This perception is an add-on to the other such ‘social common sense’ that Muslim invaders destroyed the Hindu Temples and spread Islam by force. Incidentally the propagation of these understandings began with the introduction of communal historiography by the British and later picked up with big gusto by the communal streams, Muslim communalism and Hindu Communalism. While the propagation of myths propagated by Muslim League against Hindus is playing havoc in Pakistan, in India it is RSS which has played this up, leading to Hate against Muslims in our society to the extent that Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had to write this about RSS, “All their speeches were full of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison in order to enthuse the Hindus and organize for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji.”

When Modi was mouthing that Nalanda was burnt by foreign invaders, this falls in the same category of falsehoods which are used to spread the Hatred against Muslims. Nalanda had a glorious residential University, spread out in a large area in Rajgir Bihar, built by Gupta’s in the sixth century. It was a Buddhist centre as Archaeological evidence shows. Primarily it was for study of Buddhist philosophy, in addition Brahminical scriptures, mathematics, logic and health science were also taught. Its tradition of open discussion and logic were so high that it attracted students and scholars from various destinations. It was supported by the Kings, later with the coming of Pala and Senaa dynasty its patronage was reduced and withdrawn. Patronage was redirected to new Universities, like Odantpuri and Vikramshila in particular.

This was the beginning of the decline of Nalanda. Who set fire to the great library housing millions of books, Manuscripts and rare collections? While it is being attributed to Khilji, particularly after the coming of the British, there is no single primary source mentioning this. Khilji’s primary goal was to loot and plunder. On route from Ayodhya to Bengal he did attack Kila-i-Bihar thinking this is a forte with wealth. On the way he plundered wealth and killed people. Nalanda was not on the route, rather far away from the route, and he had no reason to attack a university. Most of the primary sources related to history of that time do not mention Khilaji coming to Nalanda. Tabakat-a-Nasiri written by Minhaj-e-Siraj has no mention on these lines. Two Tibetan Scholars, Dharmaswamin and Sumpa were keenly studying the history of India, particularly related to Buddhism, in their books also; Khilji is not mentioned as the one who either came to Nalanda or burnt it. Taranath, another well-known Buddhist scholar from Tibet also does not mention any such fact.

Interestingly Buddhist structures of importance like Ajanta, Ellora, and Sanchi stupa were also not the subject of ire of ‘invaders!’ Nor do the Indian historians Jadunath Sarkar and R C Majumdar endorse Nalanda being destroyed by Khilji. So how it got burnt and lost its historical importance. Many stories abound apart from the Khilji destroying it, being most prevalent.

Prof. D. N. Jha, the authority on Ancient Indian History in his essay, ‘Responding to a communalist’ in compilation of his essays (Against the Grain, Manohar 2020, pp 185 onwards) gives an excellent summary of the relevant part of the book ‘History of Buddhism in Indian’ by Tibetan monk Taranath. “During the consecration ceremony of the Temple built by Kakutsiddha at Nalendra [Nalanda] ‘the young naughty Shamans threw slops at tirthika beggars (Brahmins, added) … Angered by this one of them went for arranging livelihood and the other sat in the deep pit and engaged himself in ‘Surya Sadhana) …He performed a sacrifice and scattered the charmed ashes all around which resulted in the miraculous fire.”

History of Indian Logic p. 516, cited by D R Patil, ‘The Antiquarian Remnant’ in Bihar says that this incidence refers to the actual scuffle between Buddhist and Brahmanical mendicants. The latter propitiated the Sun God, performed a sacrifice and threw the living ambers and ashes from the sacrificial pit to Buddhist temples. This is what led to the burning of the great collection of books at that time.

We also need to register that this was a period when the attacks against Buddhism were coming up as the resurgence of Brahmanism was coming up in a big way. After the period of Ashoka when India became Buddhist in large measure, the notions of equality ruled in a big way. Due to this the Brahamanical rituals declined leading to a big dissatisfaction among Brahimins. A bit later when Ashoka’s grandson Brihdrath was ruling, his commander-in-chief Pushyamitra Shung murdered Brihdrath and became the ruler unleashing an anti-Buddhist persecution.

All reliable sources point to the fact of Brahmins burning the library as revenge. Bringing in Bakhtiar Khilji fits into the general Islamophobic propaganda against Muslims and at the same time hides the true story of persecution of Buddhism during that period.

What we need to preserve from the Buddhist period is a spirit of free debate and logic as the underlying base of education. In present times our universities are being stifled by the imposition of a culture of obedience and subordination in the matters of academia. The knowledge cannot be imbibed or developed under such conditions. If we can learn this from the tragic history of the struggle between Buddhism and Brahmanism in India, it will be a crucial aspect of the development of academia in the country.

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PTI reports that “The circumstances under which the leadership change in Nalanda university has been suddenly and summarily effected is disturbing and possibly harmful to the university’s development,” he said in a statement to the members of the earlier board of the university.
 
The board was reconstituted by President Pranab Mukherjee as its visitor on November 21 which severed Sen’s nearly a decade-long association with the institution after the government reconstituted the governing body of the prestigious institution.
 
“It is puzzling why I, as Chancellor, was not even given notice of it. When I was invited to take over the responsibility from Amartya Sen last year, I was repeatedly assured that the university would have autonomy. This appears not to be the case now.

