प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

V] EDUCATIONAL CENTRES AND INSTITUTIONS 119 as a centre of learning. During the short interval of thirty years between the visits of Yuan Chwang and I-tsing, Thon-mi, Hiuen Chiu, Taou-hi, Hwui-nieh, Āryavarman, Buddhadharma, Taou-sing, Tang and Hwui Lu, hailing from distant countries like China, Korea, Tibet and Tokhara had visited Nālandā and spent considerable time there in studying and copying manuscripts.¹ The standard of admission was naturally high; 'of those from abroad, who wished to enter the schools of discussion, the majority, beaten by the difficulties of the problems, withdrew; and those who were deeply versed in old and modern learning were admitted, only two or three out of ten succeeding²'. Library Facilities: The Nālandā authorities had realised that a monastery without a library was like a castle without an armoury. The University was maintaining a splendid library to meet the needs of the hundreds of teachers and thousands of students that were engaged in the study of different sciences. One of the reasons why Chinese scholars used to spend months together at Nālandā was to get true copies of the sacred texts and other works of Buddhism. I-tsing got copied at Nālandā 400 Sanskrit works amounting to 5,00,000 verses. Significantly enough the library quarter was known as Dharma-gañja 'Mart of Religion.' It was located in three splendid buildings appropriately called Ratna-sāgara, Ratnodadhi and Ratnarañjaka.⁴ Lecturing Arrangement; Strength of Classes: In the monk population of about 5,000 (perhaps 10,000) 1 Life, Introduction, pp. XXVII-XXXVI 2. Watters, II, p. 165 3. I-tsing, p. 1 4. Vidyabhushana, History of Indian Logic, p. 516