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Looking West to India: Asian education, intra-Asian renaissance, and the Nalanda revival*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2014

ANDREA MARION PINKNEY
ANDREA MARION PINKNEY*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University, Canada Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

More than 800 years ago—at approximately the same time as the founding of the first European universities—the renowned monastic institution known as the Nālandā Mahāvihāra disappeared from historical records. Since 2006, a transnational Asian initiative to revive ancient Nalanda as ‘Nalanda University’ in Bihar, India, has been embraced at the highest government and philanthropic levels by a consortium of South, Southeast, and East Asian nations. Nalanda, described as an ‘icon of Asian renaissance’, and the issues surrounding its revival raise important questions about how a new interest in ‘pan-Indo-Asianism’ and a newly imagined vision of ‘Asian’ education are seen as converging to promote Asian interests. First, I consider the ambivalent relationship of the revival and its pre-modern namesake against the Nālandā Mahāvihāra's known history. Then I characterize two kinds of discourse on the contemporary project: one that is ‘pan-Indo-Asian’ and frames the revival as serving transnational Asian goals; and another that is Indic and imagines Nalanda as advancing Indian national concerns. While, for the various stakeholders, serious fissures are evident in the symbolic values of Nalanda—as an exemplar of Asia and of India—both types of discourse, taken together, reveal important insights into the development of an alternative model of education that is both modern and ‘Asian’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 111 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

The National University of Singapore Religion Cluster supported a workshop in 2010 where I presented an early version of this article; the NUS-University Scholars’ Programme made it possible to revisit Nalanda in 2010; and the National University of Singapore-Southeast Asian Studies Department provided an opportunity to improve the article during a workshop organized by Goh Benglan, National University of Singapore, and Kanagawa University in 2011. I received valuable perspectives on Asian education and intra-Asian connections from my colleagues, Shrikant S. Bahulkar, Peter Friedlander, Leigh Kathryn Jenco, Gyanesh Kudaisya, Rahul Mukherji, Ramu Pandit, and Rajesh Rai. Sincere thanks to Isaac Souweine for commenting on many drafts and to John Whalen-Bridge, National University of Singapore, for his proposal to collaborate on the theme of ‘Religious Studies in Asia’, which initially inspired me to work on this topic. Any errors of fact and/or interpretation are mine alone.

References

1 The East Asia Summit is the principal multi-lateral organization involved in the Nalanda revival. It is an administrative sub-grouping within ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, with membership that goes beyond ASEAN boundaries. The decision to form the East Asia Summit was taken at the 10th ASEAN meeting in Vientiane on 29 November 2004, following the initiative of Mahathir bin Mohamad, former prime minister of Malaysia. The first East Asia Summit was convened on 14 December 2005 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The members of the East Asia Summit at that time were: Australia, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (16 countries in total). Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan (2005), ‘General Information on East Asia Summit (EAS)’, Tokyo, Japan, <http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/eas/outline.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014]. As of 2014, the addition of Russia and the United States of America has increased East Asia Summit membership to 18 states. Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Canberra, Australia, <http://www.dfat.gov.au/asean/eas/>, [accessed 8 March 2014].

2 As is frequently noted by various interlocutors, the destruction of Nalanda coincided with the founding of the earliest European universities. In the words of Amartya Sen, ‘[Nalanda] ceased to exist in the twelfth century, almost exactly when the oldest university in Britain, Oxford, was being born.’ Amartya Sen (2009), ‘Remarks at the Inauguration of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre’, Inauguration of ISEAS Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Singapore, ISEAS, p. 5.

