SSC CGL 2021 PYQ — Question 37

The correct answer is option 1 i.e. Dharampala

• Odantapuri mahavihara was built by Gopala I (750-770 CE), the founder of the Pala dynasty of Bengal.
• Another Pala ruler named Dharmapala (783-820 CE) established Vikramashila mahavihara.
• The most important subject taught here was Vajrayana Buddhism.
• It maintained contacts with Tibet and scholars from Tibet came to study here.
• In the 12th century, it is believed that there were about 3,000 scholars studying here. Many manuscripts were written in Sanskrit and also translated into Tibetan.
• Atisha Dipankar (980- 1054), a Buddhist in the Pala kingdom was an adhyaksha (head of the university) here. He also founded Somapur Mahavihara in modern Bangladesh.
• Taranath, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar says Dharmapala built 50 religious institutions.
• Later in the late 12th century the mahaviharas of Nalanda, Odantapuri and Vikramshila were destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji, a military commander of Qutubuddin Aibak.