An archaeologist has taken up the cudgels to make a documentary on the ancient Nalanda University, the ruins of which were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site earlier this year.

The project, being shepherded by K.K. Muhammed, assumes significance since no authentic film or documentary is available on the ancient seat of learning.

Muhammed has roped in experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Bihar archaeology department to make the documentary which will target both the national and international audience by focusing on the glorious past of Nalanda and providing more-than-commonly available information.

Filming will begin in March next year with the help of a team led by cinematographer Shaheen Muhammed.

"It (Nalanda) was the first university in the world, functioning seven centuries before the Oxford, Paris and Cambridge universities came into existence. Its fame and greatness could be gauged from the fact that it attracted students from Southeast Asia to China, Central Asia and West Asia in those days. Yet there is no authentic and appealing film or documentary to cater to the international audience. We will try to address this," Muhammed told The Telegraph.

Muhammed, who retired as a regional director of ASI and is currently project archaeological director at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, added that the findings of archaeologists and historians will be combined for this purpose.

"We will strive to show how Nalanda University was made, the way it functioned, its connections with Buddhist, non-Buddhist kingdoms and foreign countries. It hosted 10,000 students, including 252 from outside India, and 1,500 teachers at its peak. A king of Sumatra had donated four villages to the university," Muhammed said.

Nalanda University flourished between the 5th and 13th centuries AD. Its decline started after it was ransacked by Qutbuddin Aibak's general Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji towards the end of the 12th century AD. The ruins were systematically excavated in the 20th century.

Archaeologist Muhammed, known for discovering the Ibadatkhana where Emperor Akbar instituted a composite religion Din-e-Ilahi at Fatehpur Sikri and several excavation and conservation works across the country, wants to incorporate various episodes of the university's past which is not known to the people. "There is reference of a 90-year-old teacher, Rahul Shilbhadra, a witness of the second wave of attack on the university. He was unable to walk due to old age. Altogether 70 students were left and he asked them to flee without worrying about his life as he had lived it fully. However, the students did not leave him behind. They carried him away on their shoulders," said Muhammed, adding that several such anecdotes will be part of the documentary.

Emphasis will also be paid on the last days of the university as there is confusion over the dates and the sequence of events.

"Evidence suggests that the first attack on Nalanda was by Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1198 and not in 1193, as mentioned in some textbooks. The university was plundered, but survived. The second wave of attack was led by an unidentified general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Shamsuddin Iltutmish in 1230 AD after which it was lost," Muhammed said.