The ancient site of Vikramshila is situated around 40 km away from Bhagalpur in Bihar. It is a small town of 8th century AD built by Dharmapala, a Pala King and is famous for Vikramshila University. During the excavations Carved pillars, Buddhist images and pictures of Hindu deities have been found from this ancient site. With the passage of time Vikramshila, which is located on the banks of river Ganga, has become a major Buddhist learning centre of Tantric Buddhism and a major tourist destination attracting tourist from all over the world.

 

Is is believed that within the University there was a temple and a large size copy of Mahabodhi tree was placed in this temple and is believed that 108 temples were constructed around it and in 53 of those temples Guhyasamaja Tantra took place. Some of the great scholars, including Santipa, Jetari, Ratnavajra, Jnanasrimitra, Naropa and Atisa, have been closely associated with Vikramshila University.