Many monasteries were built during the Pala period in ancient Bengal and Magadha and as per the Tibetan sources five great Mahaviharas stood out: Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura, Odantapura, and Jagaddala. The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them. 

 

King Dharmpala founded Vikramshila in the late 8th or early 9th century until it was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji along with the other major centres of Buddhism in India around 1193.

 

Vikramashila Monastery was one of the largest Buddhist learning centre with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture and religion. The most distinguished and eminent among all was Atisha Dipankara, a founder of the Sarma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Subjects like philosophy, grammar, metaphysics, Indian logic etc. were taught here, but the most important branch of learning was tantrism.