Nalanda University in Bihar, India, has appointed prominent Buddhist scholar Prof. Karam Tej Singh Sarao as the first SCO Chair Professor of Shared Buddhist Heritage. The appointment places Prof. Sarao at the head of an academic initiative intended to promote research, dialogue, and cooperation on Buddhist heritage shared by countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The chair will support research into the historical, philosophical, linguistic, archaeological, and cultural dimensions of Buddhism and its transmission across Asia.
Nalanda University has worked to establish itself as a global center for learning. Indian scholar and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) official Dr. Anirban Ganguly, wrote in September: “Thinkers, philosophers, students, and seekers of the ancient world converged upon Nalanda to replenish their stocks of wisdom and knowledge. A rekindled Nalanda today will eventually grow and stand as a radiant lighthouse for the Asian century.” (Millennium Post)
The appointment follows several years of work to establish the position. Nalanda University first announced plans for the SCO Chair in May 2023, during India’s presidency of the SCO. At the time, the university said that the spread of Buddhism from India to Central Asia and China had contributed to historical networks of trade, culture, and people-to-people contacts across the region.
The university subsequently invited applications from senior Indian scholars in Buddhist studies and related fields. A 2023 call described the position as a chair for a scholar who had made a significant contribution to Buddhist studies, while a new advertisement for the position was issued by Nalanda University in April 2026.
The initiative grew out of India’s broader effort to make Buddhist heritage a component of its engagement with the SCO. India became a full SCO member in 2017 and held its first presidency of the organization from September 2022 to July 2023. The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has identified shared Buddhist heritage as one of five new areas of cooperation initiated during that presidency.
In March 2023, India hosted the SCO’s first international conference devoted to shared Buddhist heritage. The SCO said that the meeting was intended to strengthen intercultural connections and examine common features linking Buddhist art, archaeological sites, and museum collections across Central and South Asia. Participants included specialists from China, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Prof. Sarao is a former professor and head of the Department of Buddhist Studies at the University of Delhi. His areas of specialization have included Indian Buddhism, Pali, Indology, ancient South Asian history and archaeology, epigraphy, and engaged Buddhism. His academic training includes doctorates from the University of Delhi and the University of Cambridge. Prof. Sarao has published extensively on Buddhist history and South Asian religious traditions. His works include The History of Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya (Springer, 2020), which examines the historical development and contested stewardship of one of Buddhism’s most important pilgrimage sites, and Baku’s Temple of Eternal Fire (Bloomsbury, 2021), a study of the religious history of the Ateshgah complex near Baku in Azerbaijan. He also co-edited the 2017 Springer reference work Buddhism and Jainism with Jeffrey D. Long.
Nalanda University itself carries particular symbolic importance for the new chair. The modern university, established under an Act of the Indian Parliament, takes its inspiration from the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara, one of Asia’s most influential centers of Buddhist learning. Today its School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions offers graduate study encompassing Buddhist history, philosophy, classical languages, and comparative religion.
When announcing the chair in 2023, Nalanda University said the initiative envisioned Buddhist Studies as a means of “enhancing global connectivity” and revitalizing shared cultural heritage. (Nalanda University)
As the inaugural holder of the chair, Prof. Sarao is expected to help develop research, lectures, seminars, publications, and institutional exchanges connecting scholars working on Buddhism across the SCO region. According to details shared with BDG, the broader aim is to use the study of Buddhism’s historical movement across Asia to strengthen contemporary scholarly networks and understanding among the region’s societies.
See more
Nalanda University’s Press Releases (Nalanda University)
Rekindling the ‘Nalanda’ Spirit (Millennium Post)
Jobs and Internships at Nalanda University (Nalanda University)
About Nalanda University (Nalanda University)
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