15/01/2025
Ancient Telhara University was a competitor to Nalanda University. Chinese travellers Hiuen Tsang and Itsing have mentioned in their travel accounts about Telhara University as a seat of higher research. Archaeologist Cunningham, who discovered a group of six mounds and inscriptions at this site, termed the region as Telyadhaka or Teladhaka.
It was a three-storeyed university with a prayer hall and a platform to accommodate over 1,000 students/monks. These buildings consisted of court-yards, three-storeyed pavilions, towers, gates, etc. At this site Cunningham discovered a mosque, the roof of which was made up of huge slabs of stone resting on stone beams. Materials used for building the mosque were remains of a temple.
During excavation work, the ASI team stumbled upon a 1.5-foot-thick layer of ash. This suggests that the Telhara University was destr0yed and brnt like Nalanda and Vikramshila Universities. Complete details about this ancient university described in Chapter 10 in 'VishwaGuru Bharat: Echoes of the Ancients' (link: https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0CMCQ5B7G/) along with details of more ancient universities and gurukulams in the same chapter.
- Manoshi Sinha; Image source: Google.
From the Facebook wall of MyIndiaMyGlory page.
