CENTERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION | NALANDA, VALABHI & KANCHI

Give an account of the centers of higher education with reference to Takshashila, Varanasi and Nalanda.

Write a note on Centers of Higher Education in India

Estimate the contribution of Nalanda, Valabhi and Kanchi towards higher education

Give a detailed account of the important centers of higher education during the period under review.

Give an account of centers of higher education with reference to Valabhi, Ujjain, Varanasi and Vikramashila.

 

Organized educational institutions originated during the Buddhist period. Buddhism was funded on Republican principles according to which ‘Dharma’ was preached to the masses in their own language. Therefore, educational institutions to teach Pali and Sanskrit for primary and higher education respectively were established. Buddha felt the need of institutions for the education of the ‘upasakas’ or sympathizers too. This brought monastic schools into being. Later monasteries assumed the form of big ‘Viharas’ for education. The monks, nuns and laity were provided facility and opportunities for education at these centers.

Students belonging to different ranks and classes and coming from distant ‘Janapadas’ or republics received education free of charge. There centers attracted students from abroad i.e., China, Tibet, Japan and other countries of Southeast Asia. The centers of higher learning such as Taxila and Nalanda rose to the status of universities. However, universities in ancient India were not well-organized bodies like the universities of modern times. They were like ‘Studia Generalia’ of medieval Europe, settlements of teachers where students congregated, lived and learnt what they desired to learn at the hands of the teachers who taught what they knew. They did not lay down definite regulations for entrance or for examination, did not prescribe different courses of study in different branches of knowledge, did not prepare students for any particular examination, did not hold any public examination and did not grant any degrees or diplomas. Among such centers of higher education in ancient India Takshashila (Taxila), Varanasi (Benaras), Ujjain, Valabhi and Nalanda were the best known.

Takshashila (Taxila) – (derived from Taksha – the local ruler) bears the name of the capital of the province of Gandhar (modern Kandhar) near present city of Peshawar. From times immemorial, Taxila has been an important center of Brahmanical education. It was a seat of Hindu and Buddhist Culture where hundreds of teachers and students flocked from different parts of India and the outlying countries of Asia long before the beginning of the Christian era. As early as in the 17^th century B.C. it attracted students from far off places like Benaras and it was famous for its schools of philosophy even at the time of Alexander’s invasion in the 4^th century B.C. Buddhist Jataka Number 252 relates that Brahmadatta, a King of Benaras, sent his 16 year old son to far off Taxila to complete his education giving him a pair of one soled sandals, an umbrella of leaves and a thousand gold pieces. On arriving at Taxila the boy went to the teachers house and he was readily welcomed by the teacher and lodged and boarded in his house. When he say the teacher the next morning he had the following conversation with him. ‘Where have you come from?’ asked the teacher. ‘From Benaras’ replied the boy. ‘Whose son are you?’ ‘I am the son of the King of Benaras’. ‘What brings you here?’ ‘I have come to learn’. ‘Well have you brought the teachers fee, or do you wish to serve me in return for learning from me?’ questioned the teacher. ‘I have brought the fee with me’, said the boy and laid his purse of a thousand pieces at the teacher’s feet. The story is interesting, as showing 16 years as the age for proceeding to university education, completion of education, as the aim of such education. The modest manner in which the students were equipped for it, the fee varying with their means, which those who could afford, paid for and the domestic service which others could not afford rendered in return for their instruction. The long and difficult journey undertaken by those seeking education and the humility with which they approached their teachers and the parental manner in which the teachers received and treated them was remarkable.

During the Buddhist period the fame of Taxila continued in Northern India. But when Fa-Hein visited it in 5^th century A.D. there was no sign of any university there and when Hiuen Tsang visited in 7^th century was very much disappointed to see merely the last relics of this important center of education.

Taxila was constantly overwhelmed with foreign invasions owing to its situation in the North Western frontiers of India. Hence politically it underwent many vicissitudes as a result of occasional invasions. The Persians, Greeks, and the Kushanas attacked it and established their empires from time to time. it can be easily inferred that with change of empires, its educational system too must have continued to change.

