Two former Buddhist monasteries located near the ancient city of Balk in Afghanistan
Nava Vihāra
Native name नवविहार
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Type
Buddhist monasteries
Location
Balkh, Ghor Province, Afghanistan
Built
Second century CE (possibly earlier)
Built by
Potentially founded by Kushan emperor Kaniska
Demolished
Damaged during various conflicts
The Nava Vihāra (Sanskrit: नवविहार "New Monastery", modern Nawbahār, Persian: نوبهار) were two Buddhist monasteries close to the ancient city of Balkh in northern Afghanistan. Historical accounts report it as flourishing as an important centre of Buddhism between the seventh and eleventh centuries CE. It may have been founded considerably earlier, perhaps in or after the reign of the Kushan emperor Kaniṣka, in the second century CE.[1][2][3]
^Historical reports referring to the monastery span from Xuanzang to Al Biruni.
^History of Buddhism and Islam in Afghanistan, Last accessed 03 Jan 2008
^van Bladel, Kevin (2011). "The Bactrian Background of the Barmakids". In Anna Akasoy and Charles Burnett and Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (ed.). Islam and Tibet Interactions along the Musk Routes. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 43–88. ISBN 978-0754669562.
The NavaVihāra (Sanskrit: नवविहार "New Monastery", modern Nawbahār, Persian: نوبهار) were two Buddhist monasteries close to the ancient city of Balkh...
translator of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures into the Chinese language. The NavaVihara monasteries, located near the ancient city of Balkh in northern Afghanistan...
Nava-Vihara but beheaded him for embracing Islam. As per another account, when Balkh was conquered by the Arabs, the head priest of the Nava-Vihara had...
for palaces that they were "as beautiful as a Nowbahar [NavaVihāra]." Further, at NavaVihāra and Bamiyan, Buddha images, particularly of Maitreya, the...
city (Balkh) where they enshrined them in a stupa by the city gate. See NavaVihara. Xuanzang recounts that theirs was the first ever Buddhist Stupa to be...
Edicts of Ashoka Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription Gandhara Kingdom NavaVihara Zabulistan Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent "Chinese Travelers...
captured the area around Balkh, including the Buddhist monastery at NavaVihara, causing the Shahis to retreat to the Kabul Valley. In the 8th century...
China. Henry Walter Bellew derived the name from the Sanskrit nava-vihara, meaning "nine viharas". The province was originally part of the Achaemenid Empire...
during the Arab conquest. NavaVihara continued to remain open according to historical accounts. Along with it, many other viharas evidently continued to...
ibn Muslim in 705. Among Balkh's Buddhist monasteries, the largest was NavaVihara, later Persianized to Naw Bahara after the Islamic conquest of Balkh...
were over a hundred Buddhist monasteries in the city, including the NavaVihara as well many stupas and monks. After the end of the Hephthalite empire...
different religions. Among Balkh's Buddhist monasteries, the largest was NavaVihara, later Persianized to Naw Bahara after the Islamic conquest of Balkh...
Pali term for a great vihāra (centre of learning or Buddhist monastery) and is used to describe a monastic complex of viharas. According to the early...
Kumar (1969). Viharas In Ancient India. Panth, Rabindra (2001). Nālandā-- Buddhism and the World: Golden Jubilee Volume (in Hindi). Nava Nalanda Mahavihara...
superintendent of works at the vihara of Kanishka in the monastery of Mahasena" ("dasa agisala nava-karmi ana*kaniskasa vihara mahasenasa sangharame"). However...
needed]. The most famous monument built by the Pala emperors was the Grand Vihara of Somapura, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Historians believe Somapura...
century was also found, in addition to a Sanskrit inscription, belonging to a vihara structure. This demonstrates that Buddhism at the site survived well until...
spent a year living in Penang, learned some Chinese, lived in a Chinese vihara, and published a collection of lectures. In 1936 he returned to Sri Lanka...
construction of the Luniga-vasahi temple on Mount Abu and the Vastupala-vihara on Girnar. Vastupala and his brother Tejapala were born to a Pragavata,...
superintendent of works at the vihara of Kanishka in the monastery of Mahasena" ("dasa agisala nava-karmi ana*kaniskasa vihara mahasenasa sangharame"). The...
Kanishka I (c. 158–176), in 78 AD at Kundalvana vihara (Kundalban) in Kashmir. The exact location of the vihara is presumed to be around Harwan, near Srinagar...
Cambodia. "A Brief Biography of Dr. Ashin Nanissara". Sitagu Buddhist Vihara. Theravada Dhamma Society of America. Archived from the original on 17 October...
and Pali word vihāra (Devanagari: विहार), meaning "abode". The region roughly encompassing the present state had many Buddhist vihāras, the abodes of...
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