‘Ink and Eternity’ exhibition showcases Bihar’s enduring legacy of learning at IIC

Revisiting Bihar’s ancient legacy of scholarship and spiritual inquiry, the India International Centre (IIC) has opened an exhibition titled “Ink and Eternity: Priceless Collections of Nalanda and Darbhanga”.

The exhibition, which will remain open till October 14 from 11 am to 7 pm, brings together priceless manuscripts, facsimiles, and photographs that trace the evolution of learning traditions from the ancient university of Nalanda to the libraries of Darbhanga.

Organised in collaboration with Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Lalit Narayan Mithila University, Nalanda University, and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, the exhibition pays tribute to Bihar’s role as a global seat of learning that once attracted scholars from across Asia.

The display includes historically-significant items such as the address of Dr Rajendra Prasad on the foundation day of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara in 1951, a greetings note from Jawaharlal Nehru on the publication of the first Devanagari edition of the Pali Tipitaka, and Buddhist manuscripts in Tibetan, Burmese, Khmer, and Sinhalese scripts. A box from the 724-volume Chinese Tripitaka and the illustrated work Buddhism on Stamps by M Lokeswara Rao are also among the highlights.

Speaking about the exhibition, Prof Siddharth Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, said that the initiative aimed to showcase the diversity of India’s ancient Buddhist scholarship. “We have manuscripts in multiple scripts - Chinese, Pali, Khmer, and Sinhalese - showing how Buddhist texts travelled and evolved across cultures,” he said. “Our university has the credit of publishing the Tipitaka in Devanagari for the first time. Through such exhibitions, we aim to revive the legacy of the ancient Nalanda University.”

The exhibition was inaugurated by Prof Meenakshi Gopinath, Life Trustee of IIC, who underlined the importance of reclaiming Bihar’s intellectual and cultural image.

“There is a significant effort to resurrect the image of Bihar out of the narrow political discourse and reclaim our tradition of philosophical and artistic eminence,” she said. “This exhibition allows us to see, at close quarters, the splendour of a heritage that influenced thought across Asia.”

Photographs and artefacts from the Xuan Zang Memorial at Nalanda have also been displayed. The museum honours the 7th-century Chinese monk and scholar Xuan Zang, who studied at the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara and carried back 657 volumes of sacred texts to China. The memorial, designed in traditional Chinese architecture, stands as a symbol of cultural exchange and spiritual harmony between India and China.

Arranged elegantly in IIC’s conference hall, the exhibition combines rare artefacts, ancient palm-leaf manuscripts, and modern reproductions to tell a story of continuity, of how Bihar’s ancient seats of learning continue to inspire the pursuit of wisdom in the modern era.