In the view of Sir Charles Eliot, British scholar and diplomat, ancient and modern India is “a government of religions, whose members can each become a living being.” Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the noted Indian President and philosopher of this doctrine, properly appointed. In the preface to the Russian publication of a book titled “Indian Philosophy”, he wrote :
“Simple physical development or wisdom is not enough. The main purpose of human desires should be spiritual excellence. That is why from the beginning of the history of Indian culture, different religions lived together peacefully in our country. All religions were adopted by Indians with great hospitality, and their systems of philosophy and experimentation were given the possibility to develop according to their natural talents. ”
According to Carl Theodore Jaspers’s “Axial Age” formula, philosophies resembling the type of human ideology around the world in the 8th century BC. Born in India played a key role in this activity. In addition to the Vedic religion, Jainism, Ajivic and Buddhism also arose in India. The best achievements of the Indian religious and philosophical system were recognized in Buddhism, and only a human could understand the principles of Buddha religion. The first geopolitical concepts of Ashoka Maurya were related to Buddhism, which included the principles of “Chakravartin” and “Dharmavijaya”. Finally, Buddhism promoted the educational system of India.
Universities of ancient India, i.e. the Mahavihara, are truly unique and early historical monuments, which symbolize the cultural achievements of Indian civilization. Their area of expansion is directly related to the expansion area of the Buddha temples (Viharas): the centre of the Viharas was Magadha, in which the area of Buddha Darma originated. It is also interesting to note that the name of the state of Bihar is related to the fact that in the area of Magadha, many viharas were located in the past. Apart from this, Taxila, the second main centre of the Buddha Vidyadhana., influenced the propagation of Greek Buddha culture. Addresses of this also appear in the region of Central Asia: for example, some historians think that the name of the city of Bukhara, located in Uzbekistan, comes from the word “Vihara”. It allows thinking, how much Buddha Vidya Dadaan affects the western world.
In the period of the Pala empire (8th-12th century AD), the centres of Buddha Vidyadana were the Mahaviharas named Nalanda, Vikramashila, sompur, Odantapur and Jagaddal . Together they developed the developed system of the university: all the disciples learned on one program, universities often organized joint activities, and the gurus themselves went from one university to another and made scientific exchanges. The state encourages university actions, which have become an additional factor in the outstanding reputation of Indian learning among foreigners.
The purpose of the author in these articles is not only to discover the characteristics and history of the Indian monasteries but also to prove the second purpose of the author, that the Buddha Vidyadana is also a historical and cultural monument of India, which India can boast of. is. The author thinks that the Indian scientific world should remember these monuments and encourage their rebirth constantly. Its importance is that those old universities are not only Buddhist tourists, but Buddhists themselves can promote the rebirth of the customs of the past period. In addition to this, the author’s third objective is to prove what the similarities between the educational systems of that day and modern times are, to prove that India was one of the founders of the university’s educational system throughout the world…
2. Nalanda University
Nalanda is a place that became truly unique in the history of Buddhism. Not only ordinary Buddhist associations were established, but the original Buddhist University was established, which was in the reign of Kumaragupta (715-455 AD). The temple of Vidyadan was located southeast of Pataliputra (modern Patna, Bihar). Pataliputra was the capital of the Gupta Empire, near which the Mahavihara was located.
The name of “Nalanda” means “lotus giving place”. The lotus is a sacred symbol of Buddhism, which humanizes Siddhartha himself. According to one Jataka, they appear in the lotus form in the world in the shape of a flame. Rising from murky waters, the lotus becomes a sacred symbol of purity and excellence, science and virtue. Due to this Jataka, the slogan of Nalanda University was born. Everyone felt the desire to enter there – disciples and Buddhist gurus. It is worth seeing, from where Buddhists from all over Asia reached Nalanda: Southern Asia, South-East Asia, East Asia, Tibet, Central Asia and Middle East. Therefore, we can see that it was not only of great international and cultural importance for the Gupta Empire, but it would be possible for us to guess the demands and the educational system presented to the disciples and gurus.
The Chinese traveller’s book “Memoirs of the Travels of the Western Countries” named Xuan Tsang (402–4) gave a direct presentation about Nalanda’s system of tests. Every year, many thousands of students tried to pass the difficult examination of Sanskrit language. Hiuen Tsong gave such a description :
“If a man wanted to participate in the regulations of thought, the gatekeeper would ask him difficult questions, and then many people returned after the green and failure. Only those who deeply studied old and modern texts could enter Nalanda. Those who came for the first time showed their abilities in prestigious debates. Seven-eight of the ten entrants were rejected, but the remaining two-three could go inside the monastery. ”
Passing tests were accessible to all entrants, and this action was taking place irrespective of social status, caste or origin. Consistent with safe statistics, every year only 30 % of Indians and only 20% of foreigners entered Nalanda, and after estimating these numbers, the highest level of the educational system of Nalanda University would be evident.
