Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the new campus of Nalanda University in Rajgir, Bihar. The newly inaugurated campus is spread over about 455 acres and is very close to the ancient ruins of Nalanda University. The contemporary university commenced operations in 2014 at a provisional site with an initial cohort of 14 students, and construction began in 2017. The new campus is a Net Zero Green Campus, designed to be self-sustaining with solar power installations, domestic and drinking water treatment facilities, a water recycling plant for reusing wastewater. 100 acres of water bodies, and numerous other eco-friendly amenities.
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Understanding the Importance of Nalanda University
Nalanda University, a Buddhist monastic university, was founded in 427 CF by emperor Kumaragupta and is considered to be the world’s first residential university.
It was a well known learning centre and thousands of students from around the world studied different subjects like science, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy.
Nalanda University was established 500 years before Oxford University and Europe’s oldest university, Bologna. It was also home to around nine million books.
In the 1190g, the university was destroyed by a troop of invaders led by Turko-Afghan military general Bakhtiyar Khilji. The campus was so vast that the fire set on by the attackers is said to have burned for three months!
The archaeological remains of Nalanda are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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