Was naalanda a university really
Veeranarayana Pandurangi
Head, Dept of Darshanas,
Yoganandacharya Bhavan,
Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Rajasthan Samskrita University, Madau, post Bhankrota, Jaipur, 302026.
अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि।
navaratna rajaramnavaratna
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nripendra pathak
Kumar Nripendra Pathak
Veeranarayana Pandurangi
nripendra pathak
Dipak Bhattacharya
From: Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veer...@gmail.com>
To: bvparishat <bvpar...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, 2 October 2011 4:02 PM
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
narayanan er
Narayanan
From: Dipak Bhattacharya <dbhattach...@yahoo.com>
To: "bvpar...@googlegroups.com" <bvpar...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, 3 October 2011 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
Rakesh Das
राकेश दाशः
Asst. Professor
Dept. of Sanskrit Studies
Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University
Belur Math Howrah.
वंशीविभूषितकरान्नवनीरदाभात्
पीताम्बरादरुणबिम्बफलाधरोष्ठात्।
पूर्णेन्दुसुन्दरमुखादरविन्दनेत्रात्
कृष्णात्परं किमपि तत्त्वमहं न जाने।।
भारत माता की जय
Dipak Bhattacharya
From: narayanan er <drerna...@yahoo.com>
To: "bvpar...@googlegroups.com" <bvpar...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, 3 October 2011 2:34 PM
navaratna rajaramnavaratna
nripendra pathak
Surendra Mohan Mishra
--
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Surendramohan Mishra
Dept of Sanskrit,Pali & Prakrit
Faculty of Indic Studies,Kurukshetra University
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Sujeet Kumar
NALANDA - THE ANCIENT SEAT OF LEARNING |
Towards the Southeast of Patna, the Capital City of Bihar State in India, is a village called the 'Bada Gaon', in the vicinity of which, are the world famous ruins of Nalanda University. Founded in the 5th Century A.D., Nalanda is known as the ancient seat of learning. 2,000 Teachers and 10,000 Students from all over the Buddhist world lived and studied at Nalanda, the first Residential International University of the World. A walk in the ruins of the university, takes you to an era, that saw India leading in imparting knowledge, to the world - the era when India was a coveted place for studies. The University flourished during the 5th and 12th century.
Although Nalanda is one of the places distinguished as having been blessed by the presence of the Buddha, it later became particularly renowned as the site of the great monastic university of the same name , which was to become the crown jewel of the development of Buddhism in India. The name may derive from one of Shakyamuni's former births , when hewas a king whose capital was here.Nalanda was one of his epithets meaning "insatiable in giving." This place saw the rise and fall of many empires and emperors who contributed in the development of Nalanda University. Many monasteries and temples were built by them. Kingarshwardhana gifted a 25m high copper statue of Buddha and Kumargupta endowed a college of fine arts ere. Nagarjuna- a Mahayana philosopher, Dinnaga- founder of the school of Logic and Dharmpala- the Brahmin scholar, taught here. The famous Chinese traveller and scholar,Hieun-Tsang stayed here and has given a detailed description of the situations prevailing at that time. Careful excavation of the place has revealed many stupas, monasteries,hostels,stair cases,meditation halls, lecture halls and many other structures which speak of the splendour and grandeur this place enjoyed,when the place was a centre of serious study.
A large number of ancient Buddhist establishments, stupas, chaityas, temples and monastery sites have been excavated and they show that this was one of the most important Buddhist centres of worship and culture.Regarding the historicity of Nalanda, we read in Jaina texts that Mahavira Vardhamana spent as many as fourteen rainy seasons in Nalanda.
