Odantapuri which was also called Odantapura or Uddandapura was a Buddhist Mahavihara.

Location of Odantapuri
The ruins of Odantapuri were located in Nalanda District of Bihar, nearby to Bihar Sharif.

History of Odantapuri
Odantapuri was established by the Pala Emperor Gopala I in the 8th century. It is considered the second oldest of India`s Mahaviharas and was situated in Magadha. Acharya Sri Ganga of Vikramashila was a student at this Mahavihara. According to the Tibetan records there were about 12,000 students at Odantapuri which was situated at a mountain called Hiranya Prabhat Parvat and by the bank of the Panchanan River. In a Tibetan history of the Kalachakra tantra by Ngakwang Kunga Sonam, 27th Sakya Trizin it is mentioned that Odantapuri was administered by "Sendhapas," the Tibetan referent for Theravadins from Sri Lanka.

Monasteries of Pala Era
A number of Buddhist monasteries grew up during the Pala period in ancient Bengal now West Bengal and Bangladesh and Magadha, the ancient Patna, Bihar. According to Tibetan sources, five great mahaviharas stood out like Vikramashila, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura Mahavihara, Odantapuri and Jagaddala. The five monasteries including Odantapuri formed a network- all of them were under state supervision and there existed a system of co-ordination among them.

Functions of Odantapuri
Odantapuri seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pala were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions, and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them.

Ruins of Odantapuri
The University of Odantapuri is now perished, along with Nalanda and Nalanda University, at the hands of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji around 1193 that is during the time of Delhi Sultanate.