'Nalanda Was The Harvard, Oxbridge And NASA Of Its Time': Historian William Dalrymple
During the India Today 2025 conclave, the scottish historian William Dalrymple called Nalanada Monestry as the Harvard, Oxbridge and NASA of its time which attaracted Chinese to come to India to seek knowledge.
While talking about the Nalanda University, the Scottish historian mentioned that during the early days of Tang Chinese monks, such as Xuanzang began to visit the great Buddhist universities of India on foot and bringing back with them Indian manuscripts, arts works and Indian ideas.
बिहार का नालंदा विश्वविद्यालय अपने समय का हार्वर्ड, ऑक्सब्रिज और NASA था.
– विलियम डलरिम्पल विश्व (प्रसिद्ध लेखक और इतिहासकार) pic.twitter.com/m8muL4UI9V
— Ankit Kumar Avasthi (@kaankit) March 9, 2025
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The Nalanda in Bihar was the greatest centre of learning in the world during those days, said Dalrymple. The university court was also unique in terms of planning, which is comparable to today’s world universities of Harvard and Oxford. There were separate courtyards, divided into eight departments, and scholars’ rooms around the quadrigle. The plan passed from the Islamic world to the European countries in the 12th Century, he said. This was originally the Indian idea.
Chinese scholar Xuanzang described the 9 storied library their where logic, science, grammer, philosophy, medicine, metaphysics, methamatics, astronomy, literature and magic. Ratna Sagara, Ratna Dadi and Ratnaranjika were the three divisions described by the Chinese scholars in the library.
The Chinese scholar also talked about the students who studied diligently and there were 100s of lecture halls, told William Dalrymple during the conclave.
Xuanzang was the 7th-century Chinese Buddist monk, scholar, traveller and translator who is known for the epoch making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, through his efforts to bring at least 657 Indian texts to China.
Nalanda University was an ancient center of learning in India, established in the 5th century CE in present-day Bihar. It was one of the world’s first residential universities, attracting scholars from across Asia, including China, Korea, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. In 2010, a modern Nalanda University was re-established in Bihar as an international institution to revive its legacy.
