Patna (Bihar) [India], February 8 (ANI): Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary launched 'Nalanda: How it Changed the World' at the fifth edition of the Grand Trunk Road Initiatives held in Patna on Saturday.

In his address on the occasion, the author-diplomat Abhay K said that he looks forward to reading the book and benefiting from the wisdom of Nalanda, which was and remains the pride of Bihar.

Abhay K said that he is delighted that his book on Nalanda is being launched in his home state of Bihar, which is actually named after Vihar, as plenty of Buddhist monasteries abounded in the state once upon a time.

He added, 'I am from Nalanda and writing this book on Nalanda has been a matter of great joy and satisfaction for me. I have learnt a lot myself about Nalanda while researching for the book. The book highlights the contributions of Nalanda in shaping our modern world. I am sure everyone will benefit from reading this book.'

Well-known historian William Dalrymple, commenting about the book wrote --'Abhay K has written a wonderfully accessible introduction to early India's most important centre of philosophy and learning, the great monastery-university of Nalanda. Setting his story within a seductively-sketched panorama of the golden age of early Buddhism, Abhay celebrates Nalanda's dazzling libraries, scholars, teachings, doctrines and finally, its global influence. Sympathetic, scholarly and poetic, Abhay K's Nalanda fills an important gap and deserves to be widely read.'

Abhay K. is the author of a dozen poetry books, including Celestial, Stray Poems, Monsoon, The Magic of Madagascar and The Alphabets of Latin America and is the editor of The Book of Bihari Literature, The Bloomsbury Book of Great Indian Love Poems, Capitals, New Brazilian Poems and The Bloomsbury Anthology of Great Indian Poems.

His poems have appeared in over a hundred literary magazines, including Poetry Salzburg Review and Asia Literary Review. His 'Earth Anthem' has been translated into over 160 languages. He received the SAARC Literary Award (2013) and was invited to record his poems at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, in 2018.

His translations of Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara from Sanskrit won him the KLF Poetry Book of the Year Award (2020-21). His translation of Magahi novel Fool Bahadur has been published by Penguin Random House, India. His paintings on the Buddhist philosophy of 'Sunyata' have been exhibited at Bihar Museum, Patna; National Museum, Delhi; and Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad. (ANI)