Pali Buddhist Literature , too, has ample references to Nalanda, which used to be visited by Lord Buddha. During the days of Mahavira and Buddha,Nalanda was apparently a very prosperous temple city, a great place of pilgrimage and the site of a celebrated university. It is said that King Asoka gave offerings to the Chaitya of Sariputra at Nalanda and erected a temple there.Taranath mentions this and also that Nagarjuna, the famous Mahayana philosopher of the second century A.D.,studied at Nalanda.Nagarjuna later became the high-priest there. The Gupta kings patronised these monasteries, built in old Kushan architectural style, in a row of cells around a courtyard.Ashoka and Harshavardhana were some of its most celebrated patrons who built temples and monasteries here. Recent excavations have unearthed elaborate structures here. Hiuen Tsang had left ecstatic accounts of both the ambiance and architectureof this unique university of ancient times.
Modern historians have tentatively dated the founding of a monastery at Nalanda as being in the fifth century.However, this may not be accurate. For example,the standard biographiesof the teacher Nagarjuna, believed by most historians to have been born around 150 AD, are quite specific about his having received ordination at Nalanda monastery when he was seven years old. Further, histeacherRahulabhadra is said to have lived there for some time before that. We may infer that there were a monastery or monasteries at Nalanda long before the foundation of the later Great Mahavihara.
At the time Hsuan Chwang stayed at Nalanda and studied with the abbot Shilabhadra, it was already a flourishing centre of learning. In many ways it seems to have been like a modern university.There was a rigorous oral entry examination conducted by erudite gatekeepers,and many students were turned away.To study or to have studied at Nalanda was a matter of great prestige. However, no degree was granted nor was a specific period of study required. The monks' time, measured by a water clock, was divided between study and religious rites and practice.There were schools of study in which students received explanations by discourse, and there were also schools of debate, where the mediocre were often humbled, and the conspicuously talented distinguished. Accordingly, the elected abbot was generally the most learned man of the time. The libraries were vast and widely renowned, although there is a legend of a malicious fire in which many of the texts were destroyed and irrevocably lost. During the Gupta age,the practice and study of the mahayana, especially the madhyamaka, flourished. However, from 750 AD, in the Pala age, there was an increase in the study and propagation of the tantric teachings.This is evidenced by the famous pandit Abhayakaragupta, a renowned tantric practitioner who was simultaneously abbot of the Mahabodhi, Nalanda and Vikramashila monasteries. Also Naropa, later so important to the tantric lineages of the Tibetan traditions, was abbot of Nalanda in the years 1049-57. Much of the tradition of Nalanda had been carried into Tibet by the time of the Muslim invasions of the twelfth century. While the monasteries of Odantapuri and Vikramashila were then destroyed, the buildings at Nalanda do not seem to have suffered extensive damage at that time, although most of the monks fled before the desecrating armies. In 1235 the Tibetan pilgrim Chag Lotsawa found a 90 year old teacher, Rahula Shribhadra, with a class of seventy students. Rahula Shribhadra managed to survive through the support of a local brahmin and did not leave untilhe had completed educating his last Tibetan student. |
Reference :http://www.nalanda.nitc.ac.in/
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LogiMindz Technologies | Direct : +91-120-4506000 | US : 410-346-5454 , 702-966-0430
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Sujeet Kumar
Nālandā (Hindi/Sanskrit/Pali: नालंदा) is the name of an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India. The site of Nalanda is located in the Indian state of Bihar, about 55 miles south east of Patna, and was a Buddhist center of learning from the fifth or sixth century CE to 1197 CE.[1][2] It has been called "one of the first great universities in recorded history".[2] The Gupta Empire also patronized some monasteries. Nalanda flourished between the reign of the Śakrāditya (whose identity is uncertain and who might have been either Kumara Gupta I or Kumara Gupta II) and 1197 CE, supported by patronage from Buddhist emperors like Harsha as well as later emperors from the Pala Empire.[3]
The complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as China, Greece, and Persia.[4] Nalanda was ransacked and destroyed by Turkic Muslim invaders under Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193. The great library of Nalanda University was so vast that it is reported to have burned for three months after the invaders set fire to it, ransacked and destroyed the monasteries, and drove the monks from the site. In 2006, Singapore, China, India, Japan, and other nations, announced a proposed plan to restore and revive the ancient site as Nalanda International University.
