The Centre for Mahayana Buddhist Studies was established in 1982 under the scholarly guidance of Padma Vibhushan Prof. K. Satchidananda Murthy, the inspiration of late Prof. R. Subrahmanyam, who extensively excavated the Nagarjunakonda site in 1960 and the then External Affairs Minister Dr. P.V. Narasimha Rao. His Majesty the King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk inaugurated the Chair of Mahayana Buddhism and donated an endowment fund. The UGC grant had provision for constructing a Chaitya model building to house the Centre. Padma Vibhushan Prof. K. Satchidananda Murthy is the Honorary Director of the Centre. I. Teaching Programme : In accordance with the guidelines provided for the Centre by the National Committee of Experts, the Centre lays focus on the multidimensional study of Buddhism in general and Mahayana Buddhism in particular. In 1993, Master degree in Philosophy with emphasis on Buddhism was started.
The Centre for Mahayana Buddhist Studies department was one of the unique departments in South India to offer courses in M.A. in Mahayana Buddhist Studies and Ph.D. in Mahayana Buddhist Studies. Most of the students and scholars from different South East Asian countries like Myanmar, Vietnam Thailand and Bhutan completed their PG and research programmes in this department.
The Centre for Mahayana Buddhist Studies research scholars did their Ph.D. s in the fields of Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhist Meditation, Buddhist Logic, Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist Science & Technology, Buddhist Applied Concepts like Economics, Psychology etc.