Infact there was no organized institution or university at Taxila. Education rested mainly on domestic system. Many learned and erudite preceptors imparted education to the students separately. Hence it had become a very big educational center, mainly a center of higher education (post 16 years). The chief branches of subject of study were Vedatrayi (three Vedas), Vedant, Vyakaran, Ayurveda, 18 Sippas (craft), military education, astronomy, agriculture, commerce, snake bite cure, etc. Panini, the father of Vyakarana (grammar) and Jivaka, an expert in surgery and medicine were the products of Taxila. No caste distinctions were observed as regards to the training in these sciences and this can be testified by the example of a young Brahman boy who went there to learn military art and science.

Taxila had been influenced by the Greek culture also. Some preceptors taught Greek there. Training in Greek military art was also conducted. Taxila was very famous as the centre of training in Indian military sciences. The study of medicine took a period of 7 years which can be borne out by Jivaka’s residence at Taxila. Kautilya, the famous author of Arthashastra had received his higher education here.

Thus for several centuries Taxila continued to flourish as a great center of education till it was destroyed by the barbaric Huns who invaded India in 455 A.D.

Varanasi (Benares) – Benares is one of the oldest seats of learning in India. It came into existence later than Taxila. Its fame as a stronghold of religious learning was so great in ancient times that every religious leader who desired to propagate his doctrine felt compelled to preach it first to its (Benares’) renowned pandits and shastris. In the 7^th century B.C. Benares was probably the most famous center of learning in eastern India. That seems to have been one of the reasons for its being selected by the Buddha as the place for the fist promulgation of his gospel in 528 B.C. at Sarnath, about four miles away from Benares. Shankaracharya had to do likewise to propound his Advaita (monastic) philosophy of the Vedanta in later times.

In the Tittira Jataka we read that ‘a world renouned professor of Benares gave instructions in science to 500 young Brahmins’ and afterwards retired to a forest home on the slopes of the Himalayas to carry on his educational work. In the Kosiya Jataka it is stated that in the region of King Bramhadatta of Benares, Bodhisattava being born in the Brahmin family became renowned teacher at Benares and taught the Vedas and the 18 vidyas to Brahmin boys and kshatriya princes.

In the Jataka period Benares was however largely the creation of the ex-students of Taxila. We find that schools for teaching of spells and charms by students trained in Taxila were established here. For the study of ordinary subjects there were already many schools.

Benares, however, was not without its own alumni as educationists. There are several references to teaches of worldwide fame with the usual number of 500 pupils to teach. There were certain subjects in the teaching of which Benares seems ot have specialized. There are references, for example, to a school of music presided over by an expert who was the chief of his kind in the entire country. It was at Benares Panini wrote his famous grammar that Kapila evolved his Samkhya Philosophy, that Yaska wrote his ‘Nirkta’ and Gautama wrote his ‘Nyaya shastra’. Shankaracharya is said to have studied at Benares – the accepted touchstone of all new doctrines from the ancient days even from the days of Buddha. There in Benares, Shankara published his new doctrine of Vedanta and convinced the pundits of Benares of its truth.

While Benares remained the seat of Hindu learning, Sarnath developed since Buddha’s time into a great seat of Buddhist religion and learning. It was liberally patronized by Asoka and appears to have been in a flourishing condition in the 7^th century AD. In 7^th century AD it possessed resplendent and beautiful buildings with tiers of balconies and rows of hills. Unfortunately, Hien Tsang does not state anything about the educational activity of Sarnath monastery, but there can be no doubt that it must have emulated the glorious example of neighboring Nalanda. It had 1500 monk students. There is ample evidence to show that it continued to be a great center of Buddhist learning and pilgrimage down to the 12^th century A.D.

Valabhi – modern Vala in Kathiawad, was also a great seat of Brahminic as well as Buddhist learning. It flourished about the same time as Nalanda. It was the capital seat of the Maitrika Kings between 475 and 775 A.D. There were several Viharas and monasteries in Valabhi. The great Buddhist teachers, Sthiramati and Gunamati of Nalanda were for some time in charge of Buddhist teaching at Valabhi. It attracted a large number of students from far and near. ‘Kathsaritsagara’ the well-known Sanskrit work makes mention of a Brahmin of the Gangetic plain sending his son to Valabhi for education. This shows the widespread reputation which Valabhi enjoyed as the seat of learning.