Etymology
Nalanda means "insatiable in giving."[4]
The Chinese pilgrim-monk Xuanzang[5] gives several explanations of the name Nālandā. One is that it was named after the Nāga who lived in a tank in the middle of the mango grove. Another – the one he accepted – is that Shakyamuni Buddha once had his capital here and gave "alms without intermission", hence the name.
Sariputta died at the village called 'Nalaka,' which is also identified as Nalanda by many scholars.
History
The seal of Nalanda University set in terracotta on display in the ASI Museum in Nalanda
Founding of the university and the Gupta heyday
Some historical studies suggest that the University of Nalanda was established during the reign of a king called Śakrāditya.[6] Both Xuanzang and Prajñavarman cite him as the founder, as does a seal discovered at the site.[3]
As historian Sukumar Dutt describes it, the history of Nalanda university "falls into two main divisions--first, one of growth, development and fruition from the sixth century to the ninth, when it was dominated by the liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age; the second, one of gradual decline and final dissolution from the ninth century to the thirteen--a period when the tantric developments of Buddhism became most pronounced in eastern India."[7]
Nalanda in the Pāla era
A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura, Odantapurā, and Jaggadala.[8] The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them . . it seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them.[9]
During the Pālā period, the Nālānda was less singularly outstanding, as other Pāla establishments "must have drawn away a number of learned monks from Nālānda when all of them . . came under the aegis of the Pālās."[7]
Decline and end
In 1193, the Nalanda University was sacked by the Islamic fanatic Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turk;[10] this event is seen by scholars as a late milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. The Persian historian Minhaj-i-Siraj, in his chronicle the Tabaquat-I-Nasiri, reported that thousands of monks were burned alive and thousands beheaded as Khilji tried his best to uproot Buddhism and plant Islam by the sword;[11] the burning of the library continued for several months and "smoke from the burning manuscripts hung for days like a dark pall over the low hills."[12]
The last throne-holder of Nalanda, Shakyashribhadra, fled to Tibet in 1204 CE at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Tropu Lotsawa (Khro-phu Lo-tsa-ba Byams-pa dpal). In Tibet, he started an ordination lineage of the Mulasarvastivadin lineage to complement the two existing ones.
When the Tibetan translator Chag Lotsawa (Chag Lo-tsa-ba, 1197–1264) visited the site in 1235, he found it damaged and looted, with a 90-year-old teacher, Rahula Shribhadra, instructing a class of about 70 students.[13][14] During Chag Lotsawa's time there an incursion by Turkish soldiers caused the remaining students to flee. Despite all this, "remnants of the debilitated Buddhist community continued to struggle on under scarce resources until c. 1400 CE when Chagalaraja was reportedly the last king to have patronized Nalanda."[15]
Ahir considers the destruction of the temples, monasteries, centers of learning at Nalanda and northern India to be responsible for the demise of ancient Indian scientific thought in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, and anatomy.[16]
According to some Indian historians, increasing pressure was felt on Nalanda from society over the course of the 10th century.[17] In his Social history of India, the historian Sadasivan states, "the enormous manuscript library of the University was set on fire by Trithikas due to the mounting jealousy they nurtured against the great center of learning."[17]
Nalanda was one of the world's first residential universities, i.e., it had dormitories for students. It is also one of the most famous universities. In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks. The library was located in a nine storied building where meticulous copies of texts were produced. The subjects taught at Nalanda University covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.[2] During the period of Harsha, the monastery is reported to have owned 200 villages given as grants.
The Tang Dynasty Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang left detailed accounts of the university in the 7th century. He described how the regularly laid-out towers, forest of pavilions, harmikas and temples seemed to "soar above the mists in the sky" so that from their cells the monks "might witness the birth of the winds and clouds."[18] The pilgrim states: "An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade."[19]
The entrance of many of the viharas in the Nalanda University ruins can be seen with a bow marked floor; the bow was the royal sign of the Guptas.
