Pratanu Banerjee shares his travel story in Rajgir and Nalanda University, India. You can get important information about the archeological sites. Check the presentation for detailed information. Contact us now!

2.  I went to Rajgir two times. First time, I went alone. I went to
Rajgir with my parents, father and mother. This is regarded as
ancient city and it comes under Nalanda district of Bihar. The
Rajgir city has been Magadha kingdom. This has been center of
the rise of the empire of Maurya. In Mahabharata, you will find
the name of this place. Jarasandha was the king of Rajgir. The
ceramics date approximately 1000 BC. We have also found
Cyclopean Wall, which is 2,500-year old. This place is popularized
by the Buddhists and Jains. It is the place where Tirthankar
Munisuvrata was born and he was 20th Jain monk. It has been
intimately connected with Gautama Buddha and Mahavira The
belief system has been spread in Rajgir around 5th and sixth
century BC. Nalanda university has been found close to Rajgir and
I visited this university 2 times. Nalanda Univesity has been
established in 2010. Ashoka was the empire of maurya period who
went to Bodh Gaya approximately 250 BC at the time of diamond
throne in the amazing temple. In this temple, the enlightenment
was achieved by Lord Buddha.

3.  Rajgir has been associated with the following
dynasties and kings:
 Haryanka dynasty when Bimbisara who was
born in 558 BC and died in 491 BC.
 Ajatashatru who lived between 492 and 460
BC. This was their capital. The father of
Ajatashatru was Bimbsara and he was
captivated. They were the royal
contemporaries of Buddha. The capital was
moved to Pataliputra by Ajatashatru which is
presently known as Patna.

4.  The Rājagṛiha was the original name of Rajgir. It
means "house of king" or "royal mountain". This has
been capital city of Kings of Magadha till 5th century
BC at the time Udayin who lived between 460 and
440 BC and he was the Ajatshatru’s son had shifted
capital to Pataliputra.
 Shishunaga dynasty was established by Shishunaga
who lived between 413 and 395 BC.This dyanasty was
built in 413 BCE and Rajgir was the first capital and
this was shifted to Pataliputra.
 Jarasandha had fought with brothers named Pandava
along with allies known as Krishna. Krishna defeated
Jarasandha 17 times. From 18th time, Krishna had
abandoned battlefield rather than being involved in
fighting. For this reason Krishna has been known as
'ranachorh' which means someone who had
abandoned battlefield.

5.  Meditation was practiced by Gautama Buddha. He
had preached in Gridhra-kuta or the hill of vultures.
The popular sermons are delivered here. Bimbisara
was initiated into Buddhism here. Atanatiya Sutra
was delivered by Budhha at this place. The Buddhist
council for the first time was held at Saptaparni Cave
and Maha Kassapa was the leader.

 Lord Mahavira has been identified as twenty fourth
tirthankara and he had passed 14 years of life at
Nalanda and Rajgir and they had spent Chaturmas in
a particular known as Rajgir and nearby places. King
Shrenik had Shravaks or follower. Therefore, for the
jains, Rajgir has been a vital place.

6.  Son bhandar cave is quite popular and it is located in
Rajgir in the nalanda district of bihar. There are two
caves and they are western and eastern cave. Son
bhandar caves have been associated with Jainism and
they date back to 3 to 4 century AD.

 Cunninghum have observed the caves. They have
been associated with Buddhism. The connections of
Buddhism have been ignored. The reason is that the
inscription has been discovered on southern side of
cave.
 As per the inscription, the caves were created by
Vair, a Jain muni for the ascetics. There were
Teerthankara sculpture and these are found in caves.
There is similarity with Nagrjuni cave and also
Barabar cave of Mauryan period.

7.  Digambar group is associated with the caves As
per the report of Xuanzang, he had written a
book on Vaibhar Hill in Rajgir and it has been
controlled by the jains of Digambar order. The
goal is to meditate peacefully. Hindus have
converted these caves because the sculpture of
Lord Vishnu has been found in the mound.
 The primary attraction for tourist is the city
walls of the period of Ajatshatru. It is also great
to see the jail of Bimbisar. There is Akhara of
Jarasandh.
 Rajgir has been known for hot water springs and
local people call it Brahmakund. It is important
to note that seven springs or Saptarshi combine
here and this is popular for the healing.

