The great monastic university of Magadha, the greatest of the old mahaviharas, whose granted villages, copying halls, bronze workshops and libraries (the Dharmaganja of the campaign board) still stand on 1 January 1200 but are no longer what they were: the Pala kings who endowed it are gone, the Sena line is far east, and no king patronises it with force.
English Wikipedia says Bakhtiyar Khalji "demolished the monastery in a brutal sacking" at the end of the twelfth century, while D.N. Jha and Namit Arora argue that Nalanda may not have been destroyed by him; Minhaj's account of a sack at "Bihar" describes Odantapuri. When Dharmasvamin visits in 1234 to 1236 he finds Nalanda largely damaged and deserted with about seventy monks.
Who holds it
- Name
- not named for 1200 (Rahula Sribhadra, about 90 when Dharmasvamin meets him in 1234 to 1236, would be a senior monk of about fifty-five in 1200: an inference)
- Title
- Abbot and council of the monks of Nalanda
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
What it holds
- The granted villages (board: the Nalanda estate)
- The libraries and the copying halls
- The bronze workshops
How it was acquired
Pala-era grants over centuries.
Allies and rivals
The Pithipati at Bodh Gaya, the Pala-line king at Gaya, the monks of Odantapuri and Vikramashila.
How things stand that morning
Standing in decline, with a reduced community, a library and workshops; the raid on Bihar is two years away on one reading, three on another, or just past on the careful modern reading.
Wealth
The estate villages; no figures.
Military
None; the gates keep out thieves, not armies.
Threats
- Bakhtiyar Khalji's raids (1197 to 1206)
- Loss of patrons
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- Working reading for play: after 1 January 1200, between 1200 and 1203, so not yet done when the game opens (the campaign sets the year). Readings: 1197 to 1206, careful modern 1199-1200, others 1203Bakhtiyar's raiding reaches Bihar and the monasteries; whether Nalanda itself is sacked is disputed.Depends on: The Ghurid captain rides again. Stopped by: A relief force or Aibak's recall.
Places of note
- Nalanda: The mahavihara.
Where the sources disagree
- The brief asks for the state on 1 January 1200: standing, in decline, or abandoned. We say standing in decline.
- The campaign board entry nalanda-mahavihara is "contested", as is the Dharmaganja library: the legend of a library burning for months is later.
Evidence: Wikipedia (Nalanda, Bakhtiyar), Dharmasvamin by report; the sack is disputed.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A small disc for the house and its home villages; the granted villages lay scattered.
Primary sources for Magadha and Anga
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Nasirean Generations (a general history of the Muslim dynasties), Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (completed 1260 at Delhi). The fullest narrative of the Ghurid conquest of northern India. Read online
- The Nasirid Generations: a General History of the Muslim Dynasties, Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani (1259 to 1260, at Delhi). The Ghurid court's own history, by a man born in 1193 whose family served the sultans of Ghur and Ghazna. Read online
- Inscriptions of Bengal, vol. 3, Various (the Sena kings' chanceries), edited by N. G. Majumdar (copper plates of the 10th to early 13th centuries; edited 1929). The one-volume edition of the Sena copper plates, the main documentary evidence for Bengal around 1200. Read online
- Epigraphia Indica: inscriptions of the Chandelas, Paramaras, Gahadavalas, Chaulukyas, Senas and Eastern Gangas, Various (edited for the Archaeological Survey of India by J. Burgess, E. Hultzsch, F. Kielhorn, Sten Konow, F. W. Thomas and successors) (inscriptions of the 1180s to 1210s; the series ran from 1892). The main record series for the Hindu kingdoms of northern India around 1200. Read online
- The History of India as Told by its Own Historians: the Muhammadan Period, vol. 2, Various (Ibn al-Athir, Hasan Nizami, Awfi, Juzjani and others), edited by H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (the sources date from the 1190s to the 14th century; the collection was published in 1869). A one-volume anthology of the Arabic and Persian accounts of the Ghurid conquest. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.