By J. A. Page, Esq., A.R.I.B.A., Superintendent, I must preface my remarks with an apology for the inadequate means at my disposal of conveying any intelligible description of the buildings themselves to you. For this purpose lanternslide illustrations thrown on a a screen are indispensible, and these I have not had the leisure or the facilities to prepare. I hope, however, to refrain from any long wearisome descriptions, and will trust to make my remarks intelligible by circulating among you afterwards a number of photographs of the principal features of the Nalanda excavations and the finds made there. The celebrated Buddhist Monastery of Nalanda probably came into existence at some time between the fifth and seventh centuries A D. The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hian 1, who visited all the Buddhist centres of India between the years 405-11 A.D., is * A lecture delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Society, 1923. Travels of Fa Hian: Legge: Oxford Press (1880). 1 silent concerning the existence of a monastery at Nalanda; whereas his successor Yuan Chwang, who toured India between the years 630-645 A.D. in the reign of Harsha, describes its buildings at some length; the inference being that the site was populated and the monasteries founded at some time between the visits of the two pilgrims. The present name of the locality is Burgaon. "Burgaon," writes Mr. Broadley, who excavated here in the seventies," has been identified, beyond the possibility of a doubt, with that Viharagrama on the outskirts of which, more than 1,000 years ago, flourished the great Nalanda Monastery, the most magnificent and most celebrated seat of Buddhist learning in the world. When the caves and temples of Rajagriha were abandoned to the ravages of decay, and the followers of Tathagata forsook the dwellings of their great teachers, the monastery of Nalanda arose in all its splendour on the banks of the lakes of Burgaon. Successive monarchs vied in its embellishment; lofty pagodas were raised in all directions; halls of disputation and schools of instruction were built between them; shrines, temples and topes were constructed on the side of every tank and encircled the base of every tower; and around the whole mass of edifices were grouped the four-storied' dwellings of the preachers and teachers of Buddhism." Yuan Chwang records the tradition that 500 merchants purchased the site of Nalanda for ten kotis of gold pieces, and presented it to Buddha, who preached the law here for three months; with the result that most of the merchants attained the fruit of Arhatship. The pilgrim, who was admitted to Baladitya's college as a student by the abbot Silabhadra, thus describes the various buildings at Nalanda : "After the Nirvana of Buddha, an old king of this country called Sakraditya, from a principle of loving obedience to Buddha, built this convent. 1 Life of Hiuen-Tsiang: Beal: Trubner (1911), and Watters On Yuan Chwang: R. A. S. (1905). "After his decease, his son Buddhagupta-raja seized the throne, and continued the vast undertaking; he built, towards the south, another Sangharama. "Then his son (successor) Tathagata-raja built a Sangharama to the eastward. "Next, his son (or, direct descendant) Baladitya built a Sangharama to the north-east. Afterwards the king, seeing some priests who came from the country of China to receive his religious offerings, was filled with gladness, and he gave up his royal estate and became a recluse. "His son Vajra succeeded, and built another Sangharama to the north. "After him a king of Mid-India built by the side of this another Sangharama. "Thus six kings in connected succession added to these structures. "Moreover, the whole establishment is surrounded by a brick wall, which enclosed the entire convent from without. One gate opens into the great college, from which are separated eight other halls, standing in the middle (of the Sangharama). The richly adorned towers, and the fairy-like turrets, like pointed hill-tops, are congregated together. The observatories seem to be lost in the vapours (of the morning) and the upper rooms tower above the clouds. "From the windows one may see how the winds and the clouds (produce new forms), and above the soaring eaves the conjunctions of the sun and moon (may be observed). "And then we may add how the deep, translucent ponds bear on their surface the blue lotus, intermingled with the Kie-ni (Kanaka) flower, of deep red colour, and at intervals the Amra groves spread over all their shade. "All the outside courts, in which are the priests' chambers, are of four stages. The stages have dragon-projections and coloured eaves, the pearl-red pillars, carved and ornamented, 1Butea frondosa. |