The archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara or Nalanda University in Bihar has been included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which also featured three new sites from China, Iran and Micronesia.
The inclusion of the four new sites was announced at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul in Turkey.
- Nalanda stands out as one of the most ancient universities in South Asia, UNESCO said in a release.
- The Nalanda archaeological site got included in the Tentative List of World Heritage on January 9, 2009.
- The nomination dossier was prepared by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and submitted in January 2015 to the World Heritage Committee for the purpose of its inscription in the year 2016.
- Besides the site of India, the other names included in the UNESCO World Heritage List are ‘The Persian Qanat’ of Iran, ‘Nan Madol’– ceremonial centre of Eastern Micronesia — and ‘Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape’ of China.
- Nalanda University is the second World Heritage site in Bihar after Bodhgaya’s Mahabodhi temple to be accorded UNESCO’s World Heritage Site tag.
Nalanda Mahavihara
- Nalanda and the ruins of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara are almost synonymous. The name Nalanda conjures up a picture of ancient Mahavihara, which was a great seat of Buddhist education for nearly 700 years between the 5th to 12th centuries AD.
- The contribution of the Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda in the development of Buddhist education is widely recognized. Many great Acaryas of Nalanda had helped in dissemination of knowledge and Buddhist culture throughout the world.
- Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India had initiated the idea and declared that the ancient seat of Buddhist learning at Nalanda would be revived and thus had emanated the vision of establishing the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. On November 20, 1951, the foundation stone of the first building was laid with the following engraving.
- On November 13, 2006, the University Grant Commission accorded the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Nalanda the status of a Deemed to be University.
- It located near Patna and patina is a state capital of Bihar.