8.  This was created in 1969 and it is one of 80
peace pagodas across the world. The
message has been nonviolence and peace.
This has been regarded as the oldest peace
pagoda in our India. There is a rope-way
which helps the visitor to reach another
tourist spot. A spiritual leader from Japan
named Fuji Guruji had gifted it in 1960s.

9.  There is a temple of Japanese origin named
Venu Vana. This has been artificial forest and
the visitor gets Eternal peace. Budhha had
used it at the time of meditation. There is a
popular spot known as Makhdoom Kund. Sri
Ramakrishna Math has been present spiritual
organization, which is non-political in
nature. They are involved in humanitarian
activities. They are also engaged with social
service.

10.  Rajgir Heritage Museum
 This is a popular tourist spot which has been
opened by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
 We have found a spot named Pandu Pokhar,
which is truly amazing.
 Sariputta Stupa
 This is situated on top of Giriyak Hills and
there is some distance from Ghora Katora
Lake.

11.  There are certain localities in Rajgir and they are as
follows:
 Ashoknagar
 Bengali Para
 Chak Par
 Dangi Tola
 Dharmashala Road
 Dhurwa More
 Gandhi Tola
 Ganj Par
 Kali Bari
 Kailash Ashram
 Rajgir Kund
 Mahadevpur

12.  Mali Tola
 Nahi Pokhar
 Nichli Bazaar
 Panchmukhi Kuan
 Panditpur
 Purvi Bharat
 Ramhari Pind
 Sabalpur
 Sithoura
 Tulsi Gali
 Thakurbari
 Upadhyay Tola.

13.  It is located in Nalanda Forest Division and
there is an area 35.84 km2 within Nalanda
district.
 The Wildlife Sanctuary shows the Rajgir hills
under South Gangetic Plain.
 There is a wide range of flora and fauna.
 The forest has been protected by identifying
it as Rajgir Wildlife Sanctuary in the year
1978.

14.  There are different types of wild animals and
they are as follows:
 Mammal: Blue bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus),
Chital or Spotted deer (Axis axis), Indian crested
porcupine (Hystrix indica), Small Indian civet
(Viverricula indica) Jungle cat (Felis chaus)
 Birds; Painted spurfowl (Galloperdix lunulata),
Eurasian thick knee (Burhinus oedicnemus) and
Painted sandgrouse (Pterocles indicus)
 Reptiles; Bengal monitor (Varanus bengalensis)
 Amphibians: Indian Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus
tigerinus), Jerdon's bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus
crassus), Ornate narrow-mouthed frog (Microhyla
ornata), Indian tree frog (Polypedates
maculatus)

15.  There is an uneven terrain and there are five
mountains. These mountains are as follows:
 Ratnagiri
 Vipulgiri
 Vaibhagiri
 Songiri
 Udaygiri.

16.  The events of Rajgir are as follows:
 1. Rajgir mahotsav
 2. Purushottam Maas Mela
 3. Sariputta World Peace Walk
 4. Makar Sankranti Mela


17.  This is also known as Nalanda International University
 It is international as well as research-intensive class
situated in Rajgir Bihar. Act of Parliament had established
it. The goal is to follow Nalanda which is an ancient
university It had worked in 5th as well as 13th centuries.
The goal is to resurrect the Nalanda University. There has
been an endorsement in 2007 in East Asia Summit. The
Asian countries have supported it and they are as follows:
 China
 Singapore
 Japan
 Malaysia
 Vietnam
 New Zealand
 Australia

18.  This is a government of India project.
 Parliament had assigned it as "International
Institution of National Importance".
 The initial academic session had started on
first September 2014. There were temporary
facilities at Rajgir and the campus had an
area of 400 acres. It will be completed
within 2020. The campus will be the biggest
in Asia.

19.  Amartya Sen was the Chancellor of this
university and then former Minister of
Singapore for Foreign Affairs named George
Yeo. It has been regarded as graduate school.
They offer Master's courses, along with
programmes in PhD from 2020.

