Overview of the higher education system (universities) a millenium before Macaulay – universities at Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramashila
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Universities in Nalanda, Taxila and Vikramashila flourished under the patronage of the Hindu Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. From the large numbers of texts that Yijing carried back with him after his 10-year residence at Nalanda, it is obvious that there must have been a well-equipped library in the university.
Libraries of Nalanda (Dharmaganja) – 3 Large multi-storeyed buildings
It is estimated that they housed many hundreds of thousands of books:
- The Ratnodadhi (Sea of Jewels) : nine storeys high and housed the most sacred manuscripts
- The Ratnasagar (Ocean of Jewels),
- The Ratnaranjaka (Jewel-adorned)
Destroyed – the burning of the libraries
It was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khilji c. 1200 CE. It is said when Bakhtiyar Khilji’s army invaded they burned the biggest Vedic library in the history of mankind.
There were so many books that the fire burnt continuously for 6 months
