Sarnath

Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, Sarangnath, Isipatana Deer Park, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a town northeast of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was here that the Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The Lion Capital of Ashoka, raised on a column in Sarnath in 250 BCE by the first Buddhist emperor Ashoka, commemorates this event. It is also the State Emblem of India. Sarnath is one of the eight most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being added to the list in 2026. Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha's sangha first convened, when he gave the first teaching to his original five disciples Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama, known as The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. As the Lalitavistara sutra states, the Gautama Buddha chose "Deer Park by the Hill of the Fallen Sages, outside of Varanasi" for his first teaching after he attained enlightenment The teaching is entitled Dhammacakkappavattana sutra. This teaching occurred circa 528 BCE when the Buddha was approximately 35 years of age. The hagiographic Buddhavamsa says that a previous Buddha called Kassapa Buddha was born in Sarnath. There, like his successor Gautama, he joined a sangha of men and women in order to give his first teaching. Several sources state that the name Sarnath is derived from Saranganath, which translates to 'Lord of the Deer'. According to one history, during the local king's hunting trip, a male deer (buck) offered to sacrifice himself to save the life of a female deer (doe) that the king was aiming to kill. Impressed, the king then declared his park would thereafter be a deer sanctuary. According to Sutra 16 of the Mahaparinibbana sutra within the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha named Sarnath...