal group that entered India through Khyber Pass, between the 4th and 6th centuries i.e. during the Gupta Empire, the Hunas' invasions took place on India.But the success of Skandagupta not only restores Nalanda but also improves it by making bigger buildings.
The second attack on Nalanda was done by the Gaudas Rajvansh of Bengal in the early 7th century. After this invasion, the Buddhist king Harshavardhana rebuilt Nalanda once again.The third and the deadliest was the invasion of Turkish Invdar Bakhtiyar Khilji, who attacked Nalanda in 1193AD.
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| Nalanda University attack by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 AD. |
Let's understand the story behind it in detail.
Why did Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed Nalanda University?
It is said that once Bakhtiyar Khilji fell very ill, but there was no improvement in his health even after a lot of treatment. In such a situation, someone advised him that Rahul Shri Bhadra, Principal of Nalanda University can cure you. Get him treated once, but Bakhtiyar Khilji was not acceptable to treat a non-Muslim, so he ignores this advice first. But when the health starts deteriorating even more, then he also feels that what is the harm in calling him once. Rahul Sri bhadra reached for the treatment of Bakhtyar Khilji and examines.
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| Bakhtyar Khilji |
Khilji puts a condition in front of him that he will not eat any medicine given by him, in this way he wanted to challenge Rahul Shri Bhadra and was trying to humiliate Hindus as well, despite this Rahul Shri Bhadra assures that Khilji's health will improve soon. He gives Quran to Khilji and tells him to read a few pages of it daily. Khilji does this and his health starts improving as soon as he sees it. Friends, Rahul Shri Bhadra had applied medicine in the pages of Quran which used to reach Khilji while reading. And in this way he becomes completely right, when Khilji comes to know about this, he feels very insecure and jealousy.He used to think that how these infidels have more knowledge than Muslim doctors, angry with this, Khilji decides that he will end this source of knowledge forever, let us know that this source of knowledge was after all?
Distruction Of Nalanda University:-
Friends, the library of Nalanda University was the source of knowledge for thousands of Buddhist monks like Rahul Shri Bhadra and the residents of Nalanda. At that time Nalanda had the world's largest library and its name was 'Dharma Ganj'. And it was made up of three big multi-storied buildings named Ratnasagar, Ratnodhadhi and Ratranjak, it had a collection of about 9 million books.When Khilji comes to know about this, he decides to attack Nalanda, thousands of Buddhist monks living here are brutally murdered and many scholars are burnt alive. The army attacks the unarmed Buddhist monks like hungry wolves, there is a massacre, after which the library here is set on fire.
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| Bakhtiyar Khilji and his army while destroing Nalalnda Mahavira University |
Contemporary historian Minhaj Siraj writes in his book Tabaqat-i-Nasiri that it takes 3 months for the books to be completely burnt, from this you can judge that there must have been a huge collection of books here.Many of these manuscripts were here in the original form, which could never be recovered again.
Conclusion:-
Friends, Khilji not only destroyed a university but destroyed an entire tradition. This attack was so terrible that there was nothing left in Nalanda to rebuild. Only some remains of the building built in Kandahar remain, which got buried in the soil over time.After destroying Nalanda, Khilji also destroys 2 more universities in Bihar, Vikramshila and Odantapuri. It was a loss not only to India but to the whole world, just because of one person's jealousy and insecurity thousands of years of knowledge was burnt to ashes. In a culture like India, tearing even a page of a book is considered a sin, this incident in its history is really embarrassing.
Friends, we cannot revive the lost treasure of Nalanda, but the Indian government has definitely started developing Nalanda Mahavir as a hub of education again.Its idea was first proposed by former Late President APJ Abdul Kalam in 2006.Finally the Indian Parliament passed the Nalanda University Act 2010 and decided to make it a university again.Renowned economist Amartya Sen was also made the chairman of the governing body of the university here.Admissions have also been started in Nalanda University from 2014. Nalanda still needs a long time to reach its old glory, but we hope that this effort of the government will surely prove fruitful in making India a world leader once again in the field of education.