Valabhi as a center of education has found a reference in the accounts of Hien Tsang. When he visited the place there were some hundred ‘Samgharamas’ established. Like Hien Tsang, I-Tsing too had found Valabhi in the Western side of India as glorious as Nalanda and students from every part of India would flock there for education. These students having finished their higher education were appointed in the courts on high and respectable posts. This clearly indicates that Valabhi was the center not much of religious education as of other secular subjects such as economics, law, politics and medical science. Nalanda was the center of Mahayana branch of Buddhist religion but Valabhi was the center of Hinayana Buddhism.

By the 7^th century AD Valabhi had accomplished appreciable fame regards its education. Still prior to this period it was an important commercial center carrying on sea-borne trade. Many wealthy merchants lived in Valabhi. These wealthy merchants patronized education. The Maitrika Kings made large benefactories to the universities specially to the library. In this way the University of Valabhi continued to function up to 12^th century disseminating the seeds of learning in the country. Afterwards it met no better fate than sister institutions at the hands of vandalism and ultimately wiped out of existence.

Nalanda – Taranath in his ‘History of Buddhism’ records the tradition that Nalanda was the birthplace of Sariputta whose Chaitya was seen by Ashoka who added a temple to it. Thus, Ashoka could be considered as the first founder of the Nalanda Vihara. However, the place did not become educationally important before the rise of Mahayana Buddhism at the beginning of the Christian era.

When Fa-Hein visited it, Nalanda was called Nala and was known as the place where Sariputta was born, and to which also he returned and attained here his ‘pari nirvana’. Ove the spot where his body was burnt, there was built a tope which Fa Hien found still in existence.

Hieun Tsang stayed at Nalanda for a period of 5 years. He gives an interesting account regarding the origin of the monastery. According to him its grounds were the fit to the Buddha by 500 merchants. This original endowment was the precursor of a continuous series of endowments through the centuries by a succession of sovereigns. The endowments took the form of buildings as well as lands from which came the revenue for the maintenance of the University. Hien Tsang thus mentions six monasteries as having been built by as many kings and these constituted the Nalanda establishment in his time.

It has been observed that the description of Nalanda by Hien Tsang is corroborated by the Nalanda Stone Inscription of Yashovarman of the 8^th century A.D. stating how the row of monasteries had their series and summits licking the clouds. The massive external grandeur of the buildings contrasted with the delicate artistic beauty of their interior.

Besides gifts of buildings, the Nalanda University received gifts of land. In Hien Tsang’s time, ‘the king of the country remitted the revenue of about hundred villages for the endowment of the convent’. In I-Tsing’s time, ‘the land in its possession bestowed upon the monastery by the Kings of many generations contained more than two hundred villages’. Out of the income of these estates the university provided for all its alumni free of cost their four requisites of clothes, food, bedding and medicine. The number of alumni in Hien Tsang’s time always reached the figure of 10000 counting the priests belonging to the convent and strangers residing there. The standard of living seemed to have varied with the standing of the monks. In I-tsings time, the number of students supported at the monastery exceeded 3000. The students being so abundantly supplied and having not had to worry about their material need of life, could give themselves whole heartedly to their studies and self-culture.

The condition of admission to Nalanda shows that it was run as an institution of higher learning or post graduate studies. The institution was noted for its specialization in the last stages of university education. Nalanda was built up as a post graduate university for advanced study and research. Foreign students came from countries like Korea, Mongolia, Japan, China, Tukhara, Tibet and Ceylon in search of higher education. The highest academic degree or distinction of the time was a Fellowship of Nalanda. Thus, it was quite difficult to secure admission to Nalanda. The entrance examination was very strict, so its standard might be in keeping with that of its studies.

The method of learning in Nalanda was quite modern. It was the method of discussion in seminars. It was most popular among the students. According to Hien Tsang with learning and discussing, students found the day too short and so they practiced day and night to attain perfection. The teachers delivered between them everyday as many as 100 discourses on many different subjects.

Students specialized in their higher studies on the basis of their preparatory knowledge of the following five compulsory subjects Grammar and Lexicography (Sabda Vidya, science of sounds and words), arts and crafts (Silpthananvidya), science of Medicine (Chikitsavidya), logic (Hetuvidya) and Philosophy (Adhyatmavidya).

