Sarnath, a place near Varanasi, India, is a place where the Founder of Buddhism, Gautam Budhha, gave his first sermon to his 5 pupils.
As per archaeological excavations near Sarnath, this place is found to be built by Emperor Ashoka, who was the winner of ‘War of Kalinga’. During Kalinga-war, when Ashoka saw many killed soldiers, a bunch of ruined bodies in the war-field, he realized that war cannot be the solutions of any conflict, and he left war-like situations. Lately, he joined Buddhism, which was a flourishing religion at that time profound by Lord Budhha.
During the rest of life, Ashoka followed Buddhism and built a Stupa in Sarnath. Afterward, civilization developed around this Stupa.
When we were younger, we used to visit Sarnath as recreation activities during vacations. A 30 minute bicycling from the city! At that time, we found relicts of old civilizations lying vacated, unattended and getting ruined by the unprotected encroachments, although, Buddhists from around the world used to visit this place on a regular basis.
Now, however, the Sarnath is well protected and a maintained place of tourist interest around Varanasi, just about 10 kilometers away from the city.
Near to the Stupa, there is a National Museum, where the ‘Ashoka Stambh’ (Ashoka Pillar) is placed. This pillar is excavated from Sarnath and it is adopted in the Indian Constituency as ‘Symbol of India’. Important is that one of the saints in Jainism is also born in Sarnath, just near the excavated site !!
Sharing recently clicked photographs of Sarnath to give you a glimpse of purity of this place and its serene environment. Also sharing the map of the various place of Sarnath engraved in stone and placed here!!
