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Jaipur: Bihar-born artist-poet-author Abhay K.’s latest book titled Nalanda: How It Changed the World unravels the mystery associated with the origin, rise and decline of Nalanda Mahavihara.
The book was launched by well-known historian William Dalrymple, Professor Shailendra Raj Mehta and author and historian Narayani Basu at Jaipur Literature Festival today.
Through extensive research, the book explores Nalanda’s contributions in fields such as science, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, art, architecture, religion, poetry, medicine among other disciplines, mapping its global impact.
The first Vihara at Nalanda was founded in the third century BCE by Emperor Ashoka. A standard architectural plan of the vihara developed as a residential seat of learning during the Mauryan period and attained a regular form at Nalanda Mahavihara, which is considered to have inspired the courtyard structure of colleges and universities across Europe, including the quads and courts of Oxford and Cambridge University.
Nalanda: How It Changed the World highlights the great luminaries who elevated Nalanda’s unparalleled reputation as the preeminent seat of knowledge, as well as the foreign scholars who visited the celebrated monastery.
Speaking at the launch William Dalrymple read from his book The Golden Road quoting the words of Hwui-li, the biographer of the Chinese monk Xuanzang about Nalanda —‘there were thousands of Buddhist monasteries in India but this was the most magnificent and sublime of them all.’
Abhay K., a career diplomat, said that Nalanda’s contributions in various fields are immense including the birth of the idea of university itself, use of zero as a digit, beginning of the book culture, among other areas.
He added that though the physical infrastructure of Nalanda were largely reduced to ruins by the early 14th century, Nalanda like institutions were founded across the world over centuries. The latest among them is Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024.
The book launch event and discussion were attended by writers, scholars, and visitors from across the globe.
– global bihari bureau