Besides these compulsory subjects of study, Nalanda provided for instruction in all learning then known, Brahminical and Buddhist, sacred and secular, philosophical and practical, sciences and arts. The Head of the University, Silabhadra by name, was the highest authority on the theory and practice of yoga which Hien Tsang came all the way from China, against the perils of that difficult journey by land route, to learn at the feet of its master at Nalanda.

A singular feature of Nalanda education was that it Indianized the foreign students as far as possible. They dropped even their own foreign names and assumed in their place Indian names. Foreign students had their own colleges for their residence and study at Nalanda. The most famous example of these was the college or vihara founded for Japanese students (Vihara Karitah) by an endowment made by their King Balaputradeva, ‘Lord of Suvarna-dvipa and Yava Bhumi’, as recorded in an inscription of King Devapaladeva of Magadha of 854AD. The endowment provided for the students and their necessities such as food (pindapata), clothing (chivara), accmodations (satra), beds(sayanasana), medicines (bheshajyadi), pens (ukhanadi) and religious needs (bali and charee). This college was known as a center of Tantrika Buddhism.

Some of the masterminds and creative geniuses of India were teachers at Nalanda in different periods. Its president in Hien Tsang’s time was Silbhadra, a prince of Samatata in South Bengal who renounced the world to become a yogi. The great chemist Nagarjuna was a teacher at Nalanda for years, together with his famous pupil Aryadeva, the founder of Madhyamika School of Buddhism. Here also lived for twelve years Asanga, the founder of the Yogachara School. He is said to have been followed as the President of Nalanda by the equally famous scholar Vasubandhu. Vasubandhu had as his disciple the equally famous Dignaga, an authority on Buddhist logic and native of Kanchi who came to Nalanda on invitation to take part in disputation at a learned conference which awarded to him the title of ‘Tarakpungava’ for his victory in it.

Nalanda scholars were also examples of self sacrifice in choosing to live as permanent exiles in foreign countries like China and Tibet to introduce to them Indian thought and culture. They equipped themselves for this sacred mission as linguists who could translate into Chinese and Tibetan the classics of Sanskrit and Pali religious literature. Among Nalanda scholars thus working in China may be mentioned Kumarajiva and Paramartha, the translator of the ‘Life of Vasubandhu’ 5^th century AD, Subhakara Sinha (8^th century) and Dharma Deva, who during 40 years (960-1000 AD) translated into Chinese as many as 118 Buddhist texts.

The Tibetan Tripitaka mentions the contributions made by the scholars and books of Nalanda to the culture and civilization of Tibet. The works of Arya Deva, Silabhadra or Dharmapala were translated into Tibetan. Religious thinkers like Santarakshita (749AD), Padmasambhava or Atisa Dipankara Srijnana of Pundravardhana settled down in Tibet in the service of a sacred cause, and have been canonized by its devoted people. It was these scholars who helped to build up a greater India in Asia.

The Nalanda University accommodated its vast population of about 15,000 in seven monasteries and eight halls of several storeys with ‘their upper rooms towering above the clouds like pointed hill tops’ as described by Hien Tsang.

The university was also equipped with an adequate library located in a separate area aptly called Dharmaganja, ‘the Mart of Piety’ or ‘Adobe of Religion’, and housed in three buildings appropriately designated as ‘Ratnasagara’, ‘Ratnadadhhi’, and ‘Ratnaranjaka’ ‘Oceans of Gems of Learning’. Ratnaranjaka was probably the library of Fine Arts or Belles-Letters, while the two others were libraries of Philosophy and Religion. Ratnasagara was a big library of nine storeys. An inscription of the Mukhari King Yasovarmmadeva (729-43 AD) describes how Nalanda was a vast collection of hostels or viharas.

The University had its own seal to testify to its corporate character. It bore the inscription ‘Sri Nalanda Mahavihariya Arya Bikshu Sanghasya’ – ‘Of the Sangha or Community of Venerable Monks in charge of the Holy and Central Monastry of Nalanda’. The individual affiliated Colleges called Viharas had also their own seals.

