[Buddha-l] Nalanda's destruction

[Warner Belanger]

Dan,
Whose account of Nalanda are you disputing here? I've been desultorily
poking around, and for some reason, Rich Eaton in his article Temple
Desecration and Indo-Muslim States in Beyond Hindu and Turk lists Maulana's
Tabakat-i-Nasiri as a source for the destruction of Odantapuri, but not for
Nalanda and Vikramasila.

He has a table at the end of the article, which I'll reproduce here with
his listed sources:
7 c. 1202 Nalanda Patna Bihar Bakhtiyar Khalaji (c) 20:90
8 c. 1202 Odantapuri Patna Bihar Bakhtiyar Khalaji 22:319; 21:551–52
9 c. 1202 Vikramasila Saharsa Bihar Bakhtiyar Khalaji 22:319

20. G. Roerich, trans. Biography of Dharmaswamin (Patna, 1959).
21. Minhaj-i Siraj, Tabakat-i Nasiri, vol. 1, trans. H. Raverty (New Delhi,
1970).
22. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, ed., Taranatha’s History of Buddhism in
India (Calcutta,
1980).

I've also seen the article in Epigraphia Indica "The Nalanda Inscription of
Vipulasrimitra" cited as evidence that Nalanda survived in some form after
Bakhtiyar Khalaji's raid and slaughter of the monks, but I think the date
of that inscription may be disputed and earlier than the mid-13th century.
I'm awaiting a copy through ILL.

I've also requested through ILL Chapter 10 "The Well of Buddhism Defiled"
in Andre Wink's Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World, Vol. 2
because he lists not only Major H G Raverty's translation but further
manuscripts of the Tabakat-i Nasiri in his lists of Abbreviations which I
assume he consulted and relied heavily upon as a source. I'm unaware of any
review of Raverty's translation. Perhaps his analysis that you cited and/or
translation is considered to be flawed?
Am I missing any other sources? What's clear is that there aren't that many
sources, and yes, Elverskog definitely does not address the account in the
Tabakat-i Nasiri. That whole opening chapter doesn't really make an
argument about Nalanda.
Warner