3 George Yeo (2011), ‘Nalanda and the Asian Renaissance’, The Huffington Post, Singapore, 12 April. See also: Ministry of External Affairs India (2011), ‘External Affairs Minister Co-Chairs 9th ASEAN India Post Ministerial Meeting’, 22 July, Bali, Indonesia, <http://www.mea.gov.in/>, [accessed 19 April 2014]. Mr George Yeo was personally involved in the earliest inception of the Nalanda revival; he continues his leadership of the project as a member of the Nalanda University Governing Board. Interview with Mr George Yeo, 15 April 2013, Singapore. In 2012, Mr Yeo was awarded India's second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in the category of ‘public affairs’ in recognition of his leadership on the Nalanda project: Government of India (2013), ‘Padma Awards Announced’, <http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79881>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

4 Jeffrey E. Garten (2006), ‘Really Old School’, New York Times, New York, 9 December.

5 According to the Government of India 2001 census, Bihar has the lowest literacy of all Indian states. The overall state average in 2001 was 47 per cent (59.7 per cent male literacy; 33.1 per cent female literacy). Government of India (2010), ‘Census Data 2001 > India at a Glance > Number of Literates and Literacy Rate’, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi, Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, <http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/literates1.aspx>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

6 Press Information Bureau, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, India, <http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=104362>, [accessed 19 April 2014].

7 My findings are based on an analysis of the contemporary debates around the Nalanda revival initiative over the last half decade from South, Southeast, and East Asian perspectives. For insight into the interests of parties from outside India, I have framed my research on the level of intra-governmental interactions, by reviewing the major statements made on Nalanda by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, ASEAN, and the East Asia Summit. From the Indian side, I draw on my close reading of the full 2010 Indian government debates on the Nalanda University Bill, recorded in the proceedings of both houses of parliament—the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

8 Marshall, Margaret Wiley (1961), ‘Bihar Universities—New and Old’, The Journal of Higher Education, 32, 9, p. 506Google Scholar. Nalanda, now accessible to the public as an archaeological site, is located approximately 90 kilometres southeast of Patna, the state capital of Bihar, India, and is about five kilometres from the site proposed for the new university. Patna has been a regional capital city for millennia: as Pāṭaliputra, it was the capital of Magadha, one of the 16 ancient mahājanapadas, or ‘great polities’, of the Indian subcontinent. As an urban hub for trade and commerce, Pāṭaliputra was a regional anchor that generated ample surplus, thus enabling a large monastic community to flourish in its vicinity, and was itself an important Buddhist centre at particular points in its long history. Some of Nalanda's most important patrons included: the Nandas, Mauryas (especially Aśoka), the Śuṅgas, the Hindu Guptas (especially fifth century Kumāragupta, also known as Śakrāditya, who reigned from 415–455), and Emperor Harśa (seventh century). The Pālas (eighth–twelfth centuries), known as staunch Buddhists and liberal benefactors, were Nalanda's patrons at its zenith.

9 Lok Sabha Secretariat, ‘Report on “the Nalanda University (Amendment) Bill, 2013”’, 17 December 2013, Government of India, New Delhi, India, <http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/External%20Affairs/pr_files/The%20Nalanda%20University%20(Amendment)%20Bill,%202013.pdf>, [accessed 8 March 2014].

