In the early 1950's, in order to revive the lost glory and the heritage of ancient Nalanda Mahavihara, his Excellency Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of the Republic of India, declared that the ancient seat of Buddhist learning at Nalanda would be revived.
At the insistence of Ven. Bhikkhu Jagdish Kashyap and with this goal in mind, the Government of Bihar established a research institute called “Magadh Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Pali and Allied Languages and Buddhist Learning” at Nalanda in 1951. It later came to be known as Nava Nalanda Mahavihara. The inspiration behind the establishment of this institute was to develop a centre of higher studies in Pali and Buddhism along the lines of ancient Nalanda Mahavihara. From the beginning, the institute functioned as a residential institution, with a limited number of Indian and foreign students.
The present campus of the Mahavihara is 100 km from the metropolis of Patna , situated on the southern bank of the historical lake, Indrapuskarani. Close to the northern bank lie the ruins of the ancient University of Nalanda .
On November 20, 1951, the foundation stone of the first building was laid by His Excellency,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad. Engraved upon it are the following words:
"Let the rays of the sun of Nalanda rise from the summit of this rock in order to brighten the vernacular ( lokabhāsā in Pali ) after the passing away of its nights of darkness (period of its obscurity). "
Ven. Bhikkhu Jagdish Kashyap became the Founder-Director of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, and continued in that capacity until February 1955. One of his major accomplishments was the complete publication, in 41 volumes, of a critical edition of the entire Pali Tipitaka in Devanagari script. It was very popular and quickly went out of print.
Prof. (Dr.) Satkari Mookerjee, erudite and peerless scholar of general Indology, Sanskrit and Philosophy became the second Director of the Mahavihara on March 1, 1955 in place of Ven. Bhikkhu J. Kashyap who was appointed Honorary Director. He streamlined teaching and research programmes and edited the first three Nava Nalanda Mahavihara research volumes.
The first building, designed by well-known artist and architect Padmashri Upendra Maharathi, upon completion, was formally inaugurated by His Excellency Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, then Vice-President of the Republic of India, in March 1956.
In 1965, Ven. Kashyap again became Director and continued until January 1973. Under his editorship the work of transcribing, editing and publishing of Pali texts again gathered momentum.
Dr. Nathmal Tatia succeeded Ven. Kashyap in 1973. The year marked the opening of post-graduate teaching in two additional subjects― Philosophy, and Ancient Indian and Asian Studies. A meditation camp was also organized by the Vipassana Acharya Sri Satya Narayan Goenka at the Mahavihara, which was attended by participants from all over the country and abroad.
1976 marked the year of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Mahavihara under the Directorship of Dr. C. S. Upasak.
In January 1981, the President of India His Excellency Sri Neelam Sanjiv Reddy laid the foundation stone of the International Hostel for scholars and students of the Mahavihara.
From the beginning, until March 1981, the Mahavihara functioned as a State Government institution under the Department of Education, Government of Bihar. His Excellency, the Governor of Bihar, was the Chairman, and the Director, its head. In order to give the Mahavihara freedom to plan its own development, the Government of Bihar granted the institute autonomy. However, lack of funds, a decreasing staff, gradually shrinking activities, localization and isolation, hindered the development and the position of the Mahavihara again began to deteriorate.
Considering the glorious past of Nalanda, the esteem and reverence Nalanda receives from Asian countries, and the immense potential for development as an institution of international importance, the Government of Bihar decided to hand it over to the Government of India in December 1990.
Instrumental in this decision of the Government of Bihar was Prof. Gustav Roth of Germany , who joined the Mahavihara as Director in 1982. With the support of his mentor, the Governor of Bihar, His Excellency, Dr. A.R. Kidwai, he prevailed upon the Government of Bihar and the Government of India to join together to preserve the Mahavihara. He proposed that the Government of India assume responsibility to develop the Mahavihara, and integrate it with the existing Xuanzang Memorial Hall thus turning it into a full-fledged university.
The Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India finally assumed responsibility for the institute with full financial liabilities in February 1994.
Dr. D.K. Barua was the director from 1996-1999.
In April 2000, Dr. Ravindra Panth was appointed Director. After his joining he geared up all round activities of the Mahavihara like Infrastructure, teaching, seminars, conferences and workshops etc.

In November 2001 the Mahavihara celebrated the Golden Jubilee Year. As a result the ‘Heritage of Nalanda and it’s Continuity’, a 35 minute documentary film narrating the ancient history of Nalanda and its continuity in the form of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara was completed in 2002. The film was released by his Excellency the President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on May 30th 2003.

With the effort of Dr. Panth the Mahavihara got the Deemed University status on 13th November, 2006 with the notification No. F. 9-38/2004-U.3(A) by the Government of India.