Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the Nalanda University in 1194, or did he...?

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Bakhtiyar Khilji destroyed the Nalanda university in 1194, or did he?


(For references, please refer to the endnotes at the end of the article)


 1193 and the advent of Mohammad Ghor, Qutbuddin Aibak and Bakhtiyar Khilji

Mohammad of Ghor came to India in 1193 and laid the foundation of Islamic rule in India. He defeated the ruler of the Chauhan kingdom- Prithviraj III, a king who ruled over a vast part of North India that included Delhi.

And it is Delhi which, for generations to come, would now become the seat of any power that would come to rule India.

                                                
Image source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5f/48/95/5f48957d41446bc1177e235b65fda814.jpg


While Bakhtiyar Khilji, one of Mohammad’s generals went further east from Delhi and conquered Bengal and Bihar, Aibak, Mohammad’s slave, was put in charge of Delhi and Ghor went back to quell a rebellion in his home kingdom.

                                             
             Bakhtiyar Khilji . Image source: https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/navbharatgold/thumb/msid-79281557,width-1200,height-630,imgsize-1136852,resizemode-6/we-the-people/how-bakhtiyar-khilji-died-and-why-bakhtiyar-khilji-destroyed-nalanda-university.jpg



            Mohammad Ghori. Image source: https://www.tutorialathome.in/postimg/2018/06/muhammad-ghori-01.jpg


 

The Nalanda University

The Nalanda University, in Magadha (present day Bihar) was established around the 5th century AD. A residential university, it had almost 800 teachers and 10,000 students from Tibet, China and other places around the world.  [i]  However , the  Chinese traveller, It’Sing, who came here around the end of the 5th century mentioned the university then housing 2000 students . He also mentioned  that it had the revenue of 200 villages assigned to it, [ii] naturally making it quite wealthy.

Though a Buddhist university, the teachers were well equipped in teaching secular subjects like architecture, logic, grammar, etc.

                                             
 Ruins of the Nalanda University. Image source : https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Nalanda_University_ruins.JPG

 

Bakhtiyar Khilji and the destruction of Nalanda.

Since the university was already quite rich, it is but  natural that it would have been fortified. In fact, excavations completed in 2008 have found various fortifications near the Nalanda University. [iii]

Therefore, when Bakhtiyar Khilji would have arrived here in 1200AD, a man unaware of India and its customs, the building would have looked more like a fort to him. And this is what Minhaj Siraj, a historian in the court of Aibak’s descendants writes.

“When they reached the gate of the fortress” he says, “they began to attack”. And later, he says “There were a great number of books there” “On becoming acquainted (with the contents of the books), it was found that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindui tongue, they call a college Bihar”[iv]

The above-mentioned sentences clearly show that Nalanda was not destroyed for the sole purpose of it being a university. Of course, even if one keeps aside the fact that the word “Nalanda” is not explicitly mentioned and Siraj is simply describing the destruction of a building with books in Bihar, the hostility toward Khilji  lays emphasis on the recent disturbing trend of judging the past actions of people in the comfort of the present.

While Bakhtiyar Khilji did destroy Nalanda, one must remember that this was typical of the power play that plagued medieval times like  when the Marathas destroyed a Hindu temple in Mysore in the 18th century and Tipu Sultan repaired it.[v] It is only today that the various instances of the past are given a different color and actions of rulers like Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan are judged. 

History is… many things. It is something to be understood; past instances to be learnt from. History is also the gathering of knowledge of the past to be grateful for the present. But what it never is – is judgement of the past and its people. I would like to end with  one of my favorite quotes: 

 “Studying history will sometimes make you uncomfortable. Studying history will sometimes make you feel deeply upset. Studying history will sometimes make you feel extremely angry. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you probably aren't studying history” [vi]

 

 

 

 

 

 


[i] https://nalandauniv.edu.in/about-nalanda/history-and-revival/

[ii] https://mrunal.org/2014/09/diplomacy-nalanda-university-india.html

[iii] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/bihar-s-history-project-60-villages-linked-to-nalanda-university-identified/374871/

[iv] https://kafila.online/2014/07/09/how-history-was-unmade-at-nalanda-d-n-jha/

[v] https://sabrangindia.in/article/awkward-moment-tipu-sultan-restored-hindu-temple-marathas-sacked

[vi] https://twitter.com/libshipwreck

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