Adolescents and youth in India and abroad –

Adolescents and youth experience several negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes. 

Such as early and closely spaced pregnancy, unsafe abortions, STI, HIV/AIDS, and sexual violence at alarming scale.

One in every five woman aged 15–19 years experience child bearing before 17 years of age that are often closely spaced.

Risk of maternal mortality among adolescent mothers was twice as high as compared to mothers aged 25–39 years.

Importantly, adolescents and youth comprise 31 percent of AIDS burden in India.

Furthermore, multiple socioeconomic deprivations further increase the magnitude of health problems for adolescents. 

This limits their opportunity to learn and access the appropriate health care services.

The National AIDS Control Orginasation, India website says, “Most young people become sexually active during adolescence.

In the absence of right guidance and information at this stage they are more likely to have multi-partner unprotected sex with high risk behavior groups… “.

With increasing exposure to television and internet sex education does not imply teaching kids about sex.

That knowledge they will pick up anyway.

But for many proponents of sex education it definitely means teaching them about what safe, healthy and acceptable sexual behavior is.

If we were to go by the data published by WHO, sex education should be imparted to children who are 12 years and above.

It has also been seen that it is the age group of 12 to 19 years that counts for some 34% of the HIV infected persons in the world.

Recent literature on adolescents have documented that irrespective of being relatively healthy period of life, adolescents often engage in the range of risky and adventurous behaviors.

That might influence their quality of health and probability of survival in both short and long term over the life course.

These includes early pregnancy, unsafe abortions, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV, and sexual abuse and violence.

Pregnancy related problems comprise a leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15–19 years, mainly due to unsafe abortions and pregnancy complications.

However, the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and youth are poorly understood and grossly under appreciated.

Owing to limitation of scientific evidence compounded with the unpreparedness of public health system, which may jeopardize the initiatives to advance the health and well-being of adolescents.

The WHO report (2003) on family life, reproductive health and population education documented that promotion of family life/sex education has resulted in delayed age of entering into sexual relationship, reduced number of partners, increased use of safer sex and contraception, and other positive behaviour.

It was further noted that sex education in schools did not encourage young people to have sex at earlier age.

Rather it delays the start of sexual activity and encourages young people to have safer sex.

However, both the critiques and proponents of introducing family life/sex education in Indian schools propagate the analogous ideology of ‘sexual restraint’.

Delaying the initiation of sexual activity among adolescents before marriage, which may also help to curtail the menace of 

HIV/AIDS,

SEXUALLY transmitted diseases and 

Restrict the pace of Population Growth.

Nalanda University, 6th and Last Part, Excavations, monasteries, Temples..

                                                 Seal of Ancient Nalanda University.

Shantarakshita was a scholar of Nalanda, who pioneered the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century.

He was invited by the Tibetan king, Khurisron deutsang, and established the monastery at Samye.

Serving as its first abbot. He and his disciple Kamalashia (student of Nalanda) essentially taught Tibetans how to do philosophy. 

   

Padmasambhava who was also invited from Nalanda Mahavihara by the king in 747 AD, is credited as a founder of Tibetan Buddhism. 

The Nalanda student and scholar Dharmakarti AD 7th century   was one of the Buddhist founders of Indian  Philosophical Logic.

As well as one of the primary theorists of  Buddhist Atomism.    

Mahayana Buddhism followed in Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan, flourished within the walls of the ancient school. 

A number of scholars have associated some Mahayana texts such as the" Shurangama Sutra".

An important sutra in East Asian Buddhism, with the Buddhist tradition at Nalanda.  

Ron Epstein also notes that the general doctrinal position of the sutra does indeed correspond to what is known about the Buddhist teachings at Nalanda toward the end of the Gupta period when it was translated. 

Traditional sources state that Nalanda was visited by both Mahavira and the Buddha in BC 6th and 5th century.

It is also the place of birth and nirvana of  Sariputra , one of the famous disciples of Buddha.

• Aryabhatt       –  Great Astrologer
• Aryadev           -   student of Nagarjuna
• Atisha               -   Mahayana and Vajrayana scholar
• Chandrakirti    -    student of Nagarjuna
• Dharmkirti       -    logician
• Dharmpal         -    King of Pal Dynasty.
• Dignath             -    founder of Buddhist Logic
• Nagarjuna        -    formaliser of the concept of  Shunayata  or Zero 
• Naropa               -   student of  Tilopa and teacher of  Marpa
• Shilabhadra       -   Head Nalanda Visva Mahavihara – Vidalaya and teacher of Xuanzang
• Xuanzang  (also known as Hiuen Tsang) - Chinese Buddhist, scholar, traveler
• It – sing or Yijing – Chinese scholar, Nalanda student and traveler.

7. Excavations @ Nalanda -

In 19th century the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the  Archaeological Survey of India.

Systematic excavations commenced in 1915 which unearthed 11(eleven) monasteries and 6 (six) brick temples, which are neatly arranged in ordered layout on ground. 

In excavated ruins today it only occupies an area of around 1,600 feet (488 m) North to South and around 800 feet (244 m) East to West or roughly 12 hectares of area. Nalanda Mahavihara occupied a far greater area in medieval times. 

It was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. Nalanda had eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation halls and classrooms. On the grounds were lakes and parks .

A 100 ft (30 m) wide passage runs from north to south with the temples to its west and the monasteries to its east. 

A trove of sculptures, coins, seals, and inscriptions have also been discovered in the ruins many of which are on display in the Nalanda Archaeological Museum situated nearby.  