20.  I had visited Nalanda and this has been an
ancient Mahavihara where the Buddhist
monastery is respected. This is a reputed
learning center in Magadha or modern Bihar.
The Nalanda university had a reputation and
also prestige in the ancient times. It gained a
lot of power around fourth century.From
patna, the site is 95 kilometres southeast and
it is close to bihar sharif. This has been
regarded as the UNESCO world heritage site.

21.  There are institutions of learning like
Nalanda, Taxila and and Vikramashila. They
are known for ancient universities. Nalanda
had developed under Gupta empire around
fifth and sixth centuries and during the time
of Harsha who ruled Kannauj. The cultural
traditions have survived in ninth century CE.
At the time of Pala empire, there was tantric
traditions. The students came from countries
like China, Tibet, Central Asia and
Korea. There has been contact as per the
archeological findings of Shailendra Dynasty
in Indonesia.

22.  The Nalanda university students have
studied the Mahayana and the texts show
eighteen sects of Hinayana Buddhism. The
syllabus included logic, Vedas, medicine
grammar of Sanskrit language, along with
Samkhya. Nalanda has been destroyed three
times and it has been rebuilt two times.

23.  Nalanda has been ransacked under Mamluk
dynasty under Delhi Sultanate. It was under
Bakhtiyar Khalji around 1200 CE. The
Mahavihara carried on the work in a new way
subsequently after attack. In 19th century, it
was forgotten. Archeological survey of India had
conducted excavations. In 1915, the excavations
were carried out and eleven monasteries were
unearthed. There were 6 brick temples which
were arranged in 12 hectares. The archeologists
found the following:
 Sculptures
 Coins
 Seals
 Inscriptions

24.  They were shown in Nalanda Archaeological Museum.
It is a part of Buddhism tourism circuit.
 Nalanda has shown prosperity in trade route of
Rajagriha or modern Rajgir and it was capital of
Magadha. Mahavira was a jain tirthankara had spent
14 rainy seasons in Nalanda. There was a mango
grove whose name was Pavarika where Gautam
Buddha gave sermons. There was an association of
Buddha and Mahavira and there was a village around
5th to 6th century BCE.
 The archaeological discoveries revealed the history of
Nalanda around 1200 BCE. We have found Northern
Black Polished ware and there was carbon dating of
the site named Juafardih. The stupa was made from
mud brick and it was around 6th to 5th century BCE
and it shows as the valuable site for Buddhism.

25.  The Tibetan lama of 17th-century tells us that
3rd-century BCE of Mauryan period. It also tells
us about Ashoka, the Buddhist emperor who had
created temple at Nalanda in the archeological
site of Chaitya of Shariputra. There were
luminaries of 3rd-century CE like Nagarjuna
wqho was a philosopher of Mahayana group. He
had a disciple known as Aryadeva at Nalanda and
they were the institutional head. Taranatha talks
about a contemporary of Nagarjuna whose name
was Suvishnu and he had been credited with
building 108 temples in that spot. As Faxian, the
pilgrim of Chinese Buddhist origin came to India,
he had entered Nalo, a place of Parinirvana of
Shariputra. It was around 5th century CE. He had
noted stupa.

26.  The history of Nalanda starts with the Gupta
empire. The seal indicated monarch Shakraditya
or Śakrāditya who is known as the founder.
Korean pilgrim known as Prajnyavarman and
Xuanzang had ascribed the starting of
Sangharama or monastery on that particular site.
Shakraditya has been associated with 5th-
century CE with emperor of Gupta period known
as Kumaragupta around . c. 415 – c. 455 CE. The
archeologists came to know from a coin at
Nalanda.The successors are Tathagatagupta,
Buddhagupta Vajra and Baladitya. The
institution was expanded by creating temples
and monasteries.

27.  This is a brahmanical dynasty.
 The sangharama was created at Nalanda.
 It is 91 m or 300 ft high vihara having a
statue of Buddha as per the report published
by Xuanzang.
 It showed "amazing Vihara created under
Bodhi Tree".
 The son of Baladitya, Vajra, had created the
sangharama and he had a lot of faith.
 Post-Gupta period
 There were kings who created structures at
Nalanda with the sculptor.