A notable feature of Nalanda was its democratic management in several matters. It assigned to its students democracy and appropriate share in administration. They were in charge of residential arrangements and the annual allotment of rooms to boarders. Seniors trusted their juniors to look after their physical needs. Discipline was left to them as their own concern. They were to judge of cases of offences against the brotherhood, and could expel the offenders. The result of this democratic management was that the problems of indiscipline among students did not trouble the university, so that, as recorded Hien Tsang, ‘there did not occur a single case of any guilty rebellion against the Institution’. Besides, even the budget of the university was passed by the general body of the monks including teachers and students. Some mature students indeed made the case for their democratic association with the administration of the university.

Nalanda was also a center of practical education and business training in the arts and crafts of the times described as Silpasthanavidya, including medical education. The economy of the times centered mainly around agriculture and dairy farming which had to be organized efficiently by the university for its own maintenance. The university had to feed its own population from the produce of its own farms with rice and protective foods like mild and its products like butter, constituting a most nutritive diet for them.

The university had also to depend upon itself for the supply of clothing for its alumni, according to established educational tradition as recorded in canonical Buddhist texts. It was felt that monks in residence were ill at ease without the practice of some handicraft. Every monk was thus enjoined to toil, spin and weave. He was allowed ‘the use of a loom, and of shutters, strings, tickets and all the apparatus belonging to a loom’. The monks had to make their own robes and keep them in fit condition with the help of all necessary weaving appliances. It is to be noted that the student was allowed the uniform of a scanty and simplified triple clothing (chivara) made up of three parts, the upper garment to be untailored and worn as a wrapper, the lower garment reaching form waist to foot (dhoti) and a towel. Thus, spinning yarn and weaving cloth was a compulsory handicraft to be plied by every monk as part of his education.

The affairs of the university were administered by an adequate executive staff which according to I-tsing included the following officers – Viharapala, the principal of the Vihara, whose duty was to enforce rules, regulate admission and report its affairs to the Assembly of Monks, Viharasvami, the master of the College, the keeper of the university’s seal, records and effects and Karmadana, the superintendent of Hostels. The Buddhist canonical texts mention various other officers charged with the administration of Vihara, such as officers to apportion, rooms, rations, robes, together with Aranikas incharge of the university’s ground and campus and overseers or Navakammikas to supervise the construction and repair of the buildings.

The training in arts and crafts led to the development of a regular school of art at Nalanda, producing images and sculptures in stone, metal or bronze, inspired by the prevailing religions of the time, Mahayana and its later developments known as Tantrayana, Vajrayana and Kalachakrayana. Hien Tsang saw the worship at Nalanda of the deities  Tara, Buddha and Bodhisatvas, and I-Tsing, Harti.

Nalanda fashioned a variety of images in stone and bronze, images of the Buddha, Bodhisatvas like Manjusri and Avalokitesvara, of female deities like Hariti, Tara, Prajnaparamita or Vasudhara, images of Tantrika deities like Trailokyavijaya, Heruka, Marichi, Vajrapani and the divine Bodhisatva and images of Brahmanical deities Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Surya, Durga and the like I-Tsing says that the beauty of these marvelous sculptured images touches the limit in the art of ornamentation. 

Ujjain – According to Bana the inhabitants of Ujjain are connoisseurs in all arts; skilled in foreign languages, clever in subtilities of speech, versed in stories of all kinds, accomplished in letters, having a keen delight in the Mahabharata, the Puranas and the Ramayana, familiar with the Brihatkatha, masters of the whole circle of arts, lovers of Shastras, devoted to light literature.

Ujjain as a great center of learning attracted Shankaracharya who defeated a Pashupatacharya in argument. Al-Beruni relates the story of the alchemist Vyadi who was veritable martyr to the science of alchemy. Ujjain was however, famous for the study of astronomy and it became the meridian from which the Hindus counted the longitude of other places.

Vikramasila – Like Valabhi and Nalanda, the university of Vikramasila was also the result of royal benefactions. The history of the Vikramasila university is given by Taranath. According to him, the Vikramasial Vihara was founded by King Dharmapala on a suitable site, a hillock on the bank of the Ganges in northern Magadha. Cunningham identified it with the village Silao near Baragaon. Dr. S. C. Vidyabhushana identified it with Sultanganj in Bhagalpur district.

The teaching in the Vikramsila University was controlled by a board of eminent teachers. It is stated that this board also administer the affairs of Nalanda. This kind of coordination of work and management between the two universities was perhaps det to King Dharmapala being their common head. Accordingly, we find teachers like Deepankara and Abayakara working at both the universities or exchanges of teachers between them.

