Monday, December 25, 2006

Nalanda


It looks like the plans for an International University at Nalanda are gaining momentum. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent visit to Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and he agreed to explore this idea. Some 700 acres are being acquired by the Bihar government.

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Sidebar links:

Wikipedia entry on Nalanda.

Shunya's blog post about his recent visit to Nalanda. He also has some amazing pictures.

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Shashi Tharoor writes in the Hindu:

... Rebuilding Nalanda must be more than an exercise in constructive nostalgia. It must involve a new level of ambition, or it will be a futile exercise. ...

... If we are to rebuild it 800 years later, we will need not just money but the will to excellence, not just a physical plant but a determined spirit. A great university is the finest advertisement for the society that sustains it. If we recreate Nalanda, it must be as a university worthy of the name — and we must be a society worthy of a 21st-century Nalanda.

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