10 Thakur, Upendra (1995), Buddhist Cities in Early India: Buddha-Gayā, Rājagṛha, Nālandā, Delhi, Sundeep Prakashan, p. 77Google Scholar. Nalanda's importance to the Buddhist and Jaina communities predates the founding of Nalanda by some 800 years. According to the Buddhist texts, Mahāsudassana Jātaka and the Nikāyasaṅgraha, Aśoka, the Buddhist scion of the Maurya empire, established the first monastic refuges (vihāras) at Nalanda as well as a very large stūpa to commemorate the life and death of Sāriputra (one of the Buddha's key disciples who was born and died at Nalanda), during his third century reign (304–232 BCE). This claim is repeated over the centuries in multiple sources, including the fourth century account of Faxian and the sixteenth century account of Tārānātha. Aśoka's Sāriputra stūpa is the largest and most prominent archaeological element at the ruins today. See Shastri, Hirananda (1986), Nālandā and its Epigraphic Material, New Delhi, Sri Satguru Publications, p. 6Google Scholar. For a brief note on Tārānātha, see Archaeological Survey of India (n.d.), Nālandā Site Guide, New Delhi, p. 3Google Scholar. In the Jaina text Sūtrakṛitāṇga, composed as early as the fourth century BCE, a chapter is dedicated to Nalanda (Book 2, Lecture 7), in which it is described as a prosperous ‘suburb’ (bāhirikā) of Rājagṛīha containing many ‘hundreds of buildings’, although Jacobi stated that this was a generic description routinely given to towns. Rājagṛīha, lying just 12 kilometres away from Nalanda, is famed as the place where Buddha resided and gave discourses at Gṛiddhakūṭa, or ‘Vulture's Peak’. In this text, Mahāvīra, the putative founder of Jainism, is said to have spent 14 rainy seasons at Nalanda, an account corroborated in the Kalpasūtra of the Jaina monk, Bhadrabāhu. See Müller, Max (ed.) (1895), Sacred Books of the East, Volume XLV: The Jaina Sutras (Part 2): The Uddhyanana Sutra and the Sutrakritanga Sutra, trs. Jacobi, Hermann, Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. xxxix–xlGoogle Scholar (Unmarked set by AMPIMAC).

11 Frederick M. Asher (2010), ‘Replicating Bodhgaya: The Origins of Mahabodhi Temple Replicas in Southeast Asia’, Nalanda-Sriwijaya Lecture Series, Singapore.

12 Shastri, K.A. Nilakanta (1941), ‘Nālandā’, Journal of the Madras University, XIII, No. 2, p. 173Google Scholar.

13 Asher, Frederick M. (2008), Bodh Gaya: A Monumental Legacy, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, pp. 14–15Google Scholar.

14 Shastri, ‘Nālandā’, p. 173. Nalanda disappeared from historical record until Alexander Cunningham, the inaugural director of the Archaeological Survey of India, reported in his maiden publication that in 1862 he identified the village of Baragaon in Bihar (Baṛagāṃv) as Nalanda. Here, Cunningham found red brick ruins on a site in excess of 14 hectares. See Cunningham, Alexander (1871), Four Reports Made During the Years, 1862–63–64–65, Government Central Press, Simla (Shimla), India, p. 28Google Scholar.

15 Faxian (法顯, circa 337–422), a Chinese Buddhist monk-scholar, mentions ‘Nala’—a site with a Buddhist stūpa assumed to have later become known as Nalanda—but does not give any details of it as a functioning monastery in the earliest of these accounts. This absence of detail may indicate, although not conclusively, that his visit pre-dated the major activities of the Nalanda Mahāvihāra. Later Chinese accounts note that the Chinese Emperor Wu Di of the Liang dynasty organized a delegation to Nalanda in 539 to collect Buddhist texts. After the return of the expedition, Nalanda's fame in China grew sufficiently to inspire several more Chinese monastics to make the long and hazardous journey to India.

16 Zang, Xuan (1884), Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World, trs. Beal, Samuel, Trübner's Oriental Series 1, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & CoGoogle Scholar.

17 Tsing, I (1896), A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (AD 671–695), trs. Takakusu, Junjiro, Oxford, Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar. The pinyin romanization of ‘I Tsing’ corresponds to Yijing.

18 Li, Hui (1914), The Life of Hiuen Tsian, trs. Beal, Samuel, Trübner's Oriental Series, London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & CoGoogle Scholar.

