VAADA TO NIBHAYA

Song: 103

The famed Nalanda University has reopened today after 800 years. Isn't that a truly momentous occasion? Situated in Bihar's Rajgir district, Nalanda University started its first academic session yesterday, nearly 800 years after the ancient education institution was destroyed. Students attended four sessions on the first day, 9am to 1.30pm.

Congratulatory messages poured in. Nobel laureate and NU chancellor Amartya Sen was the first to call and wish the students. Members of NU governing body, Wang Bangwei, Wang Gungwu, NK Singh, George Yeo and Anil Wadhwa, too, sent laudatory wishes to the students and faculty members. "Congratulations. Indeed a moment of great satisfaction," Singh's message read.

In 1193, the Nalanda University was sacked by the fanatic Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turk; this event is seen by scholars as a late milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.

The complex was built with red bricks and its ruins occupy an area of 14 hectares. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as Tibet, China, Greece, and Greater Iran. The great library of Nalanda was so vast that it is reported to have burned for three months after the invaders set fire to it, ransacked and destroyed the monasteries and killed or drove the monks from the site.

As historian Sukumar Dutt describes it, the history of Nalanda university "falls into two main divisions—first, one of growth, development and fruition from the sixth century to the ninth, when it was dominated by the liberal cultural traditions inherited from the Gupta age; the second, one of gradual decline and final dissolution from the ninth century to the thirteen—a period when the tantric developments of Buddhism became most pronounced in eastern India."

In 2006, Singapore, China, India, Japan, and other nations, announced a proposed plan to restore and revive the ancient site as Nalanda University and all one can say is unhone 'Vaada to Nibhaya'! Well, all’s well that ends well.

So while this Asha Bhosle song is a typical situational Bollywood number, albeit featuring two of the greatest stars ever, my point in putting it up today is simply that it is shot in the beautiful and aesthetic environs of Nalanda. The expanse of the campus will give you some idea about the illustriousness of such a University centuries ago. There’s something about institutions with great ambience and aesthetic appeal that pulls you like a magnet every morning to visit them and dedicate yet another day to learning and evolving. May education evolve and flourish and never be destroyed by anyone.