प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

126 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [Ch.
tery, founded by king Dharmapāla in the 8th century,
was a famous centre of international learning for more
than four centuries. King Dharmapāla (c. 775-
800 A. D.) was its founder; he built temples and
monasteries at the place and liberally endowed them.
He also erected several halls for the lecturing work.
His successors continued to patronise the University
down to the 13th century.¹ The monks of the
establishment were usually distinguished scholars and
the fame of the monastery soon spread beyond the
Himalayas. There was continuous intercourse going
on between Tibet and Vikramaśīlā for four centuries.
A special guest house was maintained for the use of
Tibetan scholars coming to learn at the feet of Indian
Pandits.² One cannot help admiring the continuous
tradition of high scholarship that was maintained at
Vikramaśīlā throughout its history. Tibetan sources
inform us that Buddha, Jñānapāda, Vairochana,
Rakshita, Jetārī Ratnākara-Śānti, Jñāna-śrī-mitra,
Ratnavajra, Abhayankaragupta, Tathāgata-rakshita
and a host of other Vikramaśīlā scholars wrote
numerous books in Sanskrit and translated scores
of them in Tibetan. The most distinguished in this
galaxy of Vikramaśīlā scholars was undoubtedly
Dīpaṅkara Śrī-Jñāna, more commonly known as
Upādhyāya Atīśa, who flourished in the 11th century
A.D. He went to Tibet at the invitation of its king
Chan Chūb and played an important part in the
reformation of the Buddhism of that country. As
many as 200 books, both original and in translation,
have been attributed to him by the Tibetan tradition.³

1. Bose, Indian Teachers, pp. 30 ff.
2. Das, Indian Pandits in the Land of Snow, p. 58.
3. Bose, Indian Teachers, pp. 32-105.