Odantapuri University

1.1 What kind of place was it?

Odantapuri was a Buddhist monastery and centre of learning in eastern India. Scholars call such a large teaching monastery a mahavihara, meaning “great monastery”. It is also spelt Uddandapura.

It stood in what is now the state of Bihar. Britannica identifies it with modern Bihar Sharif, a town in Bihar. Treasury of Lives says it is believed to be the second oldest monastic university of India, near Nalanda.

1.2 Who founded it?

Britannica names Gopala as its founder. He was the first ruler of the Pala dynasty, a line of kings in eastern India. He built it, Britannica says, in the same spirit as nearby Nalanda.

A 2021 research paper also dates its founding to the 8th century and names Gopala, the first Pala emperor.

The Tibetan monk-historian Taranatha was less sure. He says it was built during the time of “this Gopala or Devapala”. So the old sources do not agree on the king. Gopala is still the usual answer.

1.3 What is the legend of its gold?

Taranatha tells a legend about how it was paid for. A Buddhist lay follower, called an upasaka, helped a yogi in a risky ritual with a corpse. The corpse turned into gold. The upasaka used that gold to build the great monastery.

Taranatha says the name Odanta means “flying”. A footnote in the translation says the real name was probably Udandapuri. Treat the gold story as legend, not history.

2.1 How many people lived there?

Taranatha says a thousand monks lived at Odantapuri all the time. Both Hinayana and Mahayana monks lived there. Sometimes twelve thousand monks gathered for special offerings. Treasury of Lives repeats the figure of up to twelve thousand students at its height. These are traditional numbers, not a head-count.

2.2 How did it rank among its neighbours?

Treasury of Lives calls it the second oldest monastic university in India. Nalanda was the oldest. For several centuries Odantapuri was part of a network of great monasteries in eastern India. The others were Nalanda, Vikramashila, Somapura and Jagaddala. Britannica says Odantapuri fell into decline in the 11th century.

2.3 Why do we still not know exactly where it stood?

No dig has yet proved the site. Bihar Sharif is the best guess, but the 2021 paper calls the evidence “tenuous”. Little exploration has been done there. The best evidence is its old name, Bihar, which Cunningham read as the ancient name of that town. Chattopadhyaya’s note records this.

In 2021, two scholars used satellite images and photogrammetry. This means measuring shapes from photographs. They found a large buried structure under Begampur village, close to Nalanda. It measures about 400 m by 450 m.

Dating of bricks from part of the site suggests they may be as old as Odantapuri. The authors say only a careful dig can confirm it.

3.1 What is the Samye link?

Samye is Tibet’s first monastery. Tibet is the high region north of India.

Treasury of Lives says it is believed to have been built as a picture of Mount Meru. Its model was the temple of Odantapuri. Treasury of Lives adds that Odantapuri “served as the physical model” for Samye. Britannica says several Tibetan scholars studied at Odantapuri.

3.2 Who built Samye, and when?

King Tri Songdetsen invited the Indian scholar Santarakshita to set it up. Legend says Padmasambhava was called in to tame local spirits that blocked the work. Treasury of Lives says it was likely completed in 775 and inaugurated in 779.

The dates are disputed. The Tibetan historian Buton gives 787 to 799. The Tang Annals say 763. Because the sources differ, exam answers should say “8th century” unless the question gives a source.

3.3 Why does this matter?

Samye hosted a great debate in about 797. Tibetan and Chinese sources say it set Indian Buddhist views against Chinese ones. The Indian view prevailed. So a model from a Bihar monastery stood at the start of Tibet’s organised Buddhism.

4.1 Why was a monastery mistaken for a fort?

Taranatha says that in the time of the Sena kings, a king turned Odantapuri and Vikramashila partly into fortresses. He also posted soldiers there. This was to guard against Persian-speaking raiders. A monastery with defences could look like a fort to an attacker.

4.2 What does the Persian chronicle say?

A chronicle is an old record of events written in time order. This one is Minhaj-i-Siraj’s Tabakat-i-Nasiri, written in Persian.

The chronicle says Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar attacked a fortress in Bihar with two hundred horsemen. They took it and won great booty. Most of the people inside were shaven-headed. Minhaj called them Brahmans, and all were killed.

The attackers then found many books. They sent for Hindus to explain them, but all were dead. They learnt that the fortress and city was a college. Minhaj says the Hindu word for a college is “Bihar”.

4.3 Is the chronicle talking about Odantapuri?

In the account of the attack, the chronicle never says “Odantapuri”. It says “Bihar”.

Chattopadhyaya argues that Bihar was the ancient town of Uddandapura. He cites Cunningham for this.

He also reads the shaven-headed “Brahmans” as Buddhist monks. So most historians link the account to Odantapuri, but the link is an inference.

The same chronicle lists “Adwand-Bihar” among the conquests of Shihab-ud-din Ghori. A note in the Taranatha translation reads this as a corrupt form of Odantapuri-vihara. That is the nearest the chronicle comes to the name, and it rests on the note-writer’s reading.

Taranatha tells a matching story. Turkic rulers ran over Magadha and killed many monks at Odantapuri. They destroyed it and Vikramashila. Britannica gives the date as about 1200.

4.4 What is the exam trap?

The library-burning story is often told about Nalanda. Minhaj does not name Nalanda. Britannica says Nalanda was probably destroyed around 1200 too. Be careful when a question says “the chronicle names”. The chronicle names only “Bihar”.