Most structures show evidence of multiple periods of construction with new buildings being raised atop the ruins of old ones. Many of the buildings also display signs of damage by fire on at least one occasion.

All the monasteries at Nalanda are very similar in layout and general appearance. 

Their plan involves a rectangular form with a central quadrangular court which is surrounded by a verandah which, in turn, is bounded by an outer row of cells for the monks. 

The central cell facing the entrance leading into the court is a shrine chamber.

 Its strategic position means that it would have been the first thing that drew the eye when entering the edifice. 

With the exception of those designated 1A and 1B, the monasteries all face west with drains emptying out in the east and staircases positioned in the south-west corner of the buildings. 

Monastery 1 is considered the oldest and the most important of the monastery group and shows as many as nine levels of construction. Its lower monastery is believed to be the one sponsored by Balaputradeva, the Srivijayan king, during the reign of Devapala in the 9th century. 

The building was originally at least 2 storey’s high and contained a colossal statue of a seated Buddha.

Numerous sculptures, murals, copper plates, inscriptions, seals, coins, plaques, potteries and works in stone, bronze, stucco and terracotta have been unearthed within the ruins of Nalanda. 

Surviving Nalanda manuscripts - 

Fleeing monks took some of the Nalanda manuscripts. A few of them have survived and are preserved in collections such as those at:

     Los Angeles County Museum of ART,

     Asia Society

 

Yarlung Museum,  Tsetang (From the On ke ru Lha khang monastery.

Present or Modern or New Nalanda Mahavihara - 

In 1951, the New Nalanda Mahavihara), a modern centre for Pali, Prakrit and Buddhism in the spirit of the ancient institution, was founded by the Government of Bihar, India near Nalanda's ruins. 

It was Deemed to be a University in 2006. 

September 1, 2014, saw the commencement of the first academic year of a modern Nalanda University, with 15 students, in nearby Rajgir.

 It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning.

 The university has acquired 455 acres of land for its campus and has been allotted ₹2727 crores (around $454M) by the Indian government.

 It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and others. 

This is not the end of the story of Nalanda. 

Even a book is not enough for it. Many books have written on it. My work is just a drop in the ocean of Nalanda. 

I have personally visited this place more than 20 times from my childhood.                 

                                                                            The End.

Nalanda University under Pal dynesty. Part - 5

The Pala dynasty established them in North-eastern India in the 8th century and reigned until the 12th century. 

Although they were a Buddhist dynasty, Buddhism in their time was a mixture of the Mahayana practiced in Nalanda and Vajrayana, a Tantra - influenced version of Mahayanist philosophy. 

Nalanda was a cultural legacy from the great age of  Guptas and it was prized and cherished.

The Palas were prolific builders and their rule oversaw the establishment of 4 (four) other Mahaviharas modeled on the Nalanda Mahavihara – 

1. Jagaddala       

       

2. Odantpuri     

               

3.  Somapura and     

                   

4.  Vikramshila respectively. 

Remarkably, Odantpuri was founded by Gopal, the progenitor of the royal line, only 6 miles (9.7 km) away from Nalanda. 

Dharmapal who founded the Mahavihara at Vikramashila, also appears to have been a benefactor of the ancient monastery in some form. 

 

It is however, Dharmapala's son, the 9th century emperor and founder of the Mahavihara at Somapura, Devpal, who appears to have been Nalanda's most distinguished patron in this age.

A number of metallic figures containing references to Devapala have been found  in its ruins as well as two notable inscriptions. 

The first, a Copper plate inscription unearthed at Nalanda, details an endowment by the Shailendra King, Balaputradev of Suvarnadvipa (Sumatra in modern-day Indonesia).  

This Srivijayan king, "attracted by the manifold excellences of Nalanda" had built a monastery there and had requested Devapala to grant the revenue of five villages for its upkeep, a request which was granted. 

 The Ghosharam  inscription is the other inscription from Devapala's time and it mentions that he received and patronised a learned Vedic scholar named Viradeva who was later elected the head of Nalanda. 

5 seats of learning during Palas are – 

1. Jagaddala,

2. Odantpuri            

        

3.  Somapura       

               

4.  Vikramshila and

5. Nalanda. 

These 5 (Five) different seats of Buddhist learning in eastern India formed a state-supervised network and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them. 

Each establishment had its own official seal with a Dharmchakra flanked by a deer on either side, a motif referring to Buddha's deer park sermon at Sarnath (Mahaparinirvana place of Buddha). 

Below this device was the name of the institution which in Nalanda's case) read, "Śrī-Nālandā-Mahāvihārīya-Ārya-Bhikṣusaḿghasya" which translates to "of the Community of Venerable Monks of the Great Monastery at Nalanda".

End of Nalanda - 

Nalanda was ransacked and destroyed by an invader army of the Muslim (Mamluk Dynasty)  under Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1200 AD.  

There is a small town near Nalanda known as ‘Bakhtiyarpur’ the place of Bakhtiyar Khilji.  

Bakhtiyar Khilji and his army camped at this place and burnt Nalanda Mahavihara.

It is said that during winter season the invaders army boiled their water to bath and day to day work from burning the books of the library of the Nalanda Mahavihara.

 It lasted for 6 months. One can see the burning signs even today.

Now Bakhtiyarpur’ is famous for its sweets and edibles. 

One type of sweet is known as “Khaja” It has 2 types one is Sweet and other is Salt very testy and light.