Libraries
The library of Nalanda, known as Dharma Gunj (Mountain of Truth) or Dharmagañja (Treasury of Truth), was the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time. Its collection was said to comprise hundreds of thousands of volumes, so extensive that it burned for months when set aflame by Muslim invaders. The library had three main buildings as high as nine stories tall, Ratnasagara (Sea of Jewels), Ratnodadhi (Ocean of Jewels), and Ratnarañjaka (Delighter of Jewels).[20]
Curriculum
The Tibetan tradition holds that there were "four doxographies" (Tibetan: grub-mtha’) which were taught at Nālandā, and Alexander Berzin specifies these as:[22]
- Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika
- Sarvāstivāda Sautrāntika
- Mādhyamaka, the Mahāyāna philosophy of Nāgārjuna
- Cittamatra, the Mahāyāna philosophy of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu
According to an unattributed article of the Dharma Fellowship (2005), the curriculum of Nalanda University at the time of Mañjuśrīmitra contained:
...virtually the entire range of world knowledge then available. Courses were drawn from every field of learning, Buddhist and Hindu, sacred and secular, foreign and native. Students studied science, astronomy, medicine, and logic as diligently as they applied themselves to metaphysics, philosophy, Samkhya, Yoga-shastra, the Veda, and the scriptures of Buddhism. They studied foreign philosophy likewise.
In the 7th century, Xuanzang records the number of teachers at Nālandā as being around 1510.[23] Of these, approximately 1000 were able to explain 20 collections of sūtras and śāstras, 500 were able to explain 30 collections, and only 10 teachers were able to explain 50 collections.[23] Xuanzang was among the few who were able to explain 50 collections or more.[23] At this time, only the abbot Śīlabhadra had studied all the major collections of sūtras and śāstras at Nālandā.[23]
Administration
Yijing wrote that matters of discussion and administration at Nālandā would require assembly and consensus on decisions by all those at the assembly, as well as resident monks:[24]
If the monks had some business, they would assemble to discuss the matter. Then they ordered the officer, Vihārapāla, to circulate and report the matter to the resident monks one by one with folded hands. With the objection of a single monk, it would not pass. There was no use of beating or thumping to announce his case. In case a monk did something without consent of all the residents, he would be forced to leave the monastery. If there was a difference of opinion on a certain issue, they would give reason to convince (the other group). No force or coercion was used to convince.
Xuanzang also writes: "The lives of all these virtuous men were naturally governed by habits of the most solemn and strictest kind. Thus in the seven hundred years of the monastery's existence no man has ever contravened the rules of the discipline. The king showers it with the signs of his respect and veneration and has assigned the revenue from a hundred cities to pay for the maintenance of the religious."[19]
Influence on Buddhism
A vast amount of what came to comprise Tibetan Buddhism, both its Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, stems from the late (9th–12th century) Nalanda teachers and traditions. The scholar Dharmakirti (ca. 7th century), one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic, as well as and one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, taught at Nalanda.
Other forms of Buddhism, such as the Mahāyāna Buddhism followed in Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan, flourished within the walls of the ancient university. A number of scholars have associated some Mahāyāna texts such as the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, an important sūtra in East Asian Buddhism, with the Buddhist tradition at Nālandā.[25][26] Ron Epstein also notes that the general doctrinal position of the sūtra does indeed correspond to what is known about the Buddhist teachings at Nālandā toward the end of the Gupta period when it was translated.[27]
According to Hwui-Li, a Chinese visitor, Nālandā was held in contempt by some Sthaviras for its emphasis on Mahayana philosophy. They reportedly chided King Harṣa for patronizing Nalanda during one of his visits to Orissa, mocking the "sky-flower" philosophy taught there and suggesting that he might as well patronize a Kapalika temple.[28] When this occurred, Harṣa notified the chancellor of Nālandā, who sent the monks Sāgaramati, Prajñāraśmi, Siṃharaśmi, and Xuanzang to refute the views of the monks from Orissa.[29]
Ruins
A number of ruined structures survive. Nearby is the Surya Mandir, a Hindu temple. The known and excavated ruins extend over an area of about 150,000 square metres, although if Xuanzang's account of Nalanda's extent is correlated with present excavations, almost 90% of it remains unexcavated. Nālandā is no longer inhabited. Today the nearest habitation is a village called Bargaon. li|Pali]] (Theravadin) Buddhist studies was founded nearby by Bhikshu Jagdish Kashyap, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. Presently, this institute is pursuing an ambitious program of satellite imaging of the entire region.
