Dr. Amartya Sen on Nalanda's Critics-NIU

NIU Nalanda-The Ancient Buddhist University

The most famous International Buddhist center, Nalanda university campus of Ancient times, is present in Bihar state,India.It is about 120 Kilometers away from state capital-Patna.Archeological evidences have proved that it belongs to 5th century A.D.The place is well linked both by road and rail.Nalanda is the name given to the district also, in respect of the great center of Buddhist learning.

Visit this place, to know the grandeur of ancient Education system that prevailed in India.
How was Nalanda?

In its hay days,Nalanda was one of the five topmost universities teaching Buddhism. Though all the six philosophies of India were taught there, Buddhism was the main subject.The campus was spread over 14 hectares area. Of this only 10% has been excavated so far. if this small area sxposes so much, imagine how much must be still hidden!

Nalanda unversity had 10,000 learners then. Learners came from different countries like-present Afghanistan(that was not under Muslim influence then),China, Burma, SriLanka,Indochina, Nepal etc, let alone different states in india.

Hiuen-Tsang -the famous Chinese traveler stayed here for 10 long years,first as astudent, and later as a teacher

Courses of study.

At Nalanda, both Mahayana and Hinayana Schools of Buddhism were taught.Along with these, Logic(Hetu Vidya),Grammar(Shabda Vidya),Medicine(Vaidya) etc were also taught.
Residential University

Nalanda was a residential university. It was monastic tye of education.Monks were the teachers.The ruins show us the rooms meant for monks and students, with diffeent arrangements.
The ruins

The present ruins show us-teaching halls, prayer halls, dormitories, open parks,cemetries, kitchen and dining halls, water canal system, etc.

Visiting Nalanda is a wonderful experience.Well informed guides are available there to help tourists. Guide charge is also not much. Presently they are taking Rs100/-only per batch of about 50.

Near this campus there is a well built museum that houses so many important materials. That should also be seen.

Buddha visited this place many times before and after his enlightenment.That's this place got the prominence and this center of higher learning was started here.
Decline

Muslim invasion to India was the cause of decline of this famous center of higher learning.That started after 12the century.those invaders burnt many monks alive. They burnt the libraries here.But even after that, Nalanda had its breath.But by 16th century, it was attacked again by muslim army. And the remaining students and teachers were forced to flee.
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Dr. Amartya Sen: Nalanda stood for the passion of propagating knowledge and understanding !!

"Science has to fight parochialism, and Nalanda was committed to doing that”

Science has to fight parochialism, and Nalanda University (which existed in Bihar during the early fifth century and the 12th century) was firmly committed to doing just that, according to Amartya Sen, Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University in the U.S. and chairman of the Interim Governing Board of Nalanda University.

Recalling that the university was “violently destroyed” in an Afghan attack led by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193, Prof. Sen, who addressed the Indian Science Congress at SRM University in Kattankulathur near here on Tuesday, said it was being re-established through an Asian initiative, involving India, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand.

Delivering a talk on Nalanda and the pursuit of science, Prof. Sen, the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics, said Nalanda stood for the passion of propagating knowledge and understanding. This was one reason for its keenness to accept students from abroad. “If the seeking of evidence and vindication by critical arguments is part of the tradition of science, so is the commitment to move knowledge and understanding beyond the boundaries of locality.”

Noting that Nalanda had attracted students from many countries, particularly China, Korea and Japan, he said there were students from Turkey too. It was a residential university and at its peak, it had 10,000 students, studying various subjects. “Incidentally, Nalanda is the only non-Chinese institution in which any Chinese scholar received higher education in the history of ancient China.”

Citing the accounts of Chinese chroniclers such as Xuangzang and Yi Jing, Prof. Sen said that among the subjects taught in Nalanda were medicine, public health, architecture and sculpture, in addition to religion, history, law and linguistics. Going by Indian accounts, logic was a subject taught and “my guess is that eventually, evidence would emerge on this part of the curriculum in Nalanda as well.”

Noting that the mixture of religion and science was by no means unique to Nalanda, he said the Buddhist foundation made much room for the pursuit of analytical and scientific subjects within the campus of Nalanda University.

The faculty and students in Nalanda loved to argue and very often, they held argumentative encounters. “There were plenty of organised argumentative matches going on in Nalanda and this too fits, in a very general way, into the scientific spirit that was present in Nalanda,” he added.
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Nalanda International University Funding

Japan and Singapore are financing the construction work, with contributions totalling around US$100 million. Gopa Sabharwal has been appointed the first Vice Chancellor of this university in February 2011.

It has been estimated that US$500m will be required to build the new facility, with a further US$500m needed to sufficiently improve the surrounding infrastructure. The group is looking for donations from governments, private individuals and religious groups.

The State Government of Bihar handed over 443 acres of sprawling land acquired from local people, to the University, where construction work has begun. It is a dream project of the former Indian president APJ Abdul Kalam.

Nalanda University orphaned: Governing Board term expires

A constitutional crisis threatens the Nalanda University as the one year term of its Governing Board came to an end on November 25. But thanks to the lethargy of the authorities, no new governing board is not in sight.

