Nalanda

Nalanda, in Bihar’s Magadh region, is best known for Nalanda Mahavihara, a vast Buddhist monastic complex that became a major centre of learning in Asia. The institution is commonly dated to the Gupta period and is linked with Emperor Kumaragupta I, with its foundation often placed around 427 CE. It later received patronage from rulers in Harsha’s era and the Pala Empire, drawing teachers and students from across India and the wider Buddhist world to study philosophy, logic, grammar, medicine, and languages. Accounts by Chinese pilgrims such as Xuanzang and Yijing describe rigorous monastic discipline, public debates, and a rich manuscript tradition. Twentieth-century excavations revealed its planned layout.

From the late 12th to 13th centuries, monasteries across eastern India faced severe disruption. Nalanda is widely associated with raids around 1200 CE by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji’s forces; after this it declined and was gradually abandoned. The archaeological site preserves temples, monasteries, and other remains with early phases from about the 3rd century BCE and the main mahavihara phases from the 5th to 13th centuries. In 2016, it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In modern administration, Nalanda district was formed on 9 November 1972 with Bihar Sharif as its headquarters.