Editing Academy (section)

====India====
[[Taxila (modern)|Taxila]] or [[Taxila (ancient)|Takshashila]], in ancient [[Hindustan|India]], modern-day Pakistan, was an early centre of learning, near present-day [[Islamabad]] in the city of [[Taxila (modern)|Taxila]]. It is considered one of the ancient universities of the world. According to scattered references which were only fixed a millennium later it may have dated back to at least the 5th century BC.<ref>Hartmut Scharfe (2002): ''Education in Ancient India'', Brill Academic Publishers, {{ISBN|90-04-12556-6}}, p. 141: {{blockquote|We have to be extremely cautious in dealing with the literary evidence, because much of the information offered in the secondary literature on Taxila is derived from the Jataka prose that was only fixed in Ceylon several hundred years after the events that it purports to describe, probably some time after Buddhaghosa, i.e. around A.D. 500.}}</ref> Some scholars date Takshashila's existence back to the 6th century BC.<ref name="Britannica Education">"History of Education", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2007.</ref> The school consisted of several monasteries without large dormitories or lecture halls where the religious instruction was most likely still provided on an individualistic basis.<ref>Hartmut Scharfe (2002): ''Education in Ancient India'', Brill Academic Publishers, {{ISBN|90-04-12556-6}}, p. 141</ref> Takshashila is described in some detail in later [[Jataka tales|Jātaka]] tales, written in Sri Lanka around the 5th century AD.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Marshall | first = John | author-link = John Marshall (archaeologist) | title = Taxila: Volume I | orig-year = 1951 | year = 1975 | publisher = [[Motilal Banarsidass]] | location = Delhi | page = 81}}</ref>

It became a noted centre of learning at least several centuries BC, and continued to attract students until the destruction of the city in the 5th century AD. Takshashila is perhaps best known because of its association with Chanakya. The famous [[treatise]] [[Arthashastra]] ([[Sanskrit]] for The knowledge of [[Economics]]) by Chanakya, is said to have been composed in Takshashila itself. Chanakya (or Kautilya),<ref>[http://britannica.com/eb/article-9044882 Kautilya]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110120535/http://britannica.com/eb/article-9044882 |date=2008-01-10 }}. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref> the [[Maurya Empire|Maurya]] Emperor [[Chandragupta Maurya|Chandragupta]]<ref>Radhakumud Mookerji (1941; 1960; reprint 1989). ''Chandragupta Maurya and His Times'' (p. 17). Motilal Banarsidass Publ. {{ISBN|81-208-0405-8}}.</ref> and the [[Ayurvedic]] healer [[Charaka]] studied at Taxila.<ref name=Mookerji>Radha Kumud Mookerji (2nd ed. 1951; reprint 1989). ''Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist'' (pp. 478–489). Motilal Banarsidass Publ. {{ISBN|81-208-0423-6}}.</ref>

Generally, a student entered Takshashila at the age of sixteen. The [[Vedas]] and the [[Eighteen Arts]], which included skills such as [[archery]], [[hunting]], and [[elephant]] lore, were taught, in addition to its [[law school]], [[medical school]], and school of [[military science]].<ref name=Mookerji/>

[[File:Nalanda University India ruins.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|[[Nalanda]], ancient center of higher learning in [[Bihar]], India,<ref name="Altekar1965">Altekar, Anant Sadashiv (1965). ''Education in Ancient India'', Sixth, Varanasi: Nand Kishore & Bros.</ref><ref name="New York Times">"[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/opinion/09garten.html Really Old School]", Garten, Jeffrey E. New York Times, 9 December 2006.</ref> from 427 to 1197]]

[[Nalanda]] was established in the 5th century AD in [[Bihar (India)|Bihar]], India.<ref name="Altekar1965"/> It was founded in 427 in northeastern India, not far from what is today the southern border of Nepal. It survived until 1197 when it was set upon, destroyed and burnt by the marauding forces of [[Ikhtiyar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji]]. It was devoted to Buddhist studies, but it also trained students in fine arts, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, politics and the art of war.<ref name="New York Times"/>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:The ancient university of Nalanda in Bihar, India, November 1996.jpg|thumb|Excavated ruins at [[Nalanda]], [[Bihar]], India 1996]] -->The center had eight separate compounds, 10 temples, meditation halls, classrooms, lakes and parks. It had a nine-story library where monks meticulously copied books and documents so that individual scholars could have their own collections. It had dormitories for students, perhaps a first for an educational institution, housing 10,000 students in the university's heyday and providing accommodation for 2,000 professors.<ref name="Nalanda">{{Cite web |url=http://nalanda.ind.in/index.html |title=Official website of Nalanda University |access-date=2018-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316100842/http://nalanda.ind.in/index.html |archive-date=2012-03-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Nalanda University attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.