There are times when your heart is heavy and your mind wanders away into centuries back in the past, conjuring images of what things could have been like in their heyday. A visit to the ruins of the Nalanda university was one such. Dating back to 6th Century B.C.E. Nalanda, along with universities like Takshashila, Vikramashila etc were the Oxfords and Princetons of those times which attracted students and scholars from all over the world to study Buddhist and Sanskrit texts. Nalanda was one such where Buddhist and Vedic/Sanskritic studies was pursued. The gigantic structures at Nalanda, the student dorms, the granary, the library, temples-- all stare back at you, standing as mute spectators to the grandeur that was! Till about 1197 when the place was ruthlessly vandalised, desecrated and burnt down remorselessly by Bakhtiyar Khilji. The place was set on fire and there were so many manuscripts that were housed that it supposedly burnt for 6 months! The burn marks on the bricks that ...