Sarnath

Why care about Sarnath?

Sarnath is only one of four pilgrimage sites for Buddhists. Located conveniently 10 km from Varanasi proper, it is where Buddha gave his first sermon. There is a place called Dhamekha stupa that commemorates this location exactly, but much of Sarnath is really dedicated to the cause of preserving the memory of the Buddha. In such a fashion, there are many temples in the area, as well as an archaeological museum.

Ruins

There are a couple of cool things about the ruins, the first being that they are at least 1000 years old. In terms of age, the monasteries vary in age, the oldest being from around 260 BCE. However, most of those monasteries were destroyed during the reign of Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017. Later (around 1114-1154 CE) the monasteries were rebuilt and repaired.

Another cool thing about the ruins are the stupas. Stupas (in this context) are commemorative monuments to the Buddha that can also serve as gathering places for pilgramages or individual worship (but not formalized locations like temples). These stupas can also serve as physical embodiments of their spiritual counterparts, and thus visiting the structure is like visiting or meeting the person himself. There are two stupas that we visited: the first, Chaukhandi stupa, has been reduced to ruins, while the Dhamakha stupa still stands today as a fantastically tall building. In fact, people still travel to Dhamekha stupa today in order to become more connected to the Buddha and the location where he gave his first sermon.

The decoration on all of these temples is also incredible, especially considering how old all of these engravings are. In particular, the flowers were very beautiful, but it was also exciting to recognize human figures in the sculpture as well.

Temples, Temples, Temples

First, allow me to explain that I was uncomfortable taking pictures of the inside of temples. This uncomfortableness was exacerbated when people took pictures of me inside the temples because of my skin color. So, there are no pictures inside the temples. Instead, I will attempt to describe them to you.

My favorite: Japanese. Why is it number 1? It felt the most temple-like. Without being over-decorated and obnoxious, the temple felt like a place of worship. Probably most importantly, it smelled like a place of worship, like incense and carved wood.

Most over-decorated: Tibetan. There were so many millions of elements going on that I couldn’t think, let alone worship. Alone, the number of Buddhas inside was insane.

The original: Deer Park. Even though the temple here is fairly new, the bodhi tree has a great history as being the tree under which the Buddha gave his first sermon (technically not the exact tree, but a replanting from the tree that he did actually give the sermon under (from my understanding). This commemorative monument is pretty cool, but is also then sacred in its own rite (note the terrible pun), and so I didn’t take any pictures. I assure you that the tree is really tree-like though.

Largest Statue: The Buddha Statue at the Thai temple. Standing several stories high, this Buddha statue actually shows the four sites of Buddhist pilgrimage on the sides, which includes the Dhamekha stupa noted above. However, the temple also contains a relatively large statue of Buddha as well.

Most Obnoxious Tourists: The Chinese temple. While the Chinese temple was our first exposure to a very decorated temple, it also had the most obnoxious tourists with the loudest cameras and voices. I guess the good news about the obnoxious tourists is the fact that it’s just like being back at home with the Ugly American, right?

The Archaeological Museum

Although you couldn’t take cameras inside, it was quite a site with many pieces, and all for 5 rupees (that’s about 12 cents to you Americans)! Some of the highlights included the 9 planets sculptures and the many statues of Tara and the Buddha. I need to do some more reading on Buddhism before you expect me to tell you more information, though.

A final note to my mother: you would be proud of my babushka-esque outfit, and the way in which I wore sunscreen. I was definitely the person who got the least sun out of our group.