Xuanzang Memorial Hall
Stupa · Xuanzang (Hiuen Tsang) · Nalanda, Bihar
Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian Buddhists come to venerate the relics of the pilgrim-scholar who...
A memorial hall and museum in the Cultural Campus of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, near the Nalanda ruins, about 1.3 km from the excavated site. It enshrines relics of Xuanzang, received by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957, together with Chinese Buddhist texts given by the Chinese government. Proposed by Bhikkhu Jagadish Kashyap, begun January 1957, hall completed 1984, museum finally inaugurated 12 February 2007. Displays cover his journey through India and his scholarly work.
Plan your visit
- Area
- Nalanda
- Status
- Coming Soon
Experiences here
- Walk Nalanda with somebody who can read it: Ten metres of brick is a wall to most people and a lecture hall to a guide
Tirtham can arrange here
Guide, car and stay around Nalanda
Also around Nalanda
- Sattu sharbat in summer: What Bihar drinks against the heat: roasted gram, water, lemon and salt, sold from carts on every corner.
- Magahi paan: The betel leaf of old Magadh, soft enough to melt in the mouth, grown under thatch in Nawada, Gaya, Aurangabad and Nalanda.
- Rajgir Mahotsav: Bihar's festival of classical dance and music, with a food fair, held in Rajgir each year.
- Silao khaja: A many-layered fried sweet made in Silao, on the road between Rajgir and Nalanda, GI-registered in 2018.
- Bawan Buti weaving of Nalanda: Fifty-two motifs woven into one cloth, many of them Buddhist, by a few families of Basawan Bigha; GI-registered in June 2026.
Nearby places
- Nalanda Mahavihara: The world's oldest residential university
- Archaeological Museum, Nalanda: Pilgrims and students come to see the Buddha and Bodhisattva images recovered from the mahavihara...
- Black Buddha: Buddhists come for the ancient image itself; local Hindus have worshipped the same figure as Bhairav...
- Shvetambara Jain temple, Nalanda: Nalanda is where Mahavira spent fourteen rains retreats and where Indrabhuti Gautama, his chief...
- Surya Mandir, Surajpur Bargaon: It is one of Bihar's largest Chhath sites outside the river ghats; devotees come to offer arghya to the...
- Statue of Buddha, Jagdishpur: It is a living local shrine where an ancient Buddha image continues to receive Hindu worship, and a...
- Telhara monastery: It is the third great Magadhan mahavihara after Nalanda and Vikramshila, named in the Chinese pilgrims'...
- Aashapuri Maharani Temple, Ghosrawan: Local and regional devotees come to the goddess; the village is also a stop for the Pala-period...
Questions pilgrims ask
Why is Xuanzang Memorial Hall important?
A memorial hall and museum in the Cultural Campus of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, near the Nalanda ruins, about 1.3 km from the excavated site. It enshrines relics of Xuanzang, received by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957, together with Chinese Buddhist texts given by the Chinese government. Proposed by Bhikkhu Jagadish Kashyap, begun January 1957, hall completed 1984, museum finally inaugurated 12 February 2007. Displays cover his journey through India and his scholarly work.
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