The Nalanda Museum contains a number of manuscripts, and shows many examples of the items that have been excavated. India's first Multimedia Museum was opened on 26 January 2008, which recreates the history of Nalanda using a 3D animation film narrated by Shekhar Suman. Besides this there are four more sections in the Multimedia Museum: Geographical Perspective, Historical Perspective, Hall of Nalanda and Revival of Nalanda.
Reference:
1. ^ Scharfe, Hartmut (2002). Education in Ancient India. Brill. p. 149. ISBN 978-9004125568.
2. ^ a b c d "Really Old School," Garten, Jeffrey E. New York Times, 9 December 2006.
3. ^ a b Sukumar Dutt (1962). Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. pp. 329. ISBN 8120804988.
4. ^ a b Nalanda Digital Library. "Nalanda Digital Library-Nalanda Heritage-Nalanda,the first residential international University of the World". Nalanda.nitc.ac.in. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
5. ^ Beal: op. cit., ii.167f
6. ^ Altekar, Anant Sadashiv (1965). Education in Ancient India, Sixth, Varanasi: Nand Kishore & Bros.
7. ^ a b Sukumar Dutt (1962). Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. pp. 344. ISBN 8120804988.
8. ^ Vajrayogini: Her Visualization, Rituals, and Forms by Elizabeth English. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-329-X pg 15
9. ^ Sukumar Dutt (1962). Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. pp. 352–353. ISBN 8120804988.
10. ^ Scott, David (May 1995). "Buddhism and Islam: Past to Present Encounters and Interfaith Lessons". Numen 42 (2): 141. doi:10.1163/1568527952598657.
11. ^ Young Oon Kim (1976). World Religions: Volume 2: India's Religious Quest. Golden State Publishing Co.
12. ^ Gertrude Emerson Sen (1964). The Story of Early Indian Civilization. Orient Longmans.
13. ^ "About Us". Nalanda Open University. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
14. ^ "The Historical Interaction between the Buddhist and Islamic Cultures before the Mongol Empire" The Berzin Archives.
15. ^ Le Huu Phuoc (2010). Buddhist Architecture. Grafikol. pp. 60. ISBN 0984404309.
16. ^ D.C. Ahir (2005). Buddhism Declined in India : How and Why?. B. R. Publishing. ISBN 81-7646-447-3.
17. ^ a b S. N. Sadasivan (2000). A Social History of India. APH Pub. Corp. pp. 209. ISBN 9788176481700.
18. ^ Rene Grousset. In the Footsteps of the Buddha. JA Underwood (trans) Orion Press. New York. 1971 p158
19. ^ a b Rene Grousset (1971). In the Footsteps of the Buddha. Orion Press. pp. 159. ISBN 0766193470.
20. ^ Khyentse Foundation News - RAJI RAMANAN ON THE NEW DEER PARK
21. ^ The Tibtan Tanjur: Historic Translation Intitative by Thomas F. Yarnall, Ph.D.
