Buddha has an honoured place in the Hindu pantheon as the Ninth Avatar of Vishnu, signifying the acceptance of Buddhist reforms into Hinduism. The four holy places of the Buddhists - the Lumbini Park at Kapilavastu where Buddha was born, the Bodhi Tree at Gaya where he gained enlightenment, the Deer Park at Sarnath where he preached his first sermon, and the grove near Kusinagara where he attained Nirvana, as well as the ancient Buddhist university town of Nalanda, are visited by both Hindus and Buddhists alike.

The Nalanda Conference consists of :

• Bhagalpur University (BHAGALPUR)
• Magadh University (BODH GAYA)
• L.N. Mithila University (DARBHANGA)
• University of Bihar (MUZZAFARPUR)
• Patna University (PATNA)
• Birla Institute of Technology (RANCHI)
• Birsa Agricultural University (RANCHI)
• Ranchi University (RANCHI)
• Rajendra Agricultural University (SAMASTIPUR)

Located in the East Zone, the conference includes 9 universities spread over Bihar. The cities of Bhagalpur, Bodh Gaya, Darbhanga, Muzzafarpur, Patna, Ranchi and Samastipur are directly involved in the competition, with Barauni, Hazaribagh, Nawada and Sikandra as neutral sites.

In the Nalanda Conference, an astro-turf field is located at Ranchi. Doordarshan studios are located at Patna.

Watch out for intra-state rivals Patna University vs. University of Bihar. Patna University has the potential to achieve National Rankings.

The average distance travelled by the teams in this conference will be 159 km. In the distance grid below, * indicates that the match will be played at a neutral site, and ~ indicates that the value is an approximate distance calculated from the state map.