Nalanda Mahavihara

Nalanda Mahavihara was located in the region of present-day Nalanda district in Bihar, north-eastern India. The term mahavihara means a great monastery. Nalanda was a Buddhist religious institution as well as a place of organized study and teaching. The UNESCO World Heritage record distinguishes the long archaeological history of the site, whose remains span from around the third century BCE to the thirteenth century CE, from the major scholastic establishment that developed there from about the fifth century CE. This distinction reflects the site's growth across many generations rather than a single founding moment.

The surviving complex includes viharas, or residential and educational buildings, along with stupas, shrines, temples and smaller votive structures. The excavated remains show a planned layout, with buildings arranged along a north–south axis. UNESCO describes the protected property as covering 23 hectares and containing remains of 11 viharas and 14 temples. Stucco, stone and metal artworks found at the site record changes in artistic practice and Buddhist traditions. The Archaeological Survey of India excavated and conserved the remains in the early twentieth century.

Nalanda became an influential centre of Buddhist learning in South Asia. Historical accounts by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims Xuanzang and Yijing provide evidence about the community and the subjects studied there. Xuanzang visited during the seventh-century reign of Harshavardhana; Nalanda continued to flourish under the Pala dynasty from the eighth to the twelfth centuries. Its residential arrangements, teaching practices and architectural forms influenced later monastic institutions in South and Southeast Asia. Because the evidence comes from archaeological remains and written accounts produced in different periods, details of Nalanda's earliest history are not all equally certain.

Nalanda ceased to function as an institution in the thirteenth century. The UNESCO record describes the site as abandoned after a sack in that century, while accounts of the precise events and causes are less certain than the broad chronology. Its ruins preserve evidence of a long-lived educational and religious community and of architectural forms adopted by later institutions. In 2016 the World Heritage Committee inscribed the Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its architectural and historical significance.