SARNATH

Situated in Uttar Pradesh, around 10 km from Varanasi, Sarnath is a tranquil tree-lined town, strewn with ruins of early monuments and glistening new structures dedicated to Lord Buddha. Famous as a pilgrimage site for Jains and Buddhists, it was here in around 530 BC that Gautam Buddha had preached his first sermon just five weeks after he attained enlightenment. 

After his enlightenment in Bodhgaya, Lord Buddha reached Sarnath, believed to have walked through air to cross the River Ganga as he didn’t have the money to pay the boatman. Here, at a deer park he made his first discourse. Sanctified as Maha Dharma Chakra Pravartan or the Wheel of Dharma, it was in Sarnath that he explained the meaning of the “Middle Path” to his first five disciples. Buddhist lore says these five men were Buddha’s companions in penance before he left for Bodhgaya. But when they met him again in Sarnath, they mistook his halo as a sign of a luxurious life. They accused him of letting go of a monk’s austerities. The Buddha explained to them that he had given up the  extreme of luxury as well as asceticism. “I have discovered the Middle Way", he had said, turning these five into true followers of Buddhism.

In Buddhist manuscripts, Sarnath is also known as Mrigadava or Mrigadaya, or a place where herds of deer roamed freely. A story says that while on a hunting campaign, the local king was following a doe to kill it. Buddha disguised himself as a deer and offered his life instead, to protect the animal. Inspired by this selfless act, the king declared that a park would be created to protect the deer. This inspired the name Saranganath, or “Lord of the Deer”, from which was derived Sarnath. It was also called Isipatana, a place where holy men or devas fell or descended on earth.

Ashoka, the great Mauryan emperor, who lived about 200 years after Buddha, and was a follower of Buddhism, erected several monuments in Sarnath, out of which some remain even today. Sarnath flourished for centuries as a site of education and religious importance. Chinese traveller Fa Hien, who visited Sarnath in 5th century, during the reign of Gupta emperor Chandragupta, says the place had four magnificent stupas and several monasteries for Buddhist scholars.  In the 7th century, when another Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Sarnath, he found 3,000 Buddhist monks living here. In the 12th century, Sarnath was attacked and razed by invaders, only to be discovered after excavations were made in 1830s. Sarnath is also considered holy by Jains as according to Jainism, the 11th Jain tirthankara was born near Sarnath at Singhpur village. 

Today, most of the ruins are found in one place, as pilgrims from across the world throng the brick lined, meandering paths between lush green lawns and old and new monuments. During Buddha Purnima, Sarnath becomes a bustling hub of festivities, attracting thousands of Buddhist devotees.