28.  The central Indian kind had created high wall
and gate with edifices in complex.
 There is a king of Maukhari dynasty whose name
is Purnavarman and he has been known as the
last emperor of Ashoka group.
 He had created 24 m or 80 ft high Buddha
copper image and he had created the pavilion
under six stages.
 Decline of gupta period
 With the decline of Gupta period, Harsha has
been regarded as a patron of Mahavihara and he
was the Kannauj emperor dating back 7th-
century.


29.  Harsha had converted to Buddhist faith and
he served monks living in Nalanda.
 He had created monastery using brass inside
Mahavihara.
 He had generated revenues for 100 villages.
 He had the capacity of directing 200
households in those villages for providing the
monks with a lot of rice, milk, butter
regularly.

30.  A total of 1000 monks were served in Kannauj at
the time of Harsha.
 Travelogues of monks from China provided a lot
of information. These travelers are as follows:
 Xuanzang or Si yu ki
 Yijing who had written “A Record of the
Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and the
Malay Archipelago”
 The ruins have been found in an area of 488
metres or 1,600 ft by 244 metres or 800 ft.
Nalanda Mahavihara have controlled a significant
area in the medieval period.

31.  According to the Tibetan sources of traditional
type showed the presence of library in Nalanda
whose name is Dharmaganja or Piety Mart. It
includes 3 big multi-storeyed buildings.
 There was Ratnasagara or Ocean of Jewels.
 There is Ratnodadhi or Sea of Jewels.
 There is also Ratnaranjaka or Jewel-adorned.
 Ratnodadhi had been nine storeys and it
included sacred manuscripts consisting of
Prajnyaparamita Sutra along with Guhyasamaja.
 The volumes in Nalanda Library might be
hundreds of thousands.

32.  After the death of Buddhist scholar in
Nalanda, the manuscripts have been
displayed in library.
 The library had religious manuscripts. There
were books on the following:
 Grammar
 Logic
 3. Literature
 4. Astrology
 5. Astronomy
 6. Medicine.

33.  The classification of text has been
accomplished by Panini who was a Sanskrit
linguist.
 The texts of Buddhist faith were grouped
under three classes and they are Tripitaka
 The three divisions are:
 Vinaya
 Sutra
 Abhidhamma

34.  From the research of Xuanzang, we have
found that Hwui-Li tells us about the Nalanda
students. They had learnt the following:
 Great Vehicle (Mahayana)
 Works of eighteen sects of the Buddhism.
 Vedas
 Hetuvidyā or Logic
 Shabdavidya or Grammar, Philology
 Chikitsavidya or Medicine
 Magic or atharvaveda
 Samkhya.

35.  Xuanzang has been trained under under
Shilabhadra. The students were taught city-
planning.
 The tradition of Tibet shows
"four doxographies at Nalanda. They are as
follows:
 Sarvastivada Vaibhashika
 Sarvastivada Sautrantika
 Madhyamaka philosophy of Mayanaya under
Nagarjuna
 Chittamatra, Philosophy of Mahayana under
Vasubandhu and asanga

36.  From 7th century, as per the record of
Xuanzang:
 the Nalanda teachers in total is
approximately 1510.
 Among them, 1000 could explain the 20
collections of the shastras and sutras.
 500 could tell about 30 collections.
 10 teachers could tell about 50 collections.
 Xuanzang has been among the few scholars
who can tell about 50 collections and more.
 Shilabhadra have studied primary collections
of the shastras and sutras of Nalanda.

37.  As per the sources, Nalanda has been visited by Buddha and
Mahavira in 6th as well as 5th century BCE.
 Francis Buchanan Hamilton
 Francis Buchanan Hamilton had made a survey of Nalanda in
1811–1812 when the local people told him about the
archeological importance. He did not identify the mounds with
Nalanda. This was set up by Major Markham Kittoe in the year
1847. Alexander Cunningham along with Archeological survey of
india had carried out survey in the year 1861 to 1862. The
excavation was carried out systematically under ASI. It started in
1915 and it was finished in the year 1937.
 The excavation was started for the second time while restoration
had taken between 1974 and 1982.

38.  Nalanda archeological evidence has been spread
around 488 metres or 1,600 ft and it is from north to
south and it is 244 metres or 800 ft from east to
west.
 The excavations showed 11 monasteries
 6 brick temples have been shown in ordered layout.
 There is 30 m wide passage from north to south along
with temples to west and monasteries in the east.
 There was construction of new buildings over the
ruins of the old buildings. The buildings were
damaged by fire.

