Sarnath Audio Tour on HopOn India App – Land of Buddha's First Sermon, Varanasi

This temple was built in the year 1939. It is a

huge temple, built across acres of land. It is

said that the stone used to make the statues of

this temple were brought from China and

Myanmar. This style of making statues is called

brusni style, and Chinese artisans are experts in

the art of carving. You can see

the idol of Lord Buddha right in front of you.

Along with the idol, you will also see pictures

of the five main Chinese religious saints Mozi,

Mencius, Lolaozi, Confucius and Zhuang Zhou.

Here is a golden opportunity for you to sit

before lord Buddha and reflect or meditate.

During his visit to India, when Hiuen Tsang

came to Sarnath, this temple was not there.

The MulagandhaKutiVihara of that time was

located at a little distancefrom this temple.

Hiuen Tsang has provideda detailed

description of that Vihara. He has written that

its height was about 61 meters. On the basis of

the remains of the temple and the style of

brick-making and decorations, archaeologists

believe that the vihara of that time was built in

the Gupta period.

With the passage of time that temple turned

into ruins. The temple which you see today was

built by AngarikaDharmapala, who came from

Srilanka and founded Maha Bodhi Society in

India. In the modern history of Sarnath, he has

a special place.

MrigaVihara or deer park is a kind of mini zoo now, with

lots of deer,and some other animals and birds

as well. If you have children with you, then you

must visit this zoo. But even otherwise, if you

have an interest in birds and animals and like

to spend some time in the lap of nature, don’t

hesitate--go and visit the zoo.

This stupa

was initially built here by Emperor Ashoka in

249 BC, who also build many other

monuments here.

Emperor Ashoka was one of the great kings of

Indian history and the third king of the famous

Mauryan dynasty. He was the son of king

Bindusara and queen JanpadaKalyani. It is

believed that he was born sometime around

297 BC.

Ashoka was a chakravartin king, whose empire

expanded to almost all of present-dayIndia

and Pakistan and also stretched up to

Hindukush and the border of Iran in the north-

west. To expand his empire, he fought

numerous battles and shed a lot of blood.

Then the dreadful battle of Kalinga happened.

Ashoka was shaken by the sight of such gore.

His distressed heart foundsolace in Buddhism.

He decided to give up violence and to move

on the path of dharma. The teachings of Lord

Buddha converted emperor Ashoka into saint

Ashoka.

If India’s history and archaeology pique your

interest, then this place will turn out to be a

treasure trove for you. Towards your right, you

can see relics of an ancient civilization

scattered all around. These relics are extremely

important sources of historical information

about the area — its society and culture.

Across the enormous ground stretching to the

right of the path you can catch glimpses of the

ruins of an ancient Buddha Vihara, or

monastery.

The broken pillar that you will see here is what

remains of the famous pillar of Ashoka now.

When unbroken, the pillar, like

Dharmarajikastupa, was very tall. Along with

stupas, Ashoka had built many pillars in the

whole of north India. The height of his stupas

was between 40 to 50 feet, and they weighted

around 50 tons. The broken upper part of this pillar is kept

well-preserved in a museum, right here in

Sarnath. A little later on this very walk, we will

go to that museum.

Archaeological excavation started in 1904 in

Sarnath. Soon, such a large number of

archaeological artefacts were unearthed that a

need was felt to build an archaeological

museum here. Consequently, this museum was

founded in 1910. You can visit the museum

between 10:00 am and 05:00 pm. I hope it’s

not a Friday today, because the museum

remains closed on Fridays. Cameras and

mobile phones etc. are not allowed inside this

museum; hence, pause my narration, deposite

your electronic devices and then go inside.

It is probably not the biggest museum you

have seen, but it is an extremely important

one, simply because the top of the Ashoka

pillar is kept here. As soon as you enter the

museum, you will be able to catch the first

glimpse of this column head, made of

sandstone.

The entire museum is divided into many

galleries. Each gallery has a touchscreen

computer, which tells you about the artefacts

displayed in that particular gallery.

Buddhism is an important

religion in South-east Asia, and many countries

from the region have constructed their own

temples in Sarnath. This temple that you see

now was constructed by the government of

Thailand, and it will give you a glimpse of the

culture of Thailand.. The Thai temple you will

observe thatthis temple stands right in the

middle of a big open ground. The temple is

not the only thing to see in this campus. There

are many beautiful statues here as well. The

moment you enter the temple campus, you will

see an extremely large statue of Lord Buddha.

This is the main attraction of this temple. At

the time of its construction, this was the tallest

statue of standing Buddha in India.

It

is said that this is the place where Buddha first

met with his five disciples--Vappa, Mahanama,

Kaundinya, Bhaddiya and Ashwavijit. From

here, they went to the place where today

stands the Dhamekhstupa, and there,Lord

Buddha gave his first sermon. Here I must tell

you one thing -- the day when Buddha gave

his first sermon was the day of

VaishakhPurnima. Call it a coincidence or a

miracle -- the day when he was born and the

day he died were also Vaishakhpurnimas.

Today, in his honor, the day is also known as

Buddha Purnima.

As we move closer to the stupa, you should

know that this is the same road bywhich we

had come to Sarnath from Varanasi, which

means that we have completed almost one full

round of Sarnath.

It is said that this stupa was originally built as a

terraced temple. It was constructed in the 4th

or 5th century. Hiuen Tsang, the famous

Chinese traveler who visited Sarnath in the 7th

century, has described this stupa in his

writings.

This 93 ft. tall stupa is constructed on a

quadrilateral base. During the excavation

around this stupa, numerous statues were

found. Among them, the statue of the turning

of the wheel of dharma -- or Buddha

delivering his first sermon -- is the most

important one