Ancient institutions of learning in the Indian subcontinent

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The Indian subcontinent has a long history of education and learning from the era of Indus Valley Civilization. Important ancient institutions of learning in Indian subcontinent are as follows:

Takshashila[]

The University of ancient Taxila was a renowned ancient institute of higher-learning located in the city of Taxila. According to scattered references that were only fixed a millennium later, it may have dated back to at least the fifth century BC.[1] Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the sixth century BC.[2] The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis.[1]

Ruins of University of Taxila

Takshashila is described in some detail in later Jātaka tales, written in Sri Lanka around the fifth century AD.[3]

It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BC, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the fifth century AD.

Important Teachers[]

Important teachers that are said to be teaching at university of Taxila include;

  • Pāṇini, the great 5th century BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini is said to have been born in Shalatula near Attock, not far from Taxila. This region was then part of Gandāra satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, but the ethnicity in his name or the way of his life shows that he was of Indian origin.[4][5][6] He is likely to have been teaching at Taxila university.
  • Chanakya, the influential Prime Minister of the founder of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta Maurya, is also said to have been teaching at Taxila.[7]
  • Kumāralāta, according to the 3rd century Chinese Buddhist monk and traveller Yuan Chwang, Kumāralāta, the founder of Sautrāntika school was also an excellent teacher at Taxila university and attracted pupil from as far as China.[8]
  • Vasubandhu, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism is said to be teaching there. His famous pupil includes Dharmakirti and Dignaga.[9]

Important Students[]

Important pupil from ancient University of Taxila includes;

  • King Pasenadi of Kosala, a close friend of the Buddha
  • , the commander of Pasedani's army
  • Aṅgulimāla, a close follower of the Buddha. A Buddhist story about Aṅgulimāla (also called Ahiṃsaka, and later a close follower of Buddha), relates how his parents send him to Taxila to study under a well-known teacher. There he excels in his studies and becomes the teacher's favorite student, enjoying special privileges in his teacher's house.[citation needed] However, the other students grow jealous of Ahiṃsaka's speedy progress and seek to turn his master against him.[citation needed] To that end, they make it seem as though Ahiṃsaka has seduced the master's wife.[citation needed]
  • Jivaka, court doctor at Rajagriha and personal doctor of the Buddha.[10]
  • Charaka, the Indian "father of medicine" and one of the leading authorities in Ayurveda, is also said to have studied at Taxila, and practiced there.[11][12]
  • Chandragupta Maurya, Buddhist literature states that Chandragupta Maurya, the future founder of the Mauryan Empire, though born near Patna (Bihar) in Magadha, was taken by Chanakya for his training and education to Taxila, and had him educated there in "all the sciences and arts" of the period, including military sciences. There he studied for eight years.[citation needed] The Greek and Hindu texts also state that Kautilya (Chanakya) was a native of the northwest Indian subcontinent, and Chandragupta was his resident student for eight years.[13] These accounts match Plutarch's assertion that Alexander the Great met with the young Chandragupta while campaigning in the Punjab.[14][15]

Nalanda[]

Nalanda University ruins

Nalanda (Sanskrit: नालंंदा ISO: Nālandā, pronounced [naːlən̪d̪aː]) was an ancient Mahavihara, a revered Buddhist monastery which also served as a renowned centre of learning, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India.[16] The university of Nalanda obtained significant fame, prestige and relevance during ancient times, and rose to legendary status due to its contribution to the emergence of India as a great power around the fourth century.[17] The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna, and was one of the greatest centres of learning in the world from the fifth century CE to c. 1200 CE.[18] Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[19][20]

Valabhi University[]

The Valabhi University was an important centre of Buddhist learning and championed the cause of Hinayana Buddhism between 600 CE and 1200 CE. Valabhi was the capital of the Maitraka empire during the period 480-775 CE. It was an important port for international trade located in Saurashtra, present day it is called Vallabhipur located in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat in western India, identical with the old state of Vala. For some time, the university was considered to be a rival to Nalanda, in Bihar, in the field of education. In September 2017, the Indian central government started to consider a proposal to revive the ancient university's all things even the university.[21]

Sharada Peeth[]

It is a ruined Hindu temple and ancient centre of learning located in present-day Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, it was among the most prominent temple universities in the Indian subcontinent. Known in particular for its library, stories recount scholars travelling long distances to access its texts. It played a key role in the development and popularisation of the Sharada script in North India.[22]

Library at Sharada Peeth[]

Sharada Peeth was also valued by scholars across the Indian subcontinent for its library, and stories detail long journeys they would take to consult it.