22. ^ Berzin, Alexander (2002). The Four Indian Buddhist Tenet Systems Regarding Illusion: A Practical Approach. Berlin, Germany. Source: [1] (accessed: 2 January 2008). "In the Indian Mahayana Buddhist monasteries, such as Nalanda, monks studied four systems of Buddhist tenets. Two – Vaibhashika and Sautrantika – were subdivisions of the Sarvastivada school within Hinayana. The other two – Chittamatra and Madhyamaka – were subdivisions within Mahayana."
23. ^ a b c d Mookerji, Radhakumud. Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist. 1989. p. 565
24. ^ Walser, Joseph. Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture. 2005. p. 102
25. ^ Humphreys, Christmas. The Wisdom of Buddhism. 1995. p. 111
26. ^ Dutt, Sukumar. Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India. 1962. p. 264
27. ^ "The Shurangama Sutra (T. 945): A Reappraisal of its Authenticity".
28. ^ Sukumar Dutt (1962). Buddhist Monks And Monasteries Of India: Their History And Contribution To Indian Culture. George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London. pp. 334. ISBN 8120804988.
29. ^ Joshi, Lalmai. Studies in the Buddhistic Culture of India. 1987. p. 171
30. ^ "Nalanda Int’l University: A commendable initiative", K.jha, Ashok, Merinews, 28 May 2007.
31. ^ "Japan eager to invest in university at Nalanda". India eNews. 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
32. ^ "Nalanda to move from ruins to riches", 11 May 2008.
Best regards
Sujeet Kumar | Manager - HR
LogiMindz Technologies | Direct : +91-120-4506000 | US : 410-346-5454 , 702-966-0430
Email : suj...@logimindz.com
First Floor, H-38, Sector -63 I , Noida -201301 , India
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From: bvpar...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bvpar...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Surendra Mohan Mishra
Sent: 04 October 2011 13:42
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
subrahmanyam korada
I visited Nalanda ( NAlanda -may be right) in June 2009 . Although I did not take down any notes , the structures of Classrooms , living rooms , Caityas etc. as well as the literature on the boards provides ample evidence to believe that there was a Seat of Higher Learning and Subjects like Vyakaranam , Jyotisam etc were being taught for indigenous as well as foreign students .
As usual , the Muslim Invaders (Khiljis) ruined everything - how come a dog , which licks a piece of leather (chappal) , knows the sweetness of sugarcane ? (Telugu Proverb) .
dhanyo'smi
Professor of Sanskrit,
CALTS,
University of Hyderabad 500046
Ph:09866110741(R),91-40-23010741,040-23133660(O)
Veeranarayana Pandurangi
Bhagwan Singh
I do not admire your views nor share your threat.
|
Shrisha Rao
> 1. one needs to understand/estimate the time of three months to burn the what amount of books. on a modest account the whole library of congress can be burnt by maximum one week. I hope the Nalanda library might not be bigger than LOC.
I wonder where the figure of one week is arrived at, in connection with the Library of Congress. I am not personally aware of any relevant peer-reviewed literature. Books like `An Introduction to Fire Dynamics' by Drysdale do not usually cover durations of complex fires or the effects of arson, and it might be rather difficult to arrive at a reasonable scientific model and simulation that would have predictive value.
> 2. if we believe the accounts of Xuanzang and others then we would be left counting universities in india.
What if we believe the महाभाष्य's claim ग्रामे ग्रामे काठकं कालापकं च प्रोच्यते (under तेन प्रोक्तम्, IV-3-101), so clearly not the situation today? Else we would have to conclude that Patanjali was also making it up as he went along, though doing so would have been pointless as people around him at the time would have rejected such a claim if it were false.
> it is unfortunate that even today buddhism tries to eradicate sanatan dharma. Dalai Lama is using his post of the head of the tibetan state to encourage the conversion into buddhism. being the head of the state he recieves more attention and coverage than that is usually given to the religious heads. this thing should be discussed at apropriate levels by concerned authorities.