19 I Tsing, A Record of the Buddhist Religion, pp. 65, 154.

20 Hui Li, The Life of Hiuen Tsian, p. 112.

21 Shastri, Nālandā and its Epigraphic Material, p. 16.

22 Archaeological Survey of India (n.d.), pp. 7–8.

23 Xuan Zang, Si-Yu-Ki, p. 170.

24 Hui Li, The Life of Hiuen Tsian, p. 112.

25 Shastri, Nālandā and its Epigraphic Material, p. 18.

26 I Tsing, A Record of the Buddhist Religion, p. 145.

27 Shastri, Nālandā and its Epigraphic Material, p. 16.

28 I Tsing, A Record of the Buddhist Religion, p. 65. It is a commonplace that such figures should be considered approximate rather than literal; nevertheless, in the doubling of the number of villages said to support Nalanda, we may infer that the institution enjoyed increased support over the period of commentary.

29 Ministry of External Affairs India (2008), ‘On the Fourth Meeting of the Nalanda Mentor Group’, 12–13 August, New Delhi, <http://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/1926/On+the+Fourth+Meeting+of+the+Nalanda+Mentor+Group1213+August+2008+at+New+Delhi>, [accessed 22 March 2014].

30 Garten, ‘Really Old School’. Shreeya Sinha (2011), ‘Q & A: Nobel Prize Winning Economist Amartya Sen on Reviving Nalanda University’, <http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/qa-nobel-prize-winning-economist-amartya-sen-reviving-nalanda-university>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

31 Pilgrims’ places of origin include: Bactria (Balkh), now in Afghanistan; Tushara in northwestern South Asia (possibly latter-day Turkey); Tibet; Burma; Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan; China; and Korea. See Hui Li, The Life of Hiuen Tsian, pp. xvii–xxxi.

32 Shashi Tharoor (2006), ‘Reconstructing Nalanda: The Ideal Nalanda Must be More than an Exercise in Constructive Nostalgia’, Hindu Online Edition, 24 December.

33 Shastri, Nālandā and its Epigraphic Material, p. 16.

34 One very conspicuous point of difference between historical European universities and ancient Nalanda is the relationship between European students and their host communities. In comparison with the pious monastery of Nalanda, the earliest European universities were not housed in fixed locations but were dependent upon being granted space for lectures as well as student accommodation by townspeople. Animosities resulting from this arrangement gave rise to the infamous ‘town and gown’ encounters. In 1200, King Philip Augustus of France decreed that the students of the University of Paris were exempt from lay jurisdiction, providing a peculiar protection for the students, who were often at violent odds with the local townspeople. See Charles Homer Haskins (1957), The Rise of Universities, Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press (Great Seal Books), p. 15.

35 I Tsing, A Record of the Buddhist Religion, p. 65.

36 See Saaler, Sven and Szpilman, Christopher W. A. (eds) (2011), Pan-Asianism: A Documentary History, Plymouth, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers LimitedGoogle Scholar.

37 Okakura, Kakuzo (1904), The Ideals of the East: With Special Reference to the Art of Japan, New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., p. 10Google Scholar.

38 Nalanda University (2012), ‘Our Vision’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/abt-vision.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

39 Nalanda University, ‘Our Vision’.

40 Sabha, Rajya (2010), The Nalanda University Bill 2010 (Full Uncorrected Text), 21 August, New Delhi, pp. 36–38Google Scholar.

41 Nalanda University (2012), ‘Chairman's Message’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/abt-chairman-msg.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

42 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan (2007), ‘Chairman's Statement of the 2nd East Asia Summit’, 15 January, Cebu, Philippines, <http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/eas/state0701.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

43 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2007), ‘Chairman's Statement of the 3rd East Asia Summit’, 21 November, Singapore, <http://www.aseansec.org/21127.htm>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

44 The Nalanda Mentor Group, established by the government of India and chaired by Amartya Sen had its inaugural meeting in Singapore in July 2007. In November 2011, the Group was converted to the Nalanda University Governing Board, with the following members and affiliations: Amartya Sen (Harvard University); George Yeo (ex-foreign minister of Singapore); N. K. Singh (Rajya Sabha member of parliament); Professor Wang Gungwu (National University of Singapore); Wang Bangwei (Beijing University); Susumu Nakanishi (emeritus, Kyoto City University of Arts); Sugata Bose (Harvard University); Prapod Assavavirulhakarn (Chulalongkorn University); Tansen Sen (City University of New York); Lord Meghnad Desai (London School of Economics); Gopa Sabharwal (vice chancellor, Nalanda University); and Sanjay Singh (secretary, (East) Ministry of External Affairs). The Board's international membership covers many bases, with representatives connected to India, Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Nalanda University (2012), ‘Board’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/board.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