The university was destroyed in 1139. This step of vandalism was done by a Muslim fighter named Bakhtiyar Khilji. The heads of Buddhist monasteries and disciples were beheaded, countless and precious texts were burnt, and the palatial buildings were destroyed… Notwithstanding this the majority of the building group survived to the present period, to estimate the infrastructure of Nalanda. Gives the possibility.
The building group of Nalanda has an area of about 12 hectares (1.2 million square meters). Within this were located 7 temples and 7 small viharas, whose height sometimes reached 4 floors. Nalanda was surrounded by bastions fortified with strong manches on which separate patches for patrons were located. The university also had a huge observatory. The famous monument is a 24-meter statue of Lord Buddha, which was presented to Harshavardhana Raja in the 8th century. The main wealth of Nalanda was believed to be the library, which was divided into 3 parts – Ratnasagar, Ratnaranjak and Ratnoddhi. According to Hiuen Tsong, his corpus of books was calculated to be 90 million books, which gives the possibility of reaching an interesting idea.: If, according to some accounts, the number of the corpus of the Library of Alexandria was counted in olden times, how much of India’s loss in numbers and science occurred after this?
Our focus should also be on educational activity. Every day 10 thousand disciples learned in the university, which was led by more than 1000 gurus. According to Hwen Tsong, more than 100 lectures were given in Nalanda. Sanskrit and Mahayana Buddhism were considered to be compulsory subjects. Other subjects were considered additional, and their study depended on the efforts of the disciples. First of all, the disciples chose to study Siddhanta from one of Hinayana’s other 17 Buddhist tendencies. Then there was the study of various worldly subjects: Naturalology, Medicine, Astronomy, Painting and Literature. The study of the 7 systems of Indian philosophy took a special place, the main form of which was the craft of debate. There were only 10 tricks of consistency of Indian logic, while there are only 3 tricks of European logic. In sum, the scientific community of Nalanda had strong future talents, developed the doctrine of Mahayana, and also advanced the craft of Buddhist philosophical debate.
The Mali Bhavan group of the university also took the main position. Many hostels, many eateries, the best-conceived air circulation system and sewage system – all were the best. According to the information of archaeology, Bakhtiyar used to eat food at the time of Kilji’s invasion. But … there was a sudden attack … After this, the monasteries had to run away from the university soon, so they left the charred pulses after burning the rice.
Overall, Nalanda was a large scientific city, with no borders. The characteristics of his life and his system salute that, according to whose rules the life of the present day university and the education of the highest quality university goes on.
3. Vikramshila Mahavihara
The second centre of Buddhist learning is located 32 km from Bhagalpur in the eastern Bihar state. And her name is Vikramashila. The university was established by a ruler named Dharmapala (83–620). Its existence remained a mystery to historians, archaeologists and Buddhists for a long time. Incidentally, the remains of the university were also discovered by students, but who used to learn at modern Patna University. Vikramshila was being excavated in the year 1992-1979 under the leadership of the Department of Archaeological Survey of Patna University and Archaeological Survey of India. At the end of the excavation, the Archaeological Survey of India found a square building and several small stupas. This excavation was one of the most extensive excavations in the history of modern India.
Nevertheless, our attention should go towards such an old age, when Vikramashila reached the test of its progress and can be named the most important Buddhist University of Southern India. This period was the reign of Rampal (1062–1127), considered to be the last of the great rulers of the Pala dynasty. The name of the university came from a legend of a Yaksha named Vikramashila, who was the protector of regional wildlife and wild blessed. The Yaksha had two conditions: a righteous condition, in which they turned into trees, plants, stones and other inert objects, and a wicked condition, in which they were demons used to change the form of tourists who visited them. Once Buddhists made a Yaksha patlu named Vikramashila, and it turned into a stone. Since then, this place had a Buddhist Mahavihara named Vikramashila.
The university received huge patronage from Rampal. As in Nalanda, there was free education, so the system of examinations there was difficult. The subjects had similar occupations, but they have a speciality. If Nalanda was the centre of the study of Mahayana and Hinayana, then Vikramashila was the centre of the study of Vajrayana. It explains that historically, the institution of Tibetan monasteries was universal. Those whose desire was to learn Tantric Buddhism used to get an education with pride in Vikramshila.
