Ambassador Abhay Kumar, diplomat and author of national bestseller ‘NALANDA How It Changed The World’ says that universities across the world can learn from Nalanda model of education.
In a conversation on The Gist on StratNews Global, he said that Nalanda’s example is still relevant today. Universities across the world can learn from Nalanda model of education. “It had students and faculty from all across the known world at that time. It shared universal knowledge. It was also the first experiment in internationalization of education. It was built to push the boundaries of knowledge. It created a community of students and teachers who could live together. It had hostel facilities and students could focus completely on knowledge. It had the great Sutra library. This infrastructure creation for education is still very relevant. Students were engaged in debate and discussion all the time because they followed the recursive argument method of learning. That is still relevant. That is Nalanda’s legacy.”
He said that its quadrangular architecture inspired the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge. “ The idea of college and university developed at Nalanda. It is an institution without borders.”
Ambassador Kumar who is the Deputy Director General of the Indian Council For Cultural Relations, went on to say that Nalanda had dexterous management of financial resources.
He decided to write the book as he hails from Nalanda and felt the need to present a comprehensive picture of Nalanda. “ I was curious why Nalanda was so great. I wondered who taught there, who studied there. In this book, I have documented the lives of more than 200 great masters of Nalanda- from Nagarajuna from Ist century A.D. to Dhyanabhadra in the early fourteenth century A.D.- so almost 1400 years of continuous journey of Nalanda. Actually, the Buddha frequented it because it was a blessed place. Other great philosophers like Mahavira also chose the place of his Nirvana very close to Nalanda. So, it is a very sacred place since ancient times. Two male chief disciples of Buddha came from Nalanda.”
Explaining the legacy of Nalanda, Ambassador Kumar said, “ From Nagarjuna’s time, there was a lineage of great scholars who contributed to the rise of Nalanda as a great university. I have written about their lives. One of the greatest legacies of Nalanda is the inter-disciplinary approach to learning.”
Ambassador Kumar who is a poet, lyricist, writer and artist and has received many literary honours, has written about the great luminaries of Nalanda including Aryabhatta, the father of Indian mathematics besides great scholars like Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Santaraksita and Kamlasila.
He also talks of as many as 56 Chinese scholars who visited India to visit Buddhist sites and study in Nalanda University in one decade of the seventh century. He says that Nalanda continued to be popular with scholars from around the world.
He has also talked of destruction of a monastery, 10 kilometre from Nalanda by Bakhtiyar Khalji and later by troops of the Turkish military commander stationed at Odantpuri in 1235.
He says that this ancient university never died in a way. “ It continued to function in a small way up to the 14th century. Then, we had a continuity of Nalanda in Tibet in 15th century. In 1950, in India, we had the Nav Nalananda Mahavihara which was founded by the first President of India.”
His book explains at length how the then President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam proposed in 2006 the idea of reviving Nalanda and the idea was supported at the East Asia summit and 17-18 countries came to support it. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it last year.”
He says that Nalanda’s quadrangular architecture inspired the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge. “The idea of college and university developed at Nalanda. It is an institution without borders.”
He went on to say that this university in Bihar had dexterous management of financial resources.That could be a model even today for universities to increase spending on education.”
The author who has visited the new campus of the university, says that it has a sprawling campus spread over 455 acres of land. “It is a net zero campus. It has a grand vision and offers a number of courses…. It has a large number of foreign students today. It is truly trying to revive the spirit of Nalanda. The university has a very international character and its running to full capacity.”
To know more about the rise, fall and revival of Nalanda, do watch this video
