Top 9 Ancient Universities of India

 

India is home to yop ancient universities. Students from around the world came there and studied. Here is a list of 9 ancient universities of India that make their name on behalf of their education level. 

            

Nalanda University (425 AD – 1205 AD)

It was difficult to get accepted into Nalanda University; to be accepted as a student of well-known gurus, one needed to be very knowledgeable and skilled. 

Students from all over the world traveled to one of the most famous educational institutions in the world to study under the university's highly esteemed faculty members. 

Tibet, China, Korea, and Central Asia are among the top countries where students have come for education. Yijing claimed that even though there were up to 100 lectures held each day, students did not want to miss a single one of them. 

Takshashila (Taxila) University (600 BC – 500 AD)

Takshashila or Taxila, which is now a part of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was once regarded as India's intellectual center.

Because students used to travel from other countries, Takshashila evolved into a cultural melting pot. At Takshila, innumerable significant Indian scholars wrote their seminal works.

It is thought that Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra, an ancient Indian work on military and economic strategy, while he was a professor at Takshashila University. There, Maharishi Charak also wrote the medical book Charak Samhita.

Vikramshila University (800 AD – 1203 AD)

Another tremendous center of education was located in the Indian state of Magadha (now Bihar). The dominant intellectual pair of the time were Vikramshila and Nalanda.

In the eighth century, King Dharampala established Vikramshila University as a rival to Nalanda but also in cooperation with it. According to legend, this university's graduates effectively founded Tibet's culture and civilization. 

It was fashionable to study topics like Sanskrit language, logic, metaphysics, philosophy, Buddhist tantra, and ritualism.

Valabhi University in Gujarat  (600 AD – 1200 AD)

Valabhi University was a center of Buddhist learning between 600 and 1200 AD. That wisdom center in Gujarat was prominent for teaching secular subjects. Students were registered from all over the country. Like current campus placements, students of the ancient university were placed in high government offices after graduation. 

This ancient Indian seat of learning was located in Vallabh (present-day Bhavnagar) in the state of Gujarat in western India.

Nagarjuna Vidyapeeth (600 AD)

Nagarjuna Vidyapeeth University is named after a famous Buddhist philosopher, Nagarjuna Vidyapeeth. It was situated on the banks of the Krishna River in South India. According to Archaeological assurance, the university and its library flourished in the 7th century.

The enormous size of the collection is demonstrated by the fact that it contained works not only in Buddhist literature but also in various branches of scientific knowledge such as botany, geography, mineralogy, and medicine. 

It was a significant interest for scholars from other ancient Indian universities and other countries such as China, Burma, and Ceylon.

Mithila (Mythical to Medieval)

Mithila specializes in logic and science subjects. According to historian John Keay, the guarding of this information was so strict that students were not allowed to take out books or even copies of lectures. They could only leave with diplomas. 

 Mithila University's monopoly was broken by Nadia University, which also specialized in logic.

Ujjaini University

One university that stands out simply for its academic result in astronomy and mathematics is Ujjaini (also called Ujjain), which was equipped with a cosmopolitan observatory and was situated on the prime meridian of the meridian in those days. 

 Brahmagupta was one of the most famous astronomers of Ujjain University who continued the tradition of Varahamihira and made significant contributions to mathematics. 

Bhaskaracharya from Ujjain University is considered the founder of differential calculus, applying it centuries before Newton and Leibniz. He too had a great influence on Muslim mathematicians, just like the earlier Ujjain Acharyas.

Jagaddala University (1084 AD – 1207 AD)

Jagaddala Vihara in Varendrabhumi (present-day Bangladesh) was also a crucial center of education in the early 11th century. It was founded by King Kampala who ruled from 1084 to 1130 AD. 

 According to Tibetan works, it was located in Jagaddala, where many Sanskrit sacred texts were translated into Tibetan.

Kanthalloor University (1000 AD – 1300 AD)

 Known as the Nalanda of the South, the Kanthalloor Shala was formerly a  notorious center of knowledge, and due to the quality of education handed by this ancient university, it attracted scholars from other corridors of India and Sri Lanka.   

At Kanthalloor,  scholars tutored subjects similar to Vedas, Astrology, Chemistry, Goldsmithy, Medicine, Music, and indeed Atheism and Magic which until also were considered taboo in other universities.