17th-century birch bark manuscript of Pāṇini's grammar treatise from Sharada Peeth
  • The 13th century CE (1277 – 78) text Prabhāvakacarita contains a story of the Śvētāmbara scholar Hemachandra. As Sharada Peeth was the only place with a library known to have all such works available in their complete form,[24][25][26] Hemachandra requested King Jayasimha Siddharaja to send a team to retrieve copies of the existing eight Sanskrit grammatical texts preserved there. These supported his own text of Sanskrit grammar, the Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana.[27]

Important Students[]

The important pupil who studied here include:

  • Kumarajiva (344 – 413 CE) was born to a Kashmiri father, Kumārāyana, and a Chinese mother from Kucha. He was sent to Kashmir at a young age to gain a grounding in Buddhism, where he studied under a Kashmiri scholar of the Sarvastivada school.[citation needed]
  • Thonmi Sambhota (7th century CE) was sent on a mission to Kashmir to procure an alphabet for the Tibetan language.[28] There, he learned various scripts and grammar treatises from learned pandits, and then devised a script for Tibetan based largely on the Sharada alphabet.[29][30]
Thonmi Sambhota, inventor of Tibetan script
Ruins of Sharada Peeth

Pushpagiri Vihara[]

Pushpagiri (Odia: ପୁଷ୍ପଗିରି) was an ancient Buddhist mahavihara or monastic complex located atop Langudi Hill (or Hills) in Jajpur district of Odisha, India. Pushpagiri was mentioned in the writings of the Chinese traveller Xuanzang (c. 602 – c. 664) and some other ancient sources. Until the 1990s, it was hypothesised to be one or all of the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udayagiri group of monastic sites, also located in Jajpur district. These sites contain ruins of many buildings, stupas of various sizes, sculptures (many now removed to museums), and other artifacts.

However, archaeological excavations conducted at Langudi Hills during 1996-2006 resulted in the discovery of another site, with inscriptions describing the local monastery as puṣpa sabhar giriya, and identified by the excavators as Pushpagiri. This has now become the general view among scholars. The site has now been made accessible for tourism.

The visit of Xuanzang indicates that Pushpagiri was an important Buddhist site in ancient India. Along with Nalanda, Vikramashila, Odantapuri, Takshashila and Vallabhi, it is believed to be a major ancient centre of learning. It flourished between 3rd and 11th centuries CE.[34]

Odantapuri University[]

Odantapuri (also called Odantapura or Uddandapura) was a prominent Buddhist Mahavihara in what is now Bihar, India. It is believed to have been established by Gopala I in the 8th century. It is considered the second oldest of India's Mahaviharas after Nalanda University and was situated in Magadha.

Vikramashila[]

Vikramashila (Sanskrit: विक्रमशिला Devanagari: विक्रमशिला, IAST: Vikramaśilā) was one of the two most important centres of learning in India during the Pala Empire, along with Nalanda. Its location is now the site of Antichak village, Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

Vikramashila was established by the Pala emperor Dharmapala (783 to 820 AD) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda. Atiśa, the renowned pandita, is sometimes listed as a notable abbot. It was destroyed by the forces of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1193.[35][36]

Somapura Mahavihara[]

Somapura Mahavihara (Bengali: সোমপুর মহাবিহার, romanized: Shompur Môhabihar) in Paharpur, Badalgachhi Upazila, Naogaon District, Bangladesh is among the best known viharas, monasteries, in the Indian subcontinent and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. It is also one of the earliest sites of Bengal, where significant numbers of Hindu statues were found. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is one of the most famous examples of architecture in pre-Islamic Bangladesh. It dates from a period to the nearby Halud Vihara and to the Sitakot Vihara in Nawabganj Upazila of Dinajpur District.[37]

Bikrampur Vihara[]

Bikrampur Vihara is an ancient Buddhist vihara at Raghurampur village, Bikrampur, Munshiganj District in Bangladesh.[38]

Jagaddala Mahavihara[]

