Nalanda Buddhist Institute — an 18th-century monastic college on a ridge above the Punakha valley.

Frequently asked

What is the Nalanda Buddhist Institute?

A monastic college (shedra) above the Punakha valley, founded in the 18th century by Bhutan's ninth Je Khenpo, Shakya Rinchen, and named for the great Nalanda university of ancient India. It is a working place of higher Buddhist study, where young monks pursue the long course of philosophy and scripture that produces the country's learned teachers.

Why is it named after Nalanda in India?

Nalanda was the most renowned centre of Buddhist learning in the world for a thousand years, where the philosophers whose works still anchor the tradition studied. To name a Bhutanese college after it is to claim a place in that lineage of scholarship and to signal the institute's serious purpose — rigorous study rather than ceremony.

Is it worth visiting?

For visitors drawn to the scholarly side of Bhutanese Buddhism, and to the quieter corners of the Punakha countryside, yes — it is a serene, little-visited ridge college that adds the dimension of the learning tradition to the valley's more famous monuments. It pairs naturally with the dzong, the suspension bridge, and Talo.