39.  Temple 3 in south show amazing structure.
 Temple 12, 13, 14 have shown monasteries which
are facing eastwards.
 The designated 1A and 1B have been
exceptional.
 Monasteries all face west with drains showing
emptying towards east. The staircases have been
planned in the south-west corner of buildings.
 Temple 2 is directed towards east.

40.  The Nalanda monasteries show similarity in general appearance
and layout.
 The plan shows rectangular form having central quadrangular
court and there is verandah.
 There is outer row of the cells for monks.
 The central cell shows entrance towards court and there is shrine
chamber.
 There is strategic position indicating edifice. Other than 1A and
1B, monasteries face west while the drains empty out in east.
 The staircases have been planned in south-west corner of
buildings.
 Monastery 1 has been oldest and vital monastery.
 There are nine levels in the construction. The lower monastery
had been created by Balaputradeva, Srivijayan king, at the time
of Devapala reign in 9th century.

41.  The building had been 2 storeys and it has huge statue of
seated Buddha.
 Temple no. 3
 It is known as Sariputta Stupa and it is great structure of
Nalanda. There are flights of stairs which reach the top.
The temple shows tiny structure and the constructions
were made afterwards. The Gupta-era art show stucco
figures consisting of Buddha along with Bodhisattvas from
the Jataka tales. The temple show votive stupas and they
were created from bricks from ancient Buddhist texts.

 On top of the Temple no. 3, there is shrine chamber and it
has pedestal where Buddha statue had been placed.

42.  The stupa has close similarity with Kushana
form. It had motivated Gwe Bin Tet Kon or
Sri Khettara stupa at Myanmar. There is a big
image of the Avalotiteshvar at the basement
and it has been shifted to Museum.

43.  Temple no. 2 has dado containing 211 sculptured panels showing religious motifs. The deities are
as follows:

 Shiva
 Parvati
 Kartikeya
 Gajalakshmi
 Kinnaras
 They show musical instruments and there is representations of the makaras. There are human
couples in lovely postures.
 There are art scenes from daily life.

 Temple 2 showed Brahmanical affiliation.

 Temple no. 13 showed brick-made smelting furnace having four chambers.

 We have discovered burnt metal along with slag. It indicates the use of objects which are cast
metallic in nature.

44.  This is located in the northern side of Temple
13.

 There is big image of the Buddha. There has
been pedestal feature of the image showing
fragments of the mural painting in the
Nalanda.

45.  This is located on the eastern part of temple 2.

 The Sarai Mound has been excavated.

 The Buddhist temple has been multistoried.
There are shrines and stupas and there is a big
wall enclosure.

 There is a sanctum indicating Buddha statue has
a height of 24 metres or 80 ft high.

46.  The archeologists have found the following:
 Sculptures
 Murals
 Copper plates
 Inscriptions
 Seals
 Coins
 Plaques
 Potteries
 Works in bronze, stone, stucco, terracotta


47.  The archeologists have found the sculptures of
Buddhist origin. They have various postures. They are
as follows:
 Avalokiteshwara
 Jambhala
 Majushri
 Marichi
 Tara
 Vishnu
 Shiva-Parvathi
 Ganesha
 Mahishasura Mardini
 Surya

48.  Local people call the temple as Telia Bhairav,
 It is near Temple 14.
 It is Buddha image which is large black and the pose
is bhumisparha mudra.

 From the report of Cunningham, we find Baithak
Bhairab and it was a report dating 1861–62.

 In Thailand, there are replicas of Black Buddha in
temples.
 This has been ASI protected area.

49.  The names of villages close to it are as
follows:
 Ghosrawan
 Sarilchak
 Mustafpur
 Jagdishpur
 We have come across the Buddha images
which are shown to be worshipping actively
by neighborhood residents.

50.  Thank you for watching the presentation.
Institute of performing art and mind power
development presents certificate course in
keyboard, harmonica, flute, spanish guitar,
hawaian guitar, music therapy, reiki courses,
french, english, anthropology, hospital
administration, graphology etc.
 Contact 91-8017517171
 Email pratanubanerjee9@gmail.com