Tuesday, January 11, 2011

On the destruction of Nalanda University

In a sppech reported in 'The Hindu' Amartya Sen: Nalanda stood for the passion of propagating knowledge and understanding Amaratya Sen says:
"Recalling that the university was “violently destroyed” in an Afghan attack led by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193, Prof. Sen, who addressed the Indian Science Congress at SRM University in Kattankulathur near here on Tuesday, said it was being re-established through an Asian initiative, involving India, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand."
Similar stories of the destruction are in several places including the wikipedia. But a recent book Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road By Johan Elverskog says that this is not correct (see pages 1 and 2 available in the previe and wonders why it is not better known. There is also a podcast by him on this topic at UPenn podcast site.

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