45 East Asia Summit (2009), ‘Joint Press Statement of the 4th East Asia Summit on the Revival of Nalanda University’, 15th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, Cha-am, Hua Hin, Thailand, <http://www.aseansec.org/23619.htm>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

46 Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan (2010), ‘Chairman's Statement of the 5th East Asia Summit (EAS)’, 30 October, Ha Noi, Viet Nam, <http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/eas/pdfs/state101030.pdf>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

47 Ministry of External Affairs India (2011), ‘Statement by PM at the 6th East Asia Summit Plenary Session’, 19 November, Bali, Indonesia, <http://www.mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?6974/Statement+by+PM+at+the+6th+East+Asia+Summit+Plenary+Session>, [accessed 10 March 2014].

48 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Government of Australia, Canberra, Australia, <http://www.dfat.gov.au/asean/eas/121120_7th_eas_chairman_statement.html>, [accessed 8 March 2014].

49 Nalanda University, Press Release, 11 October 2013, <http://www.nalandauniv.edu.in/8eas.pdf>, [accessed 8 March 2014]; Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi, India, <http://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/22367>m [accessed 8 March 2014].

50 East Asia Summit, ‘Joint Press Statement’.

51 Nalanda University, ‘Chairman's Message’.

52 All citations of Dharmapāla are from ‘The World's Debt to the Buddha’, read at the Chicago Parliament of Religions, and cited in McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, New York, Oxford University Press, p. 20Google Scholar.

53 Tommy Koh (2010), ‘Toward the Realisation of an East Asian Community’, New Asia Republic, 29 March.

54 Nalanda University (2012), ‘Dr. A. P. J Kalam's Message’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/abt-kalam-msg.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

55 Nalanda University (2012), ‘Schools’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/school.html>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

56 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2010), ‘Chairman's Statement of the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers Informal Consultations’, 21 July, Ha Noi, Viet Nam, <http://www.aseansec.org/24914.htm>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

57 Nalanda University (2012), ‘Home’, <http://nalandauniv.edu.in/>, [accessed 19 January 2014].

58 East Asia Summit, ‘Joint Press Statement’.

59 Koh, ‘Toward the Realisation of an East Asian Community’.

60 Memorandum of Understanding on the Establishment of Nalanda University, Prime Minister of India, Press Releases, New Delhi, India, <http://pmindia.gov.in/press-details.php?nodeid=1733>, [accessed 10 March 2014].

61 Jaffrelot, Christophe (2003), ‘India's Look East Policy: An Asianist Strategy in Perspective’, India Review, 2, 2, p. 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

62 The now-classic work of George Cœdès advanced a reading of Southeast Asia as culturally underwritten by Indic civilization, based on his early identification of the historical links between South and Southeast Asia. Since Nehru's era, the interpretation of a pervasive Indic influence has been challenged as being far less dominant than was argued by Cœdès, especially from Southeast Asian perspectives. See Cœdès, George (1968), The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, University of Malaya Press, pp. 33–35; 252–56Google Scholar.

63 Jaffrelot, ‘India's Look East Policy’, p. 61. Also see Bayly, Susan (2004), ‘Imagining “Greater India”: French and Indian Visions of Colonialism in the Indic Mode’, Modern Asian Studies, 38, 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

64 N. Ravi (2010), ‘Look East Policy—Millennia Apart’, The Hindu, 7 October 2010.

65 S. D. Muni (2010), ‘Nalanda: A Soft Power Project’, Hindu Online, 30 August.

66 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, pp. 18–19.