I am not convinced that is a fair appraisal of the Dalai Lama as a person, or of his religion or nation. In fact, I wonder what reason exists to believe that the Dalai Lama has ever tried to convert anyone in India to his religion, or what end anyone could suggest that he would achieve by such efforts. His major concern is, and has been for over a half century, the annexation of his homeland by the Chinese and the brutal subjugation and ethnic cleansing, with nary a murmur of objection from the rest of the world, that his people are being subjected to. The Dalai Lama's activities in India are quite restricted (he needs the government's permission even to visit specific cities, attend events, etc.), an uneasy relationship that he has endured with a lot of dignity for so long -- the government under Nehru accepted the annexation of Tibet, and two generations of leaders since then have continued the folly though detrimental to India's national interests.
I personally believe that the Dalai Lama deserves a lot of credit for staying relevant in changing times, and for being able to continue to serve as an important mentor and inspiration to his suffering people. I do not flatter myself that I would be able to replicate his achievements, and unfortunately, see no sign that any of our many Babas and Swamis are capable of it either. Also, lest we forget, the Dalai Lama has unquestioned personal integrity -- he has never been accused of personal corruption or wrongdoing (except by the Chinese government's propaganda machinery, which uses profane adjectives to describe him without attempting any clear justification), unlike many of our Babas and Swamis whose shenanigans are well known.
On the subjects of (coerced) conversions or such misbehavior, it is doubtful if Buddhists of any kind have been major culprits in recent times (Ambedkar et al. notwithstanding). D.R. Chanana and D.D. Kosambi have documented Buddhists' past misdeeds (including some disturbing and cruel crimes) and the role played by the same in the near-eradication of Buddhism from India (a matter not covered in standard history syllabi, which typically ignore the causes and details of Buddhism's flight from India). However, these authors do not seem to suggest that the Buddhists had any people like Bakhtiar Khilji, Nadir Shah, Malik Kafur, Aurangzeb, etc., even then. In more recent times, much conversion activity, including a lot of cruelty and coercion on a massive scale, has been by Christians, particularly in places like Kerala and Goa. It is worth remembering that Buddhism is dealt with at length at a scholarly level right from the ब्रह्मसूत्र literature to the later मीमांसकs like Kumarila Bhatta and Parthasarathi Mishra, showing that Buddhism was considered as a serious doctrine to be debated in scholarly circles -- a form of respect never accorded to any Abrahamic religion by the classical traditions.
Regards,
Shrisha Rao
narayanan er
Dhananjay Jog
hnbhat B.R.
Want to study Shatashloki
Dr. Hari Narayana Bhat B.R. M.A., Ph.D.,
Research Scholar,
Dipak Bhattacharya
From: Sujeet Kumar <suj...@logimindz.com>
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 5 October 2011 12:21 AM
Subject: RE: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
श्रीमल्ललितालालितः
they wanted eradicate the sanatan/Brahman (what western people prefer to call) tradition and tried very hard to do it. but ultimately It failed in its aim.it is unfortunate that even today buddhism tries to eradicate sanatan dharma. Dalai Lama is using his post of the head of the tibetan state to encourage the conversion into buddhism. being the head of the state he recieves more attention and coverage than that is usually given to the religious heads. this thing should be discussed at apropriate levels by concerned authorities.
I don't think that many who study sanskrit have any inclination towards dharma which is stated by veda-s. They seem to be neutral.
Unless one has studied veda-s and determined it's prAmAnyam, it will be like this. You can't expect people relishing vyAkaraNam and sAhitya to come forward to bother about this. They simply can't understand it properly.
This is subject of philosopher with wide-opened eyes. I think you are at wrong place and so I'm.
