Another
trip from Rajgir is to Nalanda. This small village and its
surrounding area have numerous associations with the Buddha
and his disciples. Sailo 3 kilometres south-west of Nalanda
is where the Buddha met and converted Maha Kassapa, the
man who was later to become his successor. A large statue
of Kassapa with an inscription on it was found in the village
in the early 1900's but unfortunately its whereabouts is
now unknown. The village of Kul some 1.5 kilometres south-east
of Nalanda is the Kolita of old and the birthplace of Moggalana,
the second of the Buddha's two chief disciples. Nalanda
itself was often visited by the Buddha during his numerous
sojourns through Magadha and he taught several important
discourses there.
In
about the 5th century CE a monastic university was established
at Nalanda that was eventually to develop into the greatest
ancient centre of Buddhist learning. Students from China
and Korea, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and from all the regions
of India came to Nalanda to study. When Hiuen Tsiang was
studying at Nalanda in the 7th century there were 1510 teachers
and 8500 students. The Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvamin was
here in 1234 and has left an a gripping account of the monastery's
destruction by the Muslims.
The
most interesting of the extensive ruins of Nalanda are the
huge Temple 3 and Temple 3 with its calved panels. The ruins
are surrounded by beautiful gardens, a good place to sit
and read the Kevaddha Sutta from The Long Discourses. Across
the road from the entrance to the
ruins is the Nalanda Museum which has a large collection
of images and artefacts found at Nalanda. Nalanda is only
11 kilometres north of Rajgir just off the main road and
can be reached by local bus. If you arrive at 9 am when
the museum opens this will give you plenty of time to see
everything and get back to Rajgir before the afternoon heat.
There is a good guidebook to Nalanda published by the Archaeological
Survey of India but every time I have inquired at the museum
about it they have only had the guide book to Ajanta, a
place about 900 kilometres south-west of Nalanda. Perhaps
the Nalanda guide book is only available at Ajanta. After
your stay in Rajgir take the bus north to Patna.
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