Roots of Indian Science: Part C – Ancient Indian Universities

A portion of the Mahavihara Ratnagiri (Picture: Creative Commons)

INDIA, April 18, 2018 (League of India by Jeethendra Kumar, P.K. and Prabhakar Sharma): Universities and institutions of higher learning existed in India much before in any other country of the world. In view of the flourishing education and general prosperity prevailing in India, it became a target for invaders who attacked scholars, destroyed institutions, demolished buildings, looted gold, silver, precious stones as well as valuables texts and writings.

The destruction of the universities at Nalanda, as well as of many temples and monasteries throughout India which housed centres of learning, is considered by many historians to be mainly responsible for the sudden demise of ancient Indian scientific thought in mathematics, astronomy, alchemy, and anatomy. When the rest of the world started advancing in science in the 17th century, India was on the back foot having lost everything including the scholars and treatises that contained a vast treasure of knowledge.

Histories of Universities at Takshashila (800-500BC), Varanasi (600BC-1200AD), Pushpagiri University (300BC-1100AD), Nalanda University (500-1200AD) and much, much more can be read at “source” above.

Source: Hinduism Today