67 Translation from Hindi by the author; Lok Sabha (2010), The Nalanda University Bill 2010 (Full Uncorrected Text), 26 August, Government of India, New Delhi, pp. 630–35.

68 All three of these terms must be understood as carrying a much greater semantic weight than that suggested here, as each inhabits a vast range of contexts in Indic literatures, ranging by time and subject matter.

69 Translation from Sanskrit by the author; Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 12. This phrase is used as the school motto of numerous institutions in India, including the Banasthali Vidyapith in Rajasthan and the Birla Institute of Technology in Jharkhand.

70 Translation from Sanskrit by the author; ‘vidyayā amṛtam aśnute’—Banaras Hindu University (2011), ‘Seal’, <http://www.bhu.ac.in/seal.htm>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

71 Based on Jois’s diction elsewhere in his address, ‘character’ corresponds to the concept of śila, listed among the Buddhist ‘perfections’ and trenchantly associated in modern (Southeast) Asian history with the five moral principles outlined at the Bandung Conference of Unaligned Nations in 1955. Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 59.

72 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 20.

73 Translation from Hindi by the author; Lok Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, pp. 658–59.

74 Ravi, ‘Look East Policy’.

75 See Nehru, Jawaharlal (1961), The Discovery of India, Bombay, Asia Publishing House, pp. 138, 151, 192–200Google Scholar.

76 For example, Vivekānanda, in his 1893 address to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, described his religion as ‘the mother of all religions’, saying, ‘I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.’ Swami Vivekānanda (1893), ‘Address to the World Parliament of Religions’, World Parliament of Religions, Chicago.

77 Government of India (2011), ‘List of Deemed Universities’, Department of Higher Education, <http://www.ugc.ac.in/deemeduniversity.aspx>, [accessed 22 March 2014]. With conversion to university status, institutes often adopt an English word such as academy, institute, centre, or university. Of all the deemed universities listed, none retain the designation ‘madrasa’ in their present official English name, although it may remain in the Indian language version. However, the term ‘madrasa’ in India has the oldest link to modern (colonial) education: the first British-established institute of higher learning in India was a madrasa. Established by Warren Hastings in 1780, the institute was known officially as the Aliya Madrasah and also the ‘Calcutta Madrasah’; it is now designated as ‘Aliya University’ in English (and Āliyā Viśvavidyālaya in Bengali) since converting to university status in 2007. Additionally, primary schools in India are often known as pāṭhśālā or ‘house of lessons’.

78 The term ‘university’ (universitas) was first used at the University of Bologna, Italy, believed to have been founded in 1088. See Università di Bologna (2011), ‘A.D. 1088: La Rivista Dell’università Di Bologna’, <http://www.unibo.it/Portale/Ateneo/AD1088.htm>, [accessed 21 January 2014]. The next two European institutions of comparable antiquity are the universities of Oxford (circa 1096) and Paris (circa 1170). Together, these three institutions hold pride of place as the first and oldest modern universities in Europe. Oxford's year of founding is not recorded but the university notes that teaching in some capacity occurred from 1096; its student intake grew significantly from 1167, when Henry II prohibited Englishmen from studying abroad. The University of Paris was also established some time in the mid-eleventh century, first as a cathedral school and then as a university, some time around 1200. For full details, see l’Université de Paris (2011), ‘Avant L’université De Paris: L’enseignement Supérieur En Europe Dans L’antiquité Et Au Moyen Âge’, <http://www.univ-paris1.fr/universite/presentation/historique/avant-luniversite-de-paris/>, [accessed 21 January 2014], University of Oxford (2011), ‘A Brief History of the University’, <http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/introducing_oxford/a_brief_history_of_the_university/index.html>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

79 Rajya Sabha (2010), Synopsis of Debate: Nalanda University Bill, 21 August, New Delhi. p. 362.

80 Tilak Maharasthra Vidyapeeth (2010), ‘About Us’, <http://www.tmv.edu.in/aboutus.asp>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

