The universities of ancient India: Nalanda, Takshashila and Vikramashila

When formal education had not even begun in most parts of the world, India had centres of learning to which students came from every corner of Asia. The universities of ancient India — especially Takshashila and Nalanda — were great centres of philosophy, grammar, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. Here is their story.

The main centres of learning in ancient India

Takshashila: among the oldest centres

Takshashila stood near today's Rawalpindi in Pakistan, at a crossroads of ancient trade routes. It was less an institution like a modern university and more a great centre of famous teachers, each of whom taught his own pupils. By tradition Chanakya, author of the "Arthashastra", studied and taught here, and the names of the grammarian Panini and the physician Jivaka are also linked with Takshashila. Its ruins became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.

Nalanda: an ocean of knowledge

Nalanda Mahavihara is believed to have been founded in the 5th century CE, in the time of the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta I. In the 7th century the Chinese traveller Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) stayed and studied here for about five years. According to his accounts and those of the later traveller Yijing, it had thousands of students and about two thousand teachers. Getting in was not easy — according to Xuanzang, scholars at the gate (dvarapandits) questioned applicants, and only two or three in ten succeeded.

• Subjects: Buddhist and Vedic philosophy, grammar, logic, medicine, mathematics and astronomy.
• Library: by tradition it was called "Dharmaganja" and had three great buildings — Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjaka.
• Students: from as far as China, Korea, Tibet, Indonesia and Central Asia.

Did you know? At the end of the 12th century Nalanda was badly damaged in an attack by the army of Bakhtiyar Khilji. Tradition says its library was so large that it burned for several months. In 2016 Nalanda's ruins became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Vikramashila, Vallabhi and Odantapuri

Vikramashila, near Bhagalpur in Bihar, was founded by the Pala king Dharmapala. It was a great centre of Tantra and Buddhist philosophy, and its famous teacher Atisha Dipankara went to Tibet and played a big part in spreading Buddhism there. Vallabhi in Gujarat was the leading centre of learning in western India, and Odantapuri also flourished under the Pala kings.

Nalanda reborn

About eight hundred years later, in 2010, Nalanda University was set up again by an Act of Parliament, and teaching began in 2014. Several Asian countries support it. On 19 June 2024 its new campus was inaugurated at Rajgir. In this way the ancient tradition of learning lives again today. Read more about ancient India in Amazing facts about ancient India and The oldest language in the world.

More articles: History · Practise: History questions.