Nava Nalanda Mahavihara

Records Available In: English, Hindi, Pali, Tibetan, German, French

Nalanda Mahavihara was a great seat of Buddhist education between the 5th to 12th centuries. Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of Independent India had declared that the ancient seat of Buddhist learning at Nalanda should be revived which culminated in the establishment of the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. The total strength of the NNM Library collection is 60,000 books including a number of xylographic Tibetan manuscripts and some rare manuscripts along with gratis books. It is pertinent to note that the library has enriched its collection by getting the personal libraries of renowned Buddhist scholars like Dr. R.B. Mukherjee, Dr. Nalinkash Dutta, Dr. Nathmal Tatia, Prof. C.S. Upasak, Prof. Krishna Narayan Prasad Magadh, Prof. Siyaram Tiwari, Prof. D.K. Barua etc. which is the special feature of the NNM Library. Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Japan and South Korea donated complete sets of the Tipitaka published in their respective scripts and other miscellaneous works to the Mahavihara. A complete set of the Chinese Buddhist Text was presented by the People’s Republic of China. A complete set of Kanjur and Tanjur donated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a complete set of the Tibetan Tripitaka (Peking edition) with its catalogue, Derge and Lhasa editions of Kanjur and Derge as well as S-Nar-thang editions of Tanjur are also invaluable treasures in the library of the Mahavihara.