81 Its curriculum was based on Gandhian principles, its medium of instruction was primarily Hindi, and its aim was complete autonomy from the colonial government of the time. Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith (2011), ‘History of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith’, <http://www.mgkvp.ac.in/>, [accessed 21 January 2014]. A third institution founded on similar principles was the Kashi Vidyapith, created as an answer to the establishment of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1916 (also in Varanasi, by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya). This institution was founded as a ‘modern’ residential university and was associated with the British, the Congress Party (Annie Besant), and the early use of English-medium instruction.

82 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 13.

83 Viswanathan, Gauri (1989), Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India, New York, Columbia University Press, p. 146Google Scholar.

84 Sabharwal, Gopa (2011), The Nalanda University: Past, Present and Prospects, Nalanda Sriwijaya Centre, Singapore, p. 7Google Scholar.

85 Viswanathan, Masks of Conquest, p. 146.

86 ‘Objectives of the university: (1) To promote the study of the Hindu Shastras and of Sanskrit literature generally as a means of preserving and popularizing for the benefit of the Hindus in particular and of the world at large in general, the best thought and culture of the Hindus and all that was good and great in the ancient civilization of India; (2) to promote learning and research generally in Arts and Sciences in all branches; (3) to advance and diffuse such scientific, technical and professional knowledge, combined with the necessary practical training as is best calculated to help in promoting indigenous industries and in developing the material resources of the country; and (4) to promote the building up of character in youth by religion and ethics as an integral part of education.’ Banaras Hindu University (2011), ‘Objectives of the University’, <http://www.bhu.ac.in/aboutbhu/obj.html>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

87 <http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/religion.aspx>, [accessed 18 April 2014].

88 Ambedkar developed a neo-Buddhist creed that included distinctive vows for converts, such as disavowing faith in Hindu deities, caste, and class injustice. See Bhim Rao Ambedkar (1956), ‘Twenty-Two Vows’, <http://www.ambedkar.org/impdocs/22Vows.htm>, [accessed 21 January 2014]. The Nagpur site of the conversion is now revered as dīkṣabhūmi, (‘teaching ground’).

89 Census data was not collected by the government of India for ‘Other Backward Classes’ in 2001 as the definition of this category is both dynamic and controversial. Estimates range hugely, from between 30 and 50 per cent of the Indian population, depending on factors such as the inclusion of non-Hindus in the total percentage. For more details on this issue, see the Annual Report of the National Commission for Backward Classes: <http://ncbc.nic.in/Pdf/annual.pdf>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

90 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 26.

91 Given the backdrop of an (approximately) 80 per cent Hindu majority in a secular republic, many members of parliament affirm a ‘secular’ definition of Nalanda in the Bill alongside its Buddhist one, including Shrimati Preneet Kaur, the minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, responsible for proposing the Bill. Many other members speaking on the Nalanda Bill use these terms alongside one another, indicating a harmony of meaning between the ‘Buddhist’ and ‘secular’ that would be unusual outside of the context of India.

92 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 360.

93 Rajya Sabha, The Nalanda University Bill 2010, p. 366.

94 Constitution of Cambodia (1993) Article 43, ‘Buddhism shall be the religion of the State Kingdom of Cambodia’, The Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, <http://cambodia.ohchr.org/klc_pages/KLC_files/section_001/section_01_01_ENG.pdf >, [accessed 21 January 2014].