Dr. Tirumala Kulakarni
07 10 11Dear Colleagues,One cannot fail to note that in spite of the existence of various views the inclusive character of the Indian culture too found prominent reflection in the ongoing debate on the Nālāndā University. I wonder who trained us by which the spirit of the Mahānāṭaka verse is still living:यं शैवाः समुपासते शिव इति ब्रह्मेति वेदान्तिनो बौद्धा बुद्ध इति प्रमाणपटवः कर्तेति नैयायिकाः।अर्हन्नित्यथ जैनशासनरताः कर्मेति मीमांसकाः सोऽयं वो विदधातु वाञ्छितफलं त्रैलोक्यनाथो हरिः।।
BestDB
Dr. Tirumala Kulakarni
Asst. Prof. Alankara Dept.
Poornaprajna Vidyaapeetha
Vidyapeetha Circle
BANGALORE 560 028
Ph: +91 9448879734
Dipak Bhattacharya
From: Dr. Tirumala Kulakarni <tkula...@gmail.com>
To: bvpar...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, 7 October 2011 7:54 PM
Subject: Re: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
Jagannatha s
V Subrahmanian
त्रयी सांख्यं योग: पशुपतिमतं वैष्णवमिति
प्रभिन्ने प्रस्थाने परमिदमद: पथ्यमिति च।
रुचीनां वैचित्र्यादृजुकुटिलनानापथजुषां
नृणामेको गम्यस्त्वमसि पयसामर्णव इव ॥7॥
सुब्रह्मण्यशर्मा
बेंगलूरु
T.S. Rukmani
If I remember right one student of Delhi University worked on the HanumannaaTaka for her PhD dissertation. Maybe Prof. Narang can throw light on that.
Om
Rukmani
Dr. T.S. Rukmani
Professor and Chair in Hindu Studies
Concordia University
Department of Religion
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 1M8
fax: 514-848-4541
email: ruk...@alcor.concordia.ca
Surendra Mohan Mishra
T.S. Rukmani
Thank you for this information.
Om
Rukmani
Dr. T.S. Rukmani
Professor and Chair in Hindu Studies
Concordia University
Department of Religion
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd West
Montreal, Quebec
H3G 1M8
fax: 514-848-4541
email: ruk...@alcor.concordia.ca
Veeranarayana Pandurangi
Dipak Bhattacharya
Subject: {भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्} Was naalanda a university really
Seshachalam Dutta
Oklahoma, OK USA
Acharya Nagarjuna was supposed to be aprofessor there at Nalanda, It
is no surprising that we have knoweldge of Buddhist scholars. We need
to look to China or Japan for expertise. Nagarjuna's literature is
extensively archieved in Russia
2011/10/2 Veeranarayana Pandurangi <veer...@gmail.com>:
> dear friends, Happy Navaratri parva.
> my posting is related to older nalanda rather than new one.
> I have been baffled by this question for long "Was naalanda a university
> really"
> if it was a great university then I want to get some names of
> professors/acharyas who taught there for centuries.
> what was the significant contribution they gave?
> it is easy to praise that was so and so and so on. but are there any real
> pramanas to establish that it was university teaching different subjects as
> claimed by modern buddhists? what were the secular subjects (as claimed by
> many advocates now)?
>
> Was naalanda a university really or it was a vihar of bauddha saadhus who
> enjoyed the royal partonage and roamed freely? only few dedicated to the
> studies of buddhism, some ayurveda, bauddha mantra shastra, and bauddha
> religion.
Ram Sharma
S P Narang
--- On Wed, 10/19/11, Seshachalam Dutta <seshac...@gmail.com> wrote:
Jagannatha s
Jagannatha s
Dipak Durgamohan Bhattacharya
24 10 11
Dear Colleague,
Ghaṇṭikāsthānas referred to by D. C. Sircar was mentioned by me in a previous mail, the first or the second one. Please see the Paippalāda-Saṃhitā of the Atharvaveda, The Asiatic Society, Kolkata, 1997, Introduction , p.xlix, text relating to endnote 39. It deals with Amalānanda (Kalpataru) referring to Atharvaṇī śrutis recited in ghaṇṭikāsthānas. Appaya Dīkṣita (Parimala) further elaborates which too has been quoted in the Introduction by me.
Best
DB