Nalanda was an ancient centre of learning for which religion?
- A.Islam
- B.Christianity
- C.Jainism
- D.Buddhism
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is D, Buddhism. Nalanda was a Buddhist monastic university, a mahavihara, where the main course of study was the Mahayana canon along with logic, grammar, medicine and astronomy. It was founded in the fifth century by the Gupta emperor Kumaragupta the first and drew monks from Tibet, China, Korea, Java and Sri Lanka, among them Hiuen Tsang, who studied under the abbot Shilabhadra.
Option A is wrong because Islam reached this part of India only at the very end of the twelfth century, with the campaign in which the monasteries were destroyed. Option B is wrong because Christianity had no presence in the middle Ganga plain in that period. Option C is tempting because Bihar is also the land of Mahavira, but the Jain centres are Pawapuri and Vaishali, not Nalanda.
Read the full article: Nalanda, Vikramshila and Ancient Learning in Bihar
Practice Questions
View allThe Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Kumaragupta the first
- C.Harshavardhana
- D.Dharmapala
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The Gupta emperor Kumaragupta the first, who appears in the records with the title Shakraditya, founded the monastic university at Nalanda in the fifth century.
Read the full explanation →Under which teacher did the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang study at Nalanda?
- A.Shilabhadra
- B.Nagarjuna
- C.Atisha Dipankara
- D.Shantarakshita
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Hiuen Tsang reached Nalanda in the seventh century during the reign of Harshavardhana and spent several years there studying the Yogachara philosophy under Shilabhadra, who was then the abbot.
Read the full explanation →Vikramshila university was founded by which ruler?
- A.Gopala
- B.Devapala
- C.Dharmapala
- D.Kumaragupta the first
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The Pala king Dharmapala founded Vikramshila in the late eighth century at Antichak in what is now Bhagalpur district, on a height above the Ganga, as a rival and a complement to Nalanda.
Read the full explanation →The remains of Vikramshila are located in which district of Bihar?
- A.Nalanda
- B.Bhagalpur
- C.Gaya
- D.Vaishali
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Vikramshila stood at Antichak village in Bhagalpur district, on raised ground overlooking the Ganga, and excavation has revealed a great cruciform stupa at the centre with monastic cells arranged in a square around it, a plan very different from the rows of monasteries at Nalanda.
Read the full explanation →Which scholar of Vikramshila went to Tibet and reformed Buddhism there?
- A.Atisha Dipankara Srijnana
- B.Dharmakirti
- C.Vasubandhu
- D.Buddhaghosa
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Atisha was the most famous head of Vikramshila and left for Tibet in the eleventh century at the invitation of its western kings.
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