Decline and end of NALANDA university

The university was the centre of Mahayana learning, of course – so much so that, reviewing its significance, Vincent Smith observed, ‘A detailed history of Nalanda would be a history of Mahayanist Buddhism, from the time of Nagarjuna in the 2nd cent A.D. (?), or possibly even from an earlier date, until the Muhammadan conquest of Bihar in A.D. 1197 – a period well over a millennium. All the most noted doctors of the Mahayana seem to have studied at Nalanda…’


Evidence in literature suggests that in 1193, the Nalanda University was sacked by the fanatic BAKHTIYAR KHILJI, a Turk. Muslim conquest in India is seen by scholars as one of the reasons of the decline of Buddhism in India. The Persian historian MINHAJ-I-SIRAJ, in his chronicle the TABAQAT-I-NASIRI, reported that thousands of monks were burned alive and thousands beheaded as Khilji tried his best to uproot Buddhism 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."

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.’ According to another historical source, Rahul Sri Bhadra, a Buddhist scholar of Ayurveda treated Bakhtiyar Khilji for an illness which was deemed incurable by his court Haqims. Disturbed by the fact that an Indian scholar and teacher knew more than the Haqims of his own court, Khilji decided to destroy the roots of all knowledge and Ayurveda in this country.

The Turkish invaders set ablaze and destroyed the huge library of the university, said to rival one at Luxor in Egypt’. On 15 September, 2014 the same daily, reiterated that “the original Nalanda University……was burnt down by an army of Turkish invaders in 1193” . It took three whole months for the 9 million manuscripts stored there to burn.



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. 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."

At its peak, the institution attracted students and scholars from far off places like Korea, China, Tibet, and Central Asia as well. It was home to more than 2,000 teachers and 10,000 students. History has it that Mahavira and Buddha visited Nalanda in the 5th and 6th centuries. Renowned Chinese scholar Hsuan-Tsang also visited the institution in the 7th century to learn the Vedas, Buddhist theology, and metaphysics.

D.C. Ahir in his book 'Buddhism Declined in India : How and Why? - B. R. Publishing (2005)' considers the destruction of the temples, monasteries, centres of learning at Nalanda and northern India to be responsible for the demise of ancient Indian scientific thought in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, and anatomy.


The ruins of Nalanda have also been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in India in 2016. Nalanda University Archaeological Complex is currently owned, maintained, and protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The 30-acre excavation area also comprises a museum, temples, and ruins of other structures.