Another
trip from Rajgir is to Nalanda. This small village and its surrounding area
have numerous associations with the Buddha and his disciples. Sailo 3
kilometres south-west of Nalanda is where the Buddha met and converted Maha
Kassapa, the man who was later to become his successor. A large statue of
Kassapa with an inscription on it was found in the village in the early
1900's but unfortunately its whereabouts is now unknown. The village of Kul
some 1.5 kilometres south-east of Nalanda is the Kolita of old and the
birthplace of Moggalana, the second of the Buddha's two chief disciples.
Nalanda itself was often visited by the Buddha during his numerous sojourns
through Magadha and he taught several important discourses there. History
In about the 5th century B.C. a monastic university was established at Nalanda that was eventually to develop into the greatest ancient centre of Buddhist learning. Students from China and Korea, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and from all the regions of India came to Nalanda to study. When Hiuen Tsiang was studying at Nalanda in the 7th century there were 1510 teachers and 8500 students. The Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvamin was here in 1234 and has left an a gripping account of the monastery's destruction by the Muslims.

Opposite the entrance to the ruins of the university and houses, it
has a small but beautiful collection of Buddhist and Hindu bronzes
and a number of undamaged statues of the Lord Buddha that were found
in the area. Two enormous terracotta Jars of the first century stand
intact behind the museum in a shaded enclosure. The collection
includes copper plates and stone inscriptions, coins, pottery and
samples of burnt rice (12th century AD) found among the ruins here