The new Nalanda University campus at Rajgir in Bihar, remodelled after the 1,600-year-old Nalanda Mahavihar, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2024, marking a significant revival of the first residential university in the world, originally founded in 427 CE by Emperor Kumaragupta.

Steeped in history

The Nalanda Mahavihar, the world’s first residential university, also referred to as the medieval Ivy League, gained its name from ‘nalam’ (lotus) and ‘da’ (to give), symbolising the blossoming of knowledge. It was established 500 years before Oxford University and was the seat of knowledge of the known world. To put it in context, Nalanda attracted students and teachers from across the world when Europe, the home of Oxford and Cambridge, was still in the shadows of the Dark Ages...

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