Ancient Indian Universities “Institutional Repository” to Create Global Visibility for Learning and Research – Review-Based Analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Ancient higher education has excellent teaching and research. Takshila University has produced scholars such as Chanakya, author of the great book Arthashastra, Panini, a renowned Sanskrit scholar and grammarian, Charaka, the father of Indian medicine, Surgeon Jivaka Kumarabhattaa, Sharada Peetha Temple University has 5000 scholars like Kumarajiva Buddhist scholar, Thonmi Sambhota and Library, Pushapagiri University, Kanthalloor Sabha in Kerala, and Ujjaini University Alumni Brahmgupa and Bhaskar II. Dipankar Sri-Jnana, a prominent Vikramasila scholar, released over 200 volumes, while Mithila, a centre of Brahminical culture, produced intellectuals like Jagaddhara, who created writings such as Gita and Gita Govinda. These are the world's oldest institutions; no Institutional Repositories were discovered during the Vedic period, but the Buddhist period gave rise to Institutional Repositories, which house collections of books on various subjects. Scholars and students rely on institutional repositories. Takshashila University students come from all across Aryavrat, as well as from places like Greece, Arabia, Japan, Indonesia, Mongolia, and China. Nalanda University specializes in Buddhist education, but it also offers other courses. It contains a massive Institutional Repository of manuscripts from many curricula and Sanskrit texts totalling 5,00,000 shlokas.  During the fifteenth century, Tibetan scholar Taranatha wrote about the nine-story library of Nalanda University with 9 million manuscripts and the Saraswati Mahal manuscript library of Tanjore in his travelogues about the Nalanda institutional repository namely Ratnasagara, Ratnodadhi, and Ratnaranjaka located in a complex called 'Dharmaganja'. The University Institutional Repository provides services to its members and community to threaten the institution's visibility, standing, and public ideals.

Design/ Methodology/Approach: This is a literature-based paper that investigates ancient university research academics' contributions to Institutional Repositories established around the world to create visibility.

Findings and Results: Ancient University Institutional Repositories are the house of millions of manuscripts, Sanskrit text, and its slokas contributed by alumni of the university and Scholars.

Originality/Value/Novelty: The article's case study and literature studies disclose the Ancient University Repository and researchers' and teachers' contributions to the repository.

Type of Paper: Literature Review.