The centre of the building group is square Mahavihara Krasrupi with a central stupa. In addition to this, several small stupas were also built. The central stupa is about 15 meters in height and was double-storied. Each floor has a height of two and a half meters, and between them are huge worlds. The walls of the world were equipped with terracotta placards, most of which are no longer safe. According to the safe-captives, they were presented with many plots from the natives of Lord Buddha and stories related to Vishnu, Parvati and Hanuman. In addition to this, they are depicted with epithets of animals, that is, dancing snakes, glorious lions or pictures of powerful elephants.
The dormitory was situated for the monasteries in the building of the Mahavihara. The entrance from the northern side is viewable, which is made up of four glorious pillars and terraces. The Mahavihara shindar was deprived of the roof, which stood on the great pillars. Unfortunately, many of these pillars were deprived of graffiti and remained on the earth. Twenty-four rooms of the residence’s dormitory were counted, and since the Mahavihara was of the shape of the crescent, 52 pillars were located on each side. In the dormitory both the disciple and the master lived. Each room had 3 beds, and each of its 6 departments had a well-organized sewage system.
4. Sompur Mahavihar
According to Buddhist legend, the Monastery of the 11th century Atisha Dinpakr Srigyan relates, in Tibet Lnderma was the reincarnation of Buddhism after the era of the pressure in the reign (815-842) King and civil Fisad. He established a trend of Tibetan Buddhism called “Kadam”.
Sompur Mahavihar is located in a Bengali city called Paharpur. In terms of location, it is sometimes called Paharpur Vihar. It is considered as the most unique Buddhist monument of Bengal.
The Vihara was founded (43–420) by Dharmapala Raja. His name is written on the terracotta placards of the Vihara. The quadrangular structure of the Vihara is traditional and simple for Buddhist Vihara, but the expansion of Sompur is larger than all similar regional viharas.
According to Buddhist traditions, all its walls in the centre of Sompur were built following the world’s oars. Similarly, the gates are also located. According to the structure, the Mahavihara was in square form, surrounded by ramparts. The Mali buildings were located to the east, west and south of the Mahavihara. 14 small viharas were built near the ramparts.
In the centre of the inner courtyard was situated a temple of vast expanse, which was of a croissant shape. The Great Stupa is situated in the centre of this cross. This temple is three-storey, which rises 20 meters above the whole building cluster. The lowest floor is the powerful foundation of the temple, where more than 40 hill idols are located, marking the deities and deities. The middle floor was built as the Padagami Marg, which surrounds the temple and passes through all four angles. The upper Mazil Sarlrakhi is made in the shape of the central jati.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, “UNESCO” ( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ) drew attention to Sompur and invested several rupees for its restoration. In the year 1965, Sompur was written in the list of “UNESCO” global heritage.
5. Odantpur and Jagaddal
Odantpur Mahavihara was established by the Gopal king in the 8th century. Here more than 12 thousand monasteries learned, who studied Mahayana and Hinayana. Unfortunately, information about this is very clear, and no leaves of the old Buddhist culture on the area of the relic are preserved.
The second monument, which is less known, is Jagaddal Mahavihara. Historians think that Jagaddal was the centre of Vajrayana’s tendency. In terms of excavation information, the Mahavihara was 105 meters in length and 75 meters in Chhaudai. The brick and three statues of the gods were also protected from the terracotta plinth.
4. Takshshila
The 2–4 centuries were the era of the Kushan Empire. The main centre of Greek Buddhism was located in his territory, which was developing in Taxila University. It is known that in AD 128, Kanishka I established his capital at Taxila. Fashion, a Chinese traveller who visited the city in the early 5th century, described it interestingly in his book “Inscription …”1.2 million people were living in Taxila, so at the same time, its population used to take 9th place in the world. The weather of the city was very hot, but the soil there was fertile by the regional rivers and streams. Blessed fruits, flowers, vegetables, grains and sugar were grown.
The most interesting thing is the description of the citizens: they were”cowacowardly ” were unashamed in the study of books.” Taxila was the main centre of the Greek religion. According to Fashion, regional people were devotees of “other religions” (Hindu or Zoroastrian religions) and did not follow the principles of Buddhism. This was happening because Kanishka used Buddhism only to build an empire. The indescribable symbol of the period is Kanishka Stupa, which is 16 meters in height and has a thirst of 4 meters. This terrahamzilla wooden stupa was often burnt: according to a Buddhist legend, if it burns and is rebuilt 4 times, the disintegration of Buddhism can begin.
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In the end, the author is firmly convinced that modern India should boast big and strong on these 6 Buddhist monasteries. First of all, they were educational centres of the highest order, which were famous not only in India but all over Asia. Secondly, they were the real cities of Buddhism, whose infrastructure gives astonishing surprise to modern engineers. Thirdly, Buddhist culture was developing in them: we are well known for the unsuspecting Buddhist texts, painting and sculpture.
- Authored By Yurya Romashov