Jagaddala Mahavihara (fl. late 11th century - mid-12th century) was a Buddhist monastery and seat of learning in Varendra, a geographical unit in present north Bengal in Bangladesh.[39] It was founded by the later kings of the Pāla dynasty, probably Ramapala (c. 1077–1120), most likely at a site near the present village of Jagdal in Dhamoirhat Upazila in the north-west Bangladesh on the border with India, near Paharapur.[40] Some texts also spell the name Jaggadala.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Scharfe, Hartmut; Bronkhorst, Johannes; Spuler, Bertold; Altenmüller, Hartwig (2002). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. Education in ancient India. p. 141. ISBN 978-90-04-12556-8.
  2. ^ "History of Education", Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007.
  3. ^ Marshall 1975:81
  4. ^ Scharfe, Hartmut (1977). Grammatical Literature. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 89. ISBN 9783447017060.
  5. ^ Bakshi, S. R. (2005). Early Aryans to Swaraj. Sarup & Sons. p. 47. ISBN 9788176255370.
  6. ^ Ninan, M. M. (2008). The Development of Hinduism. Madathil Mammen Ninan. p. 97. ISBN 9781438228204.
  7. ^ Schlichtmann, Klaus (2016). A Peace History of India: From Ashoka Maurya to Mahatma Gandhi. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. p. 29. ISBN 9789385563522.
  8. ^ Watters, Thomas (1904-01-01). On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, 629-645 A.D. Dalcassian Publishing Company.
  9. ^ Lusthaus, Dan; Vasubandhu
  10. ^ Batchelor, Stephen (2010). Confession of a Buddhist Atheist. Random House Publishing Group. p. 256. ISBN 9781588369840.
  11. ^ Lowe, Roy; Yasuhara, Yoshihito (2016). The Origins of Higher Learning: Knowledge networks and the early development of universities. Routledge. p. PT62. ISBN 9781317543268.
  12. ^ Gupta, Subhadra Sen (2009). Ashoka. Penguin UK. p. PT27. ISBN 9788184758078.
  13. ^ Modelski, George (1964). "Kautilya: Foreign Policy and International System in the Ancient Hindu World". American Political Science Review. Cambridge University Press (CUP). 58 (3): 549–560. doi:10.2307/1953131. JSTOR 1953131.
  14. ^ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1966). Chandragupta Maurya and His Times. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9788120804050.
  15. ^ "Sandrocottus, when he was a stripling, saw Alexander himself, and we are told that he often said in later times that Alexander narrowly missed making himself master of the country, since its king was hated and despised on account of his baseness and low birth". Plutarch 62-4 "Plutarch, Alexander, chapter 1, section 1".
  16. ^ https://nalanda.nic.in/en/history/
  17. ^ https://www.aicte-india.org/downloads/ancient.pdf
  18. ^ Scharfe, Hartmut; Bronkhorst, Johannes; Spuler, Bertold; Altenmüller, Hartwig (2002). Handbuch Der Orientalistik: India. Education in ancient India. p. 149. ISBN 978-90-04-12556-8.
  19. ^ "Four sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List". whc.unesco.org. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  20. ^ "Chandigarh's Capitol Complex makes it to UNESCO's World Heritage List". Economic Times. 18 July 2016. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  21. ^ Prashant Ruperal: Ancient Vallabhi University to be revived, The Times of India, September 24, 2017, accessed on September 25, 2017.
  22. ^ Qazi, Junaid Ahmad; Samad, Abdul (January 2015). Shakirullah; Young, Ruth (eds.). "Śarda Temple and the Stone Temples of Kashmir in Perspective: A Review Note". Pakistan Heritage. Hazara University Mansehra-Pakistan. 7: 111–120 – via Research Gate.
  23. ^ "Ramanuja's revelation of the 'secret mantra'". The Hindu. 2016-08-04. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  24. ^ Pollock, Sheldon (2006). The Language of the Gods in the World of Men. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 182. ISBN 0520245008. ...accordingly, being stored in its most perfect form in the temple of the Goddess of Speech in the far-off land of Kashmir, from where Hemacandra acquired his supremely authoritative exemplars, grammar was at the same time clearly a precious cultural good, one that could be imported and whose very possession secured high prestige for its possessor.
  25. ^ Suri, Chandraprabha. Prabhavakacharita.
  26. ^ Singh, Sahana (2017). The Educational Heritage of Ancient India. Chennai: Notion Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-947586-53-6. Hemachandra is noted to have requested for a copy of all the earlier grammar works that had been written until then, and which were only available in their complete form in the library of Sharada university.
  27. ^ Pollock 2006, pp. 588–89
  28. ^ Thomas, Frederick William (1951). "The Tibetan Alphabet". In Eckhardt, Karl August; Pedersen, Holger; Littmann, Enno; Latte, Kurt (eds.). Festschrift zur Feier des Zweihundertjährigen Bestehens der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen. Festschrift zur Feier des Zweihundertjährigen Bestehens der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen: II Philologisch-Historische Klasse (in German). Springer. pp. 146–165. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-86704-0_7. ISBN 978-3-642-86704-0.
  29. ^ Norbu, Thubten Jigme; Turnbull, Colin M. (1968). Tibet. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 140. ISBN 0-671-20559-5. OCLC 1513.
  30. ^ Shakabpa, W. D. (2010). One Hundred Thousand Moons: an Advanced Political History of Tibet. Translated by Maher, Derek F. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-474-3076-6. OCLC 717020192.
  31. ^ Rizvi (1996), pp. 58-59.
  32. ^ Kalhana (1900). Kalhaṇa's Rājataraṅginī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr. Translated by Stein, Marc Aurel. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company, Ltd. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9788120803718.
  33. ^ Raina, Mohini Qasba (2013). Kashur: The Kashmiri Speaking People. Trafford Publishing. pp. 85, 191. ISBN 978-1490701653.
  34. ^ Scott L. Montgomery; Alok Kumar (2015). A History of Science in World Cultures: Voices of Knowledge. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 9781317439066.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ Alexis Sanderson (2009). "The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period". In Einoo, Shingo (ed.). Genesis and Development of Tantrism. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo. p. 89.
  36. ^ Eaton, Richard (December 22, 2000). "Temple desecration in pre-modern India". Frontline. 17 (25): 62–70.
  37. ^ Rahman, SS Mostafizur (2012). "Sitakot Vihara". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  38. ^ "Archaeology - Ancient Buddhist Vihara found in Munshiganj". www.buddhistchannel.tv. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  39. ^ Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. by Dutt, Sukumar. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London 1962. pg 377
  40. ^ UNESCO World Heritage website
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