Pandita Vihara

Pandita Vihara or Pandita Bihar University was an ancient university of the Indian subcontinent established in the 8th century CE in eastern Bengal (present-day Bangladesh), in Chattogram, and it is now completely extinct. This vihara was essentially an educational institution similar to Nalanda University, which operated as a center for teaching and propagating Tantric Buddhism in eastern Bengal. During a conflict in the 13th century, Nalanda Vihara in Bihar was destroyed, and many eastern Buddhist scholar communities later took refuge in Pandita Vihara. Atiśa Dīpaṅkara Śrījñāna, a Buddhist monk and missionary of the Pala Empire, stayed and studied for some time at Pandita Vihara.

The professors at Pandita Vihara, along with their teaching, studies, and yogic practices, also composed songs and dohas during their leisure time, which later gained recognition as Charyapada, the earliest known work of Bengali language and poetry. Before and after Pandita Vihara, and until approximately the mid-18th century, the name of no other educational institution is found in history.