The 17 Panditas of Nalanda
“The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni” is the only Buddhist monastery in the world that has on its grounds sculptures of the renowned scholars of Nalanda University — the great Teachers of Buddhism.
Starting today, we want to launch a series of educational posts about each of the 17 Panditas.
The faithful, making the circumambulation around the great circle of the khurul, encounter along the way statues of the 17 Panditas around the entire perimeter, which were placed in this location at the instruction of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
It is worth saying that these statues were created by Kalmyk sculptors: Vladimir Vaskin, Naran Eledzhiev, Nikolai Galushkin, while the casting of the statues was carried out by the master foundryman Sergei Korobeynikov, well known in Kalmykia. In his work he relied on a thangka of Namgyal Monastery, on which authentic depictions of the ancient philosophers have been preserved.
The word “pandita” means a wise and learned person. Historical chronicles say that more than 10 thousand monks studied at Nalanda University and more than one and a half thousand Panditas — scholars — lived there. They had a perfect command of all the fields of knowledge of that time. Of them, the most outstanding and renowned were the 17 Great Teachers, who wrote their own works, commentaries on the instructions of the Buddha. These works are a kind of textbook for monks who are traversing the path to Enlightenment in our time.
Today these sculptures are a reminder to us that all living beings can attain the state of a Buddha by studying the Dharma, reflecting on its meaning, and disciplining their mind.
Dear faithful, follow our publications. Next time, under the heading “The 17 Panditas of Nalanda,” we will tell you about Arya Nagarjuna. #kalmykia #17PanditasOfNalanda #buddhism