95 The Economist (2010), ‘Ivory Pagodas: An Ancient Pan-Asian University Might Yet Open Again’, 2 September.

96 ‘India and China, being each other's neighbour, have a shared interest in the stability, prosperity and security of the wider region. They agreed to intensify their dialogue on various aspects pertaining to this region and work together on realizing their common goals. The two sides believed that as members of the Asian family, stronger neighbourly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation between India and China help foster a peaceful and stable regional environment that promotes equality, mutual trust and mutual respect.’ Ministry of External Affairs India (2010), ‘Joint Communiqué of the Republic of India and the People's Republic of China’, 16 December, <http://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/5158/Joint+Communiqu+of+the+Republic+of+India+and+the+Peoples+Republic+of+China>, [acessed 22 March 2014].

97 Ministry of External Affairs India (2010), ‘Written Reply to Lok Sabha Question: Nalanda University Bill’, Press Information Bureau-Government of India, <http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=64617>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

98 However, a new area of Sino-Indian tension emerged in August 2011 which threatened to overshadow the donation. Chinese media reports indicated that a Hong Kong-based group, believed to be linked closely with the Chinese government, had signed an agreement with UNIDO, the UN's industrial-development organization, for a proposed a three-billion dollar project to develop Lumbini, Nepal, a site revered as the Buddha's birthplace. It is presently unclear whether this initiative will be pursued. See The Economist (2011), ‘A Bizarre Project in Nepal—at Buddha's Birthplace: A Chinese Development Proposal Causes Disbelief’, 20 August.

99 Prime Minister of Australia Press Office (2010), ‘Prime Minister Attends East Asia Summit in Hanoi’, 31 October, <http://pmtranscripts.dpmc.gov.au/browse.php?did=17447>, [accessed 22 March 2014].

100 See <http://pmindia.gov.in/press-details.php?nodeid=1401>, [accessed 22 March 2014].

101 See <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Nalanda-Universitys-academic-session-to-start-in-September-Amaratya-Sen/articleshow/28608507.cms>, [accessed 22 March 2014].

102 Sinha ‘Q & A’.

103 Anand Mohan Sahay (2008), ‘Brickbats Not Bouquets for Kalam in Nalanda’, Rediff India, Patna, 8 February. Before becoming chief minister, Kumar was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nalanda constituency in 2004.

104 BBC (2010), ‘Q & A: India's Commonwealth Games Crisis’, 22 September.

105 Aarti Dhar (2011), ‘Bureaucratic Hurdles Delaying Nalanda Varsity: Amartya Sen’, The Hindu, 8 October; Sinha ‘Q & A’.

106 The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has confirmed this curriculum for Nalanda's seven founding schools: Historical Studies; Ecology and Environment Studies; Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religion; Languages and Literature; International Relations and Peace Studies; Information Sciences and Technology; Business Management in relation to Public Policy and Development Studies. See <http://www.nalandauniv.edu.in/schools.html>, [accessed 22 March 2014]. Also see Iftikhar Gilani (2011), ‘A Scam in the Name of Reviving Nalanda Heritage’, Tehelka, New Delhi. The Bihar Times regularly publishes ad hominen remarks about Amartya Sen: see, for example, Bihar Times (2012), ‘Kalam's Letter Bared Truth About Nalanda University’, Patna, 17 June.

107 Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2011–2012), <http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011–2012/top-400.html>, [accessed 21 January 2014].

108 South Asian University (2012), ‘About the University’, <http://www.southasianuniversity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=128>, accessed 20 January 2014].

109 Facilities are sponsored by nearly every Buddhist country: the first Burmese rest house was established in Bodh Gaya in 1877; the current Burmese Vihāra was established in 1936; the Thai Monastery was constructed in 1966; the Japanese rest house was formally opened in 1970, although Japan has liberally supported the Mahabodhi society since the nineteenth century—Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko visited Bodhgaya in 1960. For full details on this history, see David Geary (2009), ‘Destination Enlightenment: Buddhism and the Global Bazaar in Bodh Gaya, Bihar’, PhD thesis, University of British Columbia.

110 Tipitaka Chanting Council (2011), ‘Mission’, <http://www.tipitakachantingcouncil.org/index.php/2013-11-11-03-12-15/mission>, [accessed 22 March 2014].