Buddhist Learning in South Asia: Education, Religion, and Culture at the Ancient Sri Nalanda Mahavihara

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This interdisciplinary study is the first book to provide a complete survey of r Nland Mahvihra from the perspective of its educational curricula as well as its religious influence. It provides detailed descriptions of the origin, growth, management, and academic and cultural life of Nland, with particular attention to its pedagogy, curriculum, teachers, and students. It also presents an alternative interpretation of nationalist and popular notions about r Nland as an international university and proves that it was, at its core, a Buddhist monastery and an institution of Buddhist learning focused on the study and promotion of Buddhism.

Reviews

This voluminous and timely monograph calls into question some flawed assumptions of early Buddhism at the place of its origin. The author moves away from crude modern day categorizations of the historic r Nland Mahvihra either as half monastery, half university or more megalomaniac International Universityformulations which ascribe modern meanings to an ancient institution for advanced training into Buddhist religion and philosophy. Instead, the setting up and functioning of the large monastic institution of learning is examined here in terms of its ideological orientation and physical expansion in relation to the politics of patronage. This richly detailed work is a must read for those misled by ill-informed assertions in the service of modern politics of religion or secularism with a misplaced sense of pride in the past. -- Raziuddin Aquil, University of Delhi; author of In the Name of Allah: Understanding Islam and Indian History
r Nland Mahvihra is the epitome of what Indian culture and civilization offers. In outlining its historical journey, Pintu Kumar has performed a great service. This study will be welcomed by scholars interested in the history of education, religion, and culture. -- Deepak Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University
This informative and well-documented book on Nland is, up to now, the most comprehensive study of the history of this famous monastic complex, its economic and administrative organization, and its religious and intellectual life. The author bases his analysis on a large body of sources that encompass the textual, historical, archaeological, and architectural data as well as the travel lodges of Chinese and Tibetan pilgrims to Nland. This book is an excellent study for anyone interested in Indian Buddhist monasticism and monastic education in general and in Nlands role in the development of Indian Mahyna Buddhism in particular. -- Vesna A. Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara
This monograph on education in the early history of India focuses on Nalanda, which has been eulogized as the first university in the world going back to the pre-Christian eraperhaps a better definition of Nalanda would be the description coined by J. E. Carpenter in 1914, who called it Half Monastery-Half University. In this study, Pintu Kumar traces the fascinating journey of a Mahavihara that evolved to become a major center of Buddhist learning. Kumar takes readers through the Brahmanical system of learning in the Gurukula to the various complex subjectsranging from theology to mathematicstaught in the Buddhist centers of learning, with Nalanda as the focal point. This monograph will enrich scholars working on Buddhism or educationor boththrough Pintu Kumars meticulous presentation of a forgotten, or partially understood, part of the history of education in India. -- Vijaya Ramaswamy, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Author Bio

Pintu Kumar is assistant professor in the Department of History at Delhi University.