ASHES OF KNOWLEDGE: BOOK BURNING BY PHILISTINES AND BARBARIANS

ASHES OF KNOWLEDGE:  BOOK BURNING BY PHILISTINES AND BARBARIANS

The Ashes of Knowledge: Book Burning by Philistines and Barbarians

While the Library of Alexandria is the most famous example in the West, the burning of Nalanda in India was a tragedy of even greater proportions for Eastern philosophy, science, and spirituality.

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​The Ashes of Knowledge: Book Burning by Philistines and Barbarians

​Welcome back to BOOKS, BOOKS AND BOOKS. Today, we are stepping away from our cozy reading corners to look at a darker side of literary history: the moments when the world went quiet because the pages were set aflame.

​From the ancient sands of Egypt to the monastic heights of India, the act of burning books has always been the first tool of those who fear the power of a free mind.

​The Great Tragedy: The Library of Alexandria

​As we recently explored through the Lost Knowledge Archive, the loss of this institution was a catastrophic blow to humanity.

​What was lost: 

The library held approximately half a million scrolls—the "entire knowledge of the ancient world".

​The Scope: 

It is estimated that 99% of ancient literature disappeared in those fires. We lost centuries of progress in brain surgery, mathematics, and even mechanical computing.

​The Culprits: 

Whether it was Julius Caesar’s accidental fire in 48 BC or later religious purges, the result was the same: a "millennium" of human progress potentially lost to smoke.

​The Infinite Fire: The Nalanda University Library

​If Alexandria was a tragedy, the destruction of Nalanda University in 1193 AD was an apocalypse of ink. Located in modern-day Bihar, India, Nalanda was the world’s first great residential university, housing 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers from across the globe.

​The "Dharmaganja" (Treasury of Dharma): 

The library was so vast it consisted of three massive multi-story buildings: Ratnasagara (Ocean of Jewels), Ratnodadhi (Sea of Jewels), and Ratnaranjaka (Jewel-Adorned).

​The Burning for Six Months:

 It is a haunting historical fact that when the invader Bakhtiyar Khilji set the library on fire, the collection—comprising an estimated 9 million manuscripts—was so immense that it burned for three to six months continuously.

​What Vanished: Centuries of Vedic texts, Buddhist philosophy, logic, grammar, and groundbreaking Indian medical treatises on Ayurveda were reduced to ash. Legend says the smoke from the burning manuscripts hung like a dark shroud over the hills for weeks.

​Historical "Philistinism" and the Fire

​In a historical sense, a "Philistine" is someone indifferent or hostile to culture. History is riddled with examples where "barbarian" forces—seeking to erase a culture to install their own—used fire as a weapon:

​The Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars (China, 213 BC): 

Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered the burning of philosophical texts to ensure only his ideology survived.

​The Maya Codices (1562):

 Bishop Diego de Landa burned countless Maya manuscripts, claiming they were "lies of the devil," effectively erasing the written history of an entire civilization.

​Modern Dark Chapters: 

The Nazi book burnings in 1930s Germany remain a chilling reminder that even "modern" societies can succumb to barbarian impulses.

​Book Burning in Literature: The Warning

​Authors have long used the image of the burning book to warn us about the fragility of our civilization:

​Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451:

 In this world, "firemen" start fires rather than putting them out. The "barbarians" here are the citizens themselves, who chose mindless entertainment over "troublesome" thoughts.

​George Orwell’s 1984: 

The "memory hole" incinerates documents to ensure that "he who controls the past controls the future."

​The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: 

It highlights the act of saving a single book from a Nazi bonfire, showing that even in the face of philistinism, a single spark of literacy can survive.

​Final Thoughts for the Nook

​Every time we crack open a spine, we are performing an act of resistance. The ghosts of Alexandria and Nalanda remind us that knowledge is not guaranteed; it is a treasure that must be guarded.

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 Let’s make sure we keep reading, keep sharing, and keep our nooks filled with the voices that others tried to silence.

​What do you think? Which historical loss do you find more heartbreaking—the scrolls of Alexandria or the millions of manuscripts at Nalanda? Let's discuss in the comments!

Grateful thanks to Google Gemini for its great help and support in creating this blogpost!🙏🙏🙏

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