As per Section 8 (2) of the Nalanda University Act, the Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG) was authorized to exercise and discharge the functions of the Governing Board for a period of one year or till such times when a new governing board came into existence, whichever was earlier. But whereas the Governing Board (earlier Nalanda Mentor Group) met thrice for board meetings during 2011 – New Delhi (February 22), Patna (July 6-7) and Beijing (October 14-15) it neither framed the statutes expected from it under Clause 28 (1) of the Act within six months nor worked on any succession plan.

The composition and tenure of the regular Governing Board is described in Clause 7 of the Nalanda University Act. It will include an officer from the MEA not below the rank of Secretary; two members representing Government of Bihar; one member not below the rank of Additional Secretary from the Ministry of Human Resource Development; three educationists or academicians to be nominated by the central government.

The Nalanda University was aware of the approaching deadline. But it was interested in scouting for types that will fill a particular slot. Five members from amongst the ‘member states’ (of the East Asia Summit) that would provide maximum financial assistance will get their places in the new Governing Board. Nalanda University publicized only the last type on their website. The obvious reasons were two a) to emphasize ‘international’ character of the University though the institution is being built with Indian taxpayers money b) second to get donations from aboard. It seems except for China no ‘member state’ has actually donated anything. And even China’s donation of $1 million can not be used immediately, but kept in reserve for building a ‘Chinese style University’ at Nalanda University campus. But China might end up getting five seats for three years for this peanut.

But as of date there is no Nalanda University Governing Board. Any further exercise of power by Amartya Sen-led group will be ultra vires to the Nalanda University Act, 2010. The Nalanda Mentor Group turned Governing Board has exercised power without authority, responsibility and accountability. First, the Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG) was ‘appointed’ merely through a D.O. letter dtd June 27, 2007 by then Minister of External Affairs without any office order, gazette notification and press release. Its nine month life-span was extended to three year plus without any officer order or Gazette notification. Its recommended candidate was appointed as ‘Vice Chancellor-designate’ though the terms of conditions did not authorize them to search and select any person for the post.

Then NMG, on being converted in the Governing Board, co-opted Prof. Prapod Assavavirulhakarn, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand though it never had co-option powers. They also kept both George Yeo, former foreign Minister, Singapore and Prof. Wang Gugwu, National University, Singapore in the Boardwhereas the later was only a replacement candidate for the former in the NMG.

The Governing Board could not identity the Visitor of the University during the whole year. Whether it is the President of India or Prof. APJ Abdul Kalam? Both the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor are to be appointed by the Visitor as per Clause 15 of the Act. The new Governing Board must have Visitor, Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor. At present there are none of them (Dr. Gopa Sabharwal is Vice Chancellor-designate though she claimed herself as Vice Chancellor until challenged).


But the most difficult legacy for the new Governing Board would be legal vacuum. There are no statutes- framed and approved- from which a new Governing Board can derive its powers.

The latest crisis is another example of inept handling of the project. The Governing Board was more interested in travelling abroad, delivering flowery speeches and recruiting cronies but did no spadework for the University.

Naturally it would now look towards the government (of India) to salvage the project. Under Clause 41 (1) the government has the power to remove difficulty the project might run into. But the government’s action as per the clause must be consistent with the provisions of the Act, and must be published in the gazette of India. Any such order, however, must be placed before Parliament as soon as it is passed. Extending the term of the older Governing Board would entail an amendment of the Act.
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China Efforts to Reviving Buddha Nalanda University

The Times of India ran a news item, on Nov 16th, about China giving a cheque of $ 1 million in the efforts to revive the Nalanda University. This marked the first donation for the ambitious project to rebuild a university in place of the one that was destroyed several centuries ago. Founded in the fifth century, Nalanda was a renowned centre of learning when Europe was still in its dark ages, drawing scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. Over 2000 professors instructed around 10,000 students in religious studies, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and politics. It was burnt to the ground by Bakhtiyar Khilji''''''''s troops invading the nation in the 12th century.

Dubbing it as the “Icon of Asian Renaissance”, the Economic Times mentions that its revival would come as India and China lay claim to being the economic superpowers of the future. The revival is taking place under an international initiative by the East Asia Summit, a bloc of which India is a member, with the Ministry of External Affairs being actively involved in the ambitious project. Interestingly, in 2006 a New York Time’s article, referring to this Summit, wrote” It is a topic unlikely to receive much mention in the Western press”. Some more has changed in the economic strength of the countries in the East Asia block, since then.

Truly, the rebuilt Nalanda University can revive Asia region’s underlying cultural heritage, establish stronger peaceful links among peoples and cultures from the past, and take Asia’s soft power of influence and attraction to a new level. The West has claimed a long tradition of its ancient Greek and Roman roots. This project, can give Asia a springboard to develop a claim to an earlier tradition based on global tolerance and coexistence of different thought streams. While focusing on Buddhist studies the university emphasized a thorough understanding of the six earlier darshana schools of thought - the angles to view knowledge from.

In a speech to the Asia Society in September this year, Noble Peace Winning Amartya Sen who is heading the Nalanda University project spoke eloquently about the ethos of the original University. These, when cultivated in a revived University can uniquely differentiate it from any other global institution today — a) an institution devoted to religious reconciliation b) Health care system that considers affordability and c) Balancing economic prosperity with environmental consequences of growth. Will the project succeed in its aim to parallel the success of its previous incarnation? Let us look at the challenges in the next article on the subject.
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Nalanda: The Great University of Buddhist India !!