ये भी पढ़ें: मोदी की आलोचना की तो नहीं मिली अमर्त्य सेन को नालंदा विश्वविद्यालय में जगह
 
“Accordingly, and with deep sadness, I have submitted my letter of resignation as Chancellor to the Visitor,” Yeo said.
 
Sources said the President, in his capacity as the visitor of the university, approved the reconstitution of the governing board in accordance with provisions of the Nalanda University Act, 2010.
 
He also approved giving temporary charge of Vice Chancellor to senior-most Dean of the university as the current VC Gopa Sabharwal’s one year extension expired yesterday. It will be a stop-gap measure until the new Vice Chancellor is appointed.
 
The new governing board will be a 14-member body which will be chaired by the chancellor. It will also comprise vice-chancellor, along with five members nominated by India, China, Australia, Laos PDR and Thailand.
 
Former revenue secretary N K Singh, who was also member of the Nalanda Mentors Group, will represent India.

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उन्हें 2007 में मनमोहन सरकार द्वारा नालंदा यूनिवर्सिटी का पुनः प्रवर्तन करने के बाद नालंदा मेंटर ग्रुप (NMG) का सदस्य बनाया गया था। सेन के अलावा हॉवर्ड के पूर्व प्रोफेसर और टीएमसी सांसद सुगता बोस और यूके के अर्थशास्त्री मेघनाथ देसाई को भी नए बोर्ड में जगह नहीं मिली है। वे दोनों भी NMG के सदस्य थे।
 
इंडियन एक्सप्रेस को जानकारी मिली है कि साथ ही साथ नए बोर्ड का भी गठन हो गया है। नए बोर्ड में चांसलर, वाइस चांसलर और पांच सदस्य होंगे। ये पांच सदस्य भारत, चीन, ऑस्ट्रेलिया, लाउस पीडीआर और थाईलैंड के होंगे। बोर्ड को तीन साल तक अधिकतम वित्त सहायता भी प्रदान की जाती है। 
 
सूत्रों से पता चला है कि भारत की तरफ से पूर्व नौकरशाह एन के सिंह को चुना गया है। वह भाजपा सदस्य और बिहार से राज्यसभा सांसद भी हैं। उनके अलावा केंद्र सरकार द्वारा तीन और नामों को दिया गया है। उनमें प्रोफेसर अरविंद शर्मा (धार्मिक अध्ययन संकाय, मैकगिल विश्वविद्यालय, कनाडा), प्रोफेसर लोकश चंद्रा (अध्यक्ष, भारतीय सांस्कृतिक संबंध परिषद) और डॉ अरविंद पनगढिया (वाइस चेयरमैन, नीति आयोग) के नाम शामिल हैं।

प्राप्त जानकारी के अनुसार प्रणब मुर्खजी ने नालंदा यूनिवर्सिटी के विजिटर की क्षमता से गर्वनिंग बॉडी के निर्माण की इजाजत दी थी। नालंदा विश्वविद्यालय (संशोधन) विधेयक 2013 को अगस्त 2013 में राज्यसभा के सामने लाया गया था।
 
जिसमें नालंदा विश्वविद्यालय अधिनियम 2010 के कुछ प्रावधानों में संशोधन करने को कहा गया था। लेकिन फिर लोकसभा चुनाव की वजह से उसपर काम नहीं हो पाया था। भाजपा के समर्थक और विधायक ने अमर्त्य सेन द्वारा मोदी के विरोध पर बहुत उग्र हो चुके हैं और उनकी बेटी को भी इस मामले में घसीट चुके हैं।

अमर्त्य सेन की बेटी नंदना सेन का मामला 
भाजपा के सांसद चन्दन मित्रा ने उस समय ट्वीट कर कहा था, कि अमर्त्य सेन से भारत रत्न छीन लेना चाहिए। सेन ने उस वक्त मोदी की आलोचना करते हुए कहा था कि एक हिन्दुस्तानी होने के नाते वह मोदी को प्रधानमंत्री के पद पर नहीं देखना चाहेंगे।  विवाद बढ़ा तो वीजेपी ने खुद को चंदन मित्रा से तब खुद को अलग कर लिया था। लेकिन यह हमला सिर्फ चंदन मित्रा तक ही सीमित नहीं था, यह आगे और भी बढ़ा और बीजेपी समर्थकों ने अपनी सारी हदें पार कर दीं। 
 
अमर्त्य सेन पर हमला यही नहीं रुका उनकी बेटी को भी बीजेपी समर्थकों ने सोशल मीडिया पर खिंचा। फेसबुक पर मोदी समर्थकों ने नंदना की टॉपलेस तस्वीर के साथ सेन की तस्वीर लगाईं और बहुत गालियाँ दी। इस तस्वीर पर कैप्शन लिखा था, अमर्त्य सेन साहब आप अपनी बेटी और अपना घर संभाल लीजिए, वही बहुत होगा आपके लिए।
 
इसके आगे लिखा गया कि देश और मोदी पर निर्णय लेने के लिए भारत के नागरिक बहुत हैं। हमें किसी भी विदेशी नागरिकता प्राप्त सठियाये बुड्ढे की सलाह नहीं चाहिए। बेटी तो संभाली नही जाती बात करते हैं मोदी की। सूत्रों कि माने तो अमर्त्य सेन को नहीं लेने की एक बड़ी वजह उनका मोदी विरोध है। 
 
इनपुट जनसत्ता से भी।

Courtesy: National Dastak

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