Vikramasila monastery founded by King Dharmapala in the 8^th century was a famous center of international learning for more than four centuries. King Dharmapala also build temples and monasteries at the place and liberally endowed them. He also erected several halls for lecturing work. His successors continued to patronize the university down to the 13^th century.

The monks of Vikramasila University were usually distinguished scholars and the fame of the university soon spread beyond the Himalayas. There was continuous contact between the Vikramasila University and Tibet for four centuries. A special guest house was maintained for the use of Tibetan scholars coming to learn at the feet of Indian pandits. One cannot help admiring the continuous tradition of high scholarship that was maintained at the Vikramasila University throughout its history.

Tibetan sources inform us that Buddha, Jnanpada, Vairochana, Rakshita Jetari Ratnakar santi, Jnanasrimitra, Abhayankar Gupta and a host of other Vikramasila scholars wrote numerous books in Sanskrit and translated scores of them in Tibetan. The most distinguished in this galaxy of Vikramasila scholars was Dipankara Sri Jnana, more commonly known as Upadhaya Atisa, who flourished in the 11^th century. He went to Tibet at the invitation of its King Chan Chab and played an important part in the restoration of Buddhism in Tibet. As many as 200 books, both original and in translation have been attributed to him by the Tibetan tradition.

When there was such a galaxy of distinguished scholars of Vikramasila, it was but natural that the numerical strength of the university should have enormously increased as is evident by the number of scholars attracted to the university. In the 12^th century, there were 3000 monk scholars residing at the university. The college possessed a rich and extensive library.

According to tradition the Vihara was named after a Yaksha called Vikrama who was suppressed here. As it was founded by King Dharmapala of the Pala Dynasty, it was known as the Royal University of Vikramasila. Dharmapala furnished the university with four establishments each consisting of 27 monks belonging to the four principal sects of Buddhism. Later on other buildings were added so that it came to have six colleges, a central hall called the House of Science and four hostels. There was also a large quadrangle which could accommodate an assembly of 8000 people. At the gate outside the wall there was a dharmasala for strangers who arrived late after closing of the gates.

The administrative management of the Vikramasala University was presided over by the chief abbot. Different members of the Board were assigned different administrative duties like the ordination of the novices, supply and supervision of servants, distribution of food and fuel, assignment of monastic work, etc. Mond professors led a simple life. The cost of maintaining one of them was equal to the cost of supporting four ordinary monks.

Academic administration was vested in a Council of Six Devapandits presided over by the chief Abbot. The function of the Devapandits was to test the scholarship of those seeking admission to the university.

Grammar, logic, metaphysics, tantras and ritualism were the main subjects specialized at the institution. The curriculum was thus, not so wide or catholic as that of Nalanda. Unfortunately we do not have information of the duration or the gradation of courses at Vikramasila. But there is every probability that it was more systematically organized than was the case at any other center of ancient Indian education. For unlike at any other university, we find diplomas and titles being conferred on the Vikramasila studets at the end of their course by the reigning Kings of Bengal. Tibetan authorities inform us that Jetari and Ratnavajra had received degrees at the hands of King Mahipala and Kanaka respectively. The memory of the distinguished alumni of the university was kept evergreen in the minds of the congregation by their pictures being put on the walls of the university halls. This honor is known to have been given to Nagarjuna and Atisa.

In 1203, the Vikramasila university was destroyed by the Muslim conquerors under Bhattiyar Khilji who seemed to have mistaken it for a fort. At that time, Sakya Zri Bhadra was at the helm of the monastic affairs. The account of the destruction of the University has been preserved by the author of Tabaqat-i-Nasiri.

Kanchi – Kanchipuram was another great center of learning in South India. Hien Tsang visited this seat of education and had conversations with monks who had come from Ceylon to study various subjects as yoga, philosophy, etc. Dharmapala of Kanchi defeated a hundred Hinayana Sutrakaras in a debate lasting for seven days. The Jaina Rajavalikatha mentions Samantabhadra as having gone to Kanchipuram a number of times and the Mysore inscription bears this out. South of it there was a monastery which was a rendezvous of the most eminent men of the country.