Two of ancient India's most famous centres of learning: Takshashila (Taxila) in the north-west, active from about the 6th century BCE, and Nalanda in Bihar, a residential Buddhist monastic university that flourished from the 5th to the 12th centuries CE.
- Takshashila was a renowned seat of learning before the universities, associated with subjects like medicine, the Vedas, and statecraft; Kautilya (Chanakya) and the physician Jivaka are traditionally linked to it.
- Nalanda was a mahavihara (great monastery-university) patronised by the Guptas (Kumaragupta I is credited with its founding) and later by Harsha and the Palas; it taught Buddhist philosophy, logic, medicine, and other subjects.
- The Chinese pilgrims Hsuan Tsang (Xuanzang) and I-tsing studied and described Nalanda in the 7th century; Hsuan Tsang visited during Harsha's reign.
- Nalanda was destroyed around 1193 CE by the forces of Bakhtiyar Khalji; its ruins in Bihar are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Other ancient centres include Vikramashila and Odantapuri (Bihar, Pala patronage) and Vallabhi (Gujarat).
Centre-to-location and centre-to-patron matching (Nalanda under the Guptas and Palas), the Hsuan Tsang and I-tsing visits, and the destruction by Bakhtiyar Khalji are recurring facts.
Takshashila (north-west, pre-university seat of learning) versus Nalanda (Bihar, a formal residential university); Fa-Hien (Gupta) did not describe Nalanda, but Hsuan Tsang (Harsha's time) did.
Takshashila in the north-west and Nalanda in Bihar; Nalanda a Gupta-Pala Buddhist university, described by Hsuan Tsang, destroyed around 1193 CE.