The library of Nalanda was known by which name?
- A.Dharmaganja
- B.Ratnagiri
- C.Jetavana
- D.Veluvana
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, Dharmaganja. The library complex of Nalanda was called Dharmaganja, the treasury of truth, and later accounts say it stood in three buildings, Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjaka, of which Ratnodadhi is described as nine storeys high. The burning of this collection at the end of the twelfth century is remembered as one of the great losses of Indian learning.
Option B is wrong because Ratnagiri is a separate Buddhist monastic site in Odisha. Option C is wrong because Jetavana was the grove at Shravasti given to the Buddha by the merchant Anathapindika. Option D is wrong because Veluvana, the bamboo grove, was given to the Buddha at Rajgir by King Bimbisara, and neither was a library. The three building names, Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjaka, are asked as often as the name Dharmaganja itself.
Read the full article: Nalanda, Vikramshila and Ancient Learning in Bihar
Practice Questions
View allNalanda was an ancient centre of learning for which religion?
- A.Islam
- B.Christianity
- C.Jainism
- D.Buddhism
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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.
Read the full explanation →The 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.
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