Topic1:- Nalanda District

1.Ruins of Nalanda mahavihara

2.Son Bhandar Caves, Rajgir

3.Location of Nalanda district in Bihar

4.Administrative map of Nalanda district

1. Nalanda district is one of the thirty-eight districts of the state of Bihar. Bihar Sharif is the administrative headquarters of this district.

2.This district is home to the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nalanda is located in the Magadh region of southern Bihar.

History:-

Nalanda became a fully-fledged district when it was splits from Patna in 09-0ctober-1972.

Geography:-

Nalanda district occupies an area of 2,233 Square km. The Phalgu, Mohane, Jirayan, and Kumbhari rivers are flows here. This district is a part of Patna Division.

Majority of the lands are fertile land of Indo Gangetic plane. I the extreme south there lies the hills of Rajgir.

There is also one small hillock in Bihar Sharif.

Population:-

year Population ±% p.a

1901 595,009 ------

1911 589,310 −0.10%

1921 577,663 −0.20%
1931 676,424 +1.59%

1941 785,619 +1.51%

1951 926,189 +1.66%

1961 1,086,972 +1.61%

1971 1,304,832 +1.84%

1981 1,639,922 +2.31%

1991 1,996,257 +1.99%

2001 2,370,528 +1.73%

2011 2,877,653 +1.96%

Topic2:- Nalanda mahavihara

· Nalanda was a renowned mahavihara which was known as Buddhist monastic university in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), eastern India.
· It was also Considered by historians to be the world's first residential university and among the greatest centers of learning in the ancient world.
· It was located near the city of Rajagriha now Rajgir and about 90 kilometers southeast of Pataliputra (now Patna).
· Nalanda played a vital role in promoting the patronage of arts and academics during the 5th and 6th century CE, a period that has since been described as the "Golden Age of India" by scholars.
· Nalanda was established during the Gupta Empire era and was supported by numerous Indian and Javanese patrons – both Buddhists and non-Buddhists.
· Over some 750 years, its faculty included some of the most revered scholars of Mahayana Buddhism.
· Nalanda mahavihara taught six major Buddhist schools and philosophies such as Yogachara and Sarvastivada as well as subjects such as Vedas, grammar, medicine, logic, mathematics, astronomy, alchmy.
· Nalanda mahavihara taught six major Buddhist schools and philosophies such as Yogachara and Sarvastivada as well as subjects such as Vedas, grammar, medicine, logic, mathematics, astronomy, alchmy.
· The university was also a major source of the 657 Sanskrit texts carried by pilgrim Xuanzang and the 400 Sanskrit texts carried by Yijing to China in the 7th century, which influenced East Asian Buddhism.
· Many of the texts composed at Nalanda played an important role in the development of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism including the Mahavairocana Tantra and the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra of Shantideva.
· Nalanda may have been attacked and damaged by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, but it managed to remain operational for decades (or possibly even centuries) following the raids.
· It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nalanda University Pictures:-

A map of Nalanda and its environs from Alexander Cunningham's 1861–62 ASI report which shows a number of ponds (pokhar) around the Mahavihara.

Nalanda clay seal of Kumaragupta III. The inscription is in Sanskrit, late-Gupta script, the man shown has Vaishnava mark on his forehead, and seal has Garuda-vahana on upper face

Buddha Shakyamuni or the Bodhisattva Maitreya, gilt copper alloy, early 8th century, Nalanda

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. Ashtasahasrika Prajnyaparamita Sutra manuscript from Nalanda's Pala period.

A statue of Gautama Buddha at Nalanda in 1895.

Excavated ruins of the monasteries of Nalanda.

Replica of the seal of Nalanda set in terracotta on display in the Archaeological Survey of India Museum in Nalanda

Rear view of the ruins of the Baladitya Temple in 1872.

A page from Xuanzang's Great Tang Records on the Western Regions or Dà Táng Xīyù Jì

Avalokisteshvara in Khasarpana Lokesvara form from Nalanda, 9th-century.

Temple no. 3 (Sariputta Stupa)

A map of the excavated remains of Nalanda.

Conjectural Reconstruction of Temple no. 3, Nalanda University

Prajnaparamita and Scenes from the Buddha's Life (top), Maitreya and Scenes from the Buddha's Life (bottom), Folios from a Dharanisamgraha, manuscript from Nalanda, circa 1075