1. Odantapura

“Nalanda was an old establishment – functioning over two centuries as a Mahavihara –when Gopala, founder of the Pala dynasty, built the new city of Odantapura in Magadha, the thought was perhaps in his mind that it should grow to be a centre of Buddhist learning like Nalanda of the Guptas. So he founded a Mahavihara here within walking distance of Nalanda – only six miles off … Its complete layout and structure, it must have been in existence, newly-built, some time in the earlier half of the eighth century.  The first Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Sam-Yas in Tibet was built on its model in 749 CE”.

“If the Sam-Yas Monastery was really built on its model, some idea may be inferred of the grand and elaborate architectural plan of the original from its Tibetan replica”.

“The Sam-Yas Monastery itself fell into ruins centuries ago, but even in 1874 when Pandit Nain Singh, one of Waddell’s collaborators in his explorations in Tibet, resided for some time in the ruins, parts of the original buildings still remained. His description of the remains is retold by Waddell:

‘The monastery, which contains a large temple, four large colleges, and several other buildings, is enclosed by a lofty circular wall about a mile and a half in circumference, with gates facing the cardinal points, and along the top of the wall are many votive brick chaityas, of which the explorer, Nain Singh, counted 1,030, and they seemed to be covered with inscriptions in ancient Indian characters. In the centre of the enclosure stands the assembly hall, with radiating cloisters leading to four chapels, facing at equal distances the four sides of the larger temple … the idols and images contained in these temples are of pure gold, richly ornamented with valuable cloths and jewels. The candlesticks and vessels are nearly all made of gold and silver”. And on the temple walls are many large inscriptions in Chinese and ancient Indian characters. In the vestibule of the main temple, to the left of the door, is a colossal copy of the pictorial Wheel of Life’”.

Until today, basic design principles and lay-out of Sam-Yas monastery is then copied, adapted and used as blue-prints to develop most if not all of the Tibetan monastic universities in Tibet, and today, in India. These fully functioning monastic universities are really a living replica of the monasteries which started in India many centuries ago.

2. Vikramashila

“The site of Vikramashila is said to be somewhere ‘east of Magadha’ on the lower course of the Gangga, which may be anywhere on the river’s long multi-channelled course through the plains of Bengal and Bihar”.

“This old prestige of Nalanda seems to have devolved on Vikramashila in the Pala age. In Tibetan records it holds about the same position of pre-eminence as is accorded in Chinese records to Nalanda … In the absence of identifiable remains, we have to depend on evidence on the traditions recorded in Tibetan records. Vikramashila in its flourishing period was well-known to the Tibetans; it attracted scholars and visitors from Tibet; there was interaction between Vikramashila and Tibetan Buddhist centres. Hence Tibetan traditions about the mahavihara have some claim to authenticity”.

“These traditions agree about its location on a hill on the bank of the Ganga. Sumpa describes it as a mahavihara with a surrounding wall which is said to have been built by one Buddhajnana-pratisthta; outside this circuit wall and probably set all round it were 107 temples; within the enclosure were fifty-eight ‘samsthas’ (institutions) in which 108 panditas (professors) lived”.

“The gate-keeper of Nalanda, evidently a learned monk of high status, is designated as ‘men-che’ in the Chinese records, and of Vikramashila as ‘go-srun’ in the Tibetan. The Chinese and the Tibetan expressions are synonymous. Nalanda had one gate, while Vikramashila had six gates, each ‘kept’ by a ‘go-srun’, Dvara-pala (Keeper of the gate) in Sanskrit. His function at Nalanda is reported in the Chinese records to have been to judge the qualifications of persons intending to join one of its ‘schools of discussion’”.

“In the time of King Canaka (955-983), the gate-keepers of Vikramashila in this period were: (1) Acharya Ratnakarashanti (of the Eastern Gate), (2) Vagishvarakirti (of the Western Gate), (3) Naropa (of the Northern Gate), (4) Prajnakaramati (of the Southern Gate), (5) Ratnavajra (of the first Central Gate), and (6) Jnanashrimitra (of the second Central Gate). They were all scholars of eminence whose works are recorded in the Tibetan “Tengyur …”

One of the famous upadhivarika/upadhyaya (director and academic head of the monastery) of Vikramashila was Acharya Dipamkara Shrijnana.

After studying in Suvarnadvipa for 12 years, at the age of 44, Dipamkara returned to India. His activities in India for about fifteen years between his return and his departure to Tibet were centred in some of the monasteries of the time: Nalanda, Odantapuri, Somapuri, Jagaddala and others. Then King Nayapala of Magadha invited Dipamkara to become the Director of the Vikramashila Mahavihara. Here he lived and worked, and, while working, he received repeated invitations to come to Tibet to promote the cause of Buddhism in that country. Initially he agreed to go to Tibet only for 3 years, but his stay was extended for 13 years until his death in 1054.

3. Somapura

Dharmapala Mahavihara of Somapura is located in the province of Pundravardhana in northern India.

4. Jagaddala

Mahavihara Jagaddala is located in northern Bengal in an area known as Varendra. It became a resort of scholars of Tantric Buddhism.

Source: Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India – Their History and Their Contribution to Indian Culture (1962) by Sukumar Dutt, Ph.D. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.