Patna, Sept. 2: The modern Nalanda University started its innings yesterday amid much fanfare even as its predecessor missed the deadline for submission of proposal to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to gain the World Heritage stamp.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which was supposed to submit the draft nomination dossier, seeking World Heritage tag for the ruins, to the ministry of culture by Monday, failed to do so. Sources claimed that a lot of formalities for finalising the dossier are incomplete.
Once the ministry of culture receives the dossier, it would send a formal application along with it to Unesco, seeking inclusion of Nalanda ruins in the coveted list of World Heritage sites. The inclusion would put the ruins of the ancient university on the global tourist map and ensure its upkeep according to certain norms. Thirty sites in India, including Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, enjoy this status at present.
The Telegraph, through a report titled “Cloud on UN heritage tag- Nalanda dossier set to miss September 1 deadline” in issue dated August 15, had highlighted the laggard poser on the submission of the dossier.
A senior official at the ASI’s New Delhi headquarters claimed that the nomination dossier was likely to be submitted anytime during this month. ASI additional director-general B.R. Mani today told The Telegraph over phone: “The ASI could not submit the nomination dossier for ancient Nalanda by Monday. However, I must add that the September 1 deadline for submitting the dossier to the ministry of culture was an internal issue. The ministry of culture’s final deadline for submission of the dossier for the Nalanda ruins to the Unesco’s World Heritage Centre is February 1, 2015. We are in the process of finalising the same. The ASI intends to submit the dossier to the ministry of culture anytime during this month.”
M.S. Chauhan, the superintending archaeologist in ASI’s Patna circle, said: “The ASI headquarters is preparing the nomination dossier for the Nalanda University ruins and the Patna circle is providing whatever details are sought from us.”
Historians have lashed out at the ASI for delaying the preparation of the dossier for ancient Nalanda. “I do not understand the reason behind such delay. For preparing the dossier, the ASI has to do documentation work only as all requisite research and excavations have already been completed. This reflects ASI’s lack of focus. They must explain the delay,” said Deepak Anand, a Nalanda-based historian.
The Nalanda University ruins are primarily an archaeological site exposed during the excavations conducted by the ASI during 1915-37 and 1974-82. An inscribed seal written “Sri-Nalandamahavihariy-Arya-Bhikshu-Sanghasya” identifies the site as Nalanda Mahavihara.
According to records with the ASI, there are references that the city was spread over an area of 16sqkm. The extensive remains are of six brick temples and 11 monasteries arranged on a systematic layout. Various subjects like theology, sabda-vidya (grammar), hetu-vidya (logic), astronomy, metaphysics, chikitsa-vidya (medicine) and philosophy were taught here.
The end came in 1193 when Ikhtiyaruddin Mohammed Bin Bakhtyar Khilji, a general of Qutbuddun Aibak, sacked the university and set it on fire, apparently, as legend has it, mistaking it for a fort.
