Nalanda - by Abhay K (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Much about the renowned monastery of Nalanda remains shrouded in mystery. When was it founded, and by whom? Who studied and taught there? What subjects were explored? How many students and teachers once walked its halls? Was Nalanda truly a university in the modern sense? And what led to its eventual downfall?

In Nalanda, Abhay K. unravels these enduring questions, tracing the rise, fall, and revival of this legendary seat of learning. Drawing on extensive research, he highlights Nalanda's extraordinary contributions across diverse fields, including science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, art, architecture, translation, poetry, script, grammar, and religion.

The book also delves into the lives of the great luminaries who shaped Nalanda's unparalleled reputation and the foreign scholars who journeyed from distant lands to study at its celebrated monastery. Sweeping in scope and rich in detail, Nalanda offers a captivating narrative that illuminates the millennia-long legacy of one of the world's greatest centers of knowledge.

About the Author

Abhay K. is the author of twelve poetry books, including Celestial, Stray Poems, Monsoon, The Magic of Madagascar, and The Alphabets of Latin America. He has also edited several acclaimed anthologies, such as The Book of Bihari Literature, The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, Capitals, New Brazilian Poems, and The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems.

His poems have been published in over a hundred literary magazines, including Poetry Salzburg Review and Asia Literary Review. His renowned "Earth Anthem" has been translated into more than 160 languages. Abhay received the SAARC Literary Award in 2013 and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

His translations of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara from Sanskrit earned him the KLF Poetry Book of the Year Award (2020-21). He also translated the Magahi novel Fool Bahadur, published by Penguin Random House India. Beyond poetry, his paintings on the Buddhist philosophy of "Sunyata" have been exhibited at the Bihar Museum in Patna.