GK Questions: Nalanda University

 

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Medieval History-Question 28

Important previous year paper gk questions with answers in English on Nalanda University which was destroyed by Muhammad-bin-Bhaktiyar Khilji .

28. The Mughal adventurer who destroyed the Nalanda University was?
A. Allauddin Khilji
B. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq
C. Muhammad-bin-Bhaktiyar
D. Muhammad-bin-Quasim

Muhammad-bin-Bhaktiyar Khilji

Note: Muhammad-bin-Bhaktiyar Khilji was a Turkish military general of Qutub-ud-din Aibak. He was responsible for the destruction of Nalanda, which was an ancient Buddhist University in Bihar. The Persian sources gives an account of Khilji's attack and destruction of the Nalanda University.

Nalanda was a renowned Buddhist monastery and university in ancient Magadha (modern-day Bihar), India. Considered by historians to be the world's very first residential university, and among the greatest centres of learning in the ancient world, it was located near the city of Rajagriha.

Nalanda was established during the Gupta Empire era, and was supported by numerous Indian and Japanese patrons – both Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Over some 750 years, its faculty included some of the most revered scholars of Mahayana Buddhism.

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. It was sacked and destroyed by the troops of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khiilji, partly restored thereafter, and continued to exist till about 1400 CE.

Nalanda, flourished through the 5th and 6th-centuries under the Guptas. Kumaragupta I was the founder patron of the Nalanda monastery-university. His successors, Budhagupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya, and Vajra, later extended and expanded the institution by building additional monasteries and temples.

These Gupta-era contributions to Nalanda are confirmed by the numerous Buddhist and Hindu seals, artwork, iconography and inscriptions discovered at Nalanda, which are in the Gupta-style and Gupta-era scripts.

After the decline of the Guptas, the most notable patron of the Nalanda Mahavihara was Harsha . He was the 7th-century emperor with capital at Kannauj .

According to Xuanzang, Harshavardhana was a third generation Hindu king from the Vaishya caste, who built majestic Buddhist viharas, as well as three majestic temples – Buddha, Surya and Shiva, all of the same size.

 

*This Question is a part of previous year paper gk questions on Medieval History of India.