Who was the head of the Nalanda Mahavihara when Xuan Zang studied there?
- A.Nagarjuna
- B.Shilabhadra
- C.Dharmakirti
- D.Atisha Dipankara
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Shilabhadra. The Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang studied the Yogachara philosophy at Nalanda under Shilabhadra, who was then the aged head of the monastery, during the reign of Harshavardhana in the seventh century. Option A is wrong because Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana philosophy, lived several centuries earlier and is linked with Nagarjunakonda in the south, although tradition associates his school with Nalanda. Option C is wrong because Dharmakirti was a great logician connected with Nalanda, but he was not the head of the monastery when Xuan Zang was there. Option D is wrong because Atisha Dipankara belonged to Vikramashila and lived in the eleventh century, four hundred years after Xuan Zang's visit, before going to Tibet. Nalanda's teaching in this period covered logic, grammar, medicine and astronomy besides Buddhist philosophy, and admission depended on an examination at the gate.
Read the full article: Ancient Universities of India: Nalanda, Takshashila, PYQs
Practice Questions
View allThe Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Xuan Zang, came to the Indian subcontinent about ______ years ago.
- A.1100
- B.1700
- C.2000
- D.1400
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Xuan Zang, also written Hiuen Tsang, travelled in India in the seventh century of the Christian era, during the reign of Harshavardhana of Kannauj, which is roughly fourteen hundred years before our own time.
Read the full explanation →The Nalanda Mahavihara was founded by which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Kumaragupta I
- C.Harshavardhana
- D.Dharmapala
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The Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I founded the Nalanda Mahavihara in the fifth century of the Christian era near Rajgir in present-day Bihar, and a seal bearing his name has been found at the site.
Read the full explanation →Vikramashila, the great centre of tantric Buddhist learning, was founded by which king?
- A.Gopala
- B.Dharmapala
- C.Devapala
- D.Mahipala
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The Pala king Dharmapala founded Vikramashila at Antichak in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar about the turn of the ninth century, and it became famous for tantric studies and for the scholars called dvarapanditas who examined candidates at its gates.
Read the full explanation →The ancient seat of learning Takshashila was situated in which region?
- A.Magadha
- B.Gandhara
- C.Avanti
- D.Vatsa
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Takshashila, called Taxila by Greek and later English writers, was the capital of the Mahajanapada of Gandhara in the north-west of the subcontinent, in what is now the Rawalpindi district of Pakistan, and it was already a famous centre of learning in the time of the Buddha.
Read the full explanation →The scholar Atisha Dipankara Srijnana, who went to Tibet, was associated with which centre of learning?
- A.Takshashila
- B.Valabhi
- C.Vikramashila
- D.Kanchipuram
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Atisha Dipankara Srijnana was the most famous teacher of Vikramashila, the Pala monastery at Antichak in Bhagalpur, and in the eleventh century he was invited to Tibet, where he reformed Buddhist practice and is remembered as one of its great masters.
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