Sarnath
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Sarnath, location
Ancient remains in the District and tahsil of Benares, United Provinces, situated in 25 23' N. and 83 2' E., about 3-^ miles north of Benares city. The most imposing building is a large stone st'upa, 93 feet in diameter at the base and no feet high above the surrounding ruins, which are themselves 18 feet above the general level of the country. The lower part has eight projecting faces, all but one of which are richly carved; the upper portion is built of bricks and was probably plastered. Half a mile away ib another stupa composed of bricks, which is now surmounted by a tower with an inscription recording its ascent by the emperor Humayun. The space between the two stupas is thickly strewn with brick and stone debris.
Excavations have shown that these ruins mark the site of a huge monastery. In 1905 new inscriptions of Asoka and Kanishka were discovered. A Jain temple now stands close to the stone stupa, and a short distance away is a lake with a Hindu temple on its bank. Sarnath is identified with the Mrigadava or deer-park, in which Gautama Buddha first preached his doctrines, and near which was situated the Isipattana monastery.
[Rev. M. A. Sherring, The Sacred City oj the Hindus^ chap, xviii.]
Deer Park (Mrigadava) in Sarnath
Rana Safvi, Stupa-hopping in Sarnath, February 3, 2019: The Hindu
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From: Rana Safvi, Stupa-hopping in Sarnath, February 3, 2019: The Hindu
In the land where Buddha gave his first sermon and the Ashoka Pillar was found
In the 6th century BCE, a young man left the comforts of his royal home in search of truth. For six years, he followed extreme ascetic practices and became totally emaciated. It was then that he realised that this was not the way to nirvana. He eventually found enlightenment under a tree in Bodh Gaya. Prince Siddhartha became Buddha, or the Enlightened One.
Teachings of Buddha
From Bodh Gaya, Buddha went to the Deer Park (Mrigadava) in Sarnath, where the five monks who had been with him during his ascetic phase were staying. It was there that he gave his first sermon, an event known as the Dharma Chakra Pravarttana, or turning of the wheel of law. In ancient times, this place was known by many names — Rishipatana, Mrigadava and Mrigadaya. The word Sarnath comes from a corruption of the name Saranganatha (lord of deer).
In his first sermon to these five companions, Buddha spoke of the Four Noble Truths and the eightfold path that frees people from suffering. He said that there are two ways of life: one is to indulge in all the pleasures of the world and the other is to deny oneself these pleasures. The middle path is the way to achieve nirvana, he said.
It is in Sarnath that Buddha laid the foundation of his sangha, or organisation of monks. He had 60 disciples whom he sent to different parts of the country to spread his teachings. He also established an order of female monks, which was joined by his wife.
Two hundred years after Buddha, the Mauryan emperor, Ashoka, fought the battle of Kalinga and, disgusted by the bloodshed, became a Buddhist. It is to him that we owe many of the beautiful stupas and monasteries in Sarnath. We also owe a huge debt to Sir Alexander Cunningham, who excavated the Dhamekh, Dharmarajika, and Chaukhandi stupas along with a monastery and temple between 1834 and 36. Many excavations followed these, the most famous among them being the 1904-05 excavation by Friedrich Oscar Oertel of the Ashoka Pillar, including the Lion Capital.
Invasions and restorations
I have visited Sarnath many times, but each visit is as magical than the previous one. Entering the gate the first thing one sees are the remains of excavated monasteries. As I walked beyond that, I saw a huge group of devotees sitting around in prayer the Dharmarajika stupa. It was an enchanting sight, for they were oblivious to the sun beating down on them and chanted their sacred texts.
This stupa is the one said to have been built by Ashoka to commemorate Buddha’s first sermon. Today it is just a low and flat platform as it “was pulled down in 1794 by one Jagat Singh of Banaras,” says B.R. Mani in Sarnath: Archaeology, Art and Architecture. He says, “Jagat Singh, the Diwan of Raja Chet Singh of Banaras, dug the stupa mound in 1793-94 for the purpose of obtaining building material, both stones and bricks, for the erection of a market place in the city after his name.”
On top of the Ashoka pillar in Sarnath was the the Lion Capital and the Dharmachakra, but the Lion Capital is now housed in Sarnath museum, while the pillar remains where it was originally. The Lion Capital was adopted as the national emblem of India in 1950.
With remains of excavated monasteries on both sides, I walked up to the Dharmekh stupa, which is synonymous with Sarnath. After Ashoka, the other rulers who added to Sarnath’s glory were the Kushans, the Guptas and Harshavardhana. Under the Guptas, the Dharmekh stupa was encased with stone-carved floral designs. Sarnath suffered from the Huna invasions, but Harshavardhana later restored some of the earlier buildings. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (602-664) left detailed accounts of the Dharmarajika stupa and Ashoka’s lion pillar. He found 1,500 monks living there.
Sarnath also suffered when it was attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni. Mahipala, the Pala king, restored the monuments. Architect James Fergusson, in History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, remarks on the similarity between the sculptured band on the central part of the Dharmek stupa, which has “geometric patterns of great intricacy”, and the carvings done on the two earliest mosques in Delhi and Ajmer. The calligraphy on the screen of Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, built by Qutbuddin Aibak in the Qutub complex in Delhi, does bear resemblance to the stupa. I have often wondered at the presence of the eternal knot associated with Buddhism in this complex.
The last great monument of Sarnath, a monastery named Dharmachakra Jina Vihara was built in the 11th century by Kumaradevi, wife of Govindachanda of the Gahadavala dynasty.
Sarnath’s importance as a Buddhist centre diminished with time. But there are many other interconnections between historical characters, which never cease to amaze me. According to an inscription at Chaukhandi stupa, Humayun sought refuge in Sarnath when he was escaping from the battle of Chausa.
