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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Write a short essay on: “Nalanda Mahavihara”

  • UPSC 1997
  • Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas

Nalanda matters to the historian of the Gupta and post-Gupta age not merely as a monastery but as evidence of how thoroughly the period's intellectual culture had been institutionalised — turned into a residential university with an international reach unmatched by any other centre of its time.

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What the full answer covers

  • Foundation and Patronage
  • Physical and Institutional Character
  • Curriculum and International Character
  • Decline and Rediscovery

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