SARNATH - The First Turning of the Wheel

“I performed sixty trillion sacrifices there;

I made offerings to sixty trillion buddhas there.

Varanasi was the preferred place of the previous sages;

This place, exalted by gods and nagas, is ever inspiring for Dharma.

“I remember that ninety-one billion previous buddhas

Turned the sublime wheel in that supreme grove named after the sages,

Where peace, tranquility, and concentration are actualized, and deer always dwell.

Thus I too will turn the sublime wheel in the supreme grove named after the sages.”

Lalitavistara Sutra

Thus spoke the fully-enlightened Gautama when questioned by the four gods of the Bodhi tree why He had chosen to first turn the Wheel of Dharma at the Deer Park at Sarnath, some twelve kilometers from the ancient city of Varanasi.

The name Sarnath comes from Saranganatha, which means ‘Lord of the Deer’. The Buddha, in one of His previous lives, had been the chief deer in a herd that roamed this stretch of land. One day, the king went hunting and aimed his arrow at a pregnant doe. Selflessly, the head of the herd offered his own life in exchange for hers.

Touched to the core by this noble gesture, the king not only spared both their lives, but declared the park a safe haven for deer.

The Deer Park was also a place of choice for sages to meditate in, and in its heyday harboured a great number of rishis who dwelt here in their search for enlightenment. It is also known as the Place of the Falling Sages, referring to the time when five hundred sages

who were deep in meditation at the Deer Park were informed by the Devas of the forthcoming birth of the Buddha. At this, all five hundred simultaneously rose up to the heavens and entered Nirvana, leaving behind them a shower of relics that fell back onto the consecrated ground.

It was here that the Buddha went in search of His former five companions in order to teach them the ineffable truth that He had discovered under the Bodhi tree.

In this First Turning of the Wheel, known as Dharmacakrapravartana, the Buddha taught the five ascetics the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Noble Path and the Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination, placing them in the state of

Arhantship. Fifty-five young men of the Varanasi élite followed in their path, the ranks of the enlightened Sangha now swelled to sixty. These the Buddha sent in different directions to preach His Dharma.

As a result of this great deed, Isipatana, another name for Sarnath, became a symbol of the teaching of the Dharma and a major centre of pilgrimage. From the time of King Ashoka, it saw the creation of major Buddhist monasteries, as the rich and powerful subsidised the thousands of monks that these housed and sponsored

the building of the superb statues and artifacts that filled them. Numberless stupas, temples and shrines sprouted, that commemorated not only the passage of the historical Buddha but also that of the many Buddhas who had in the

past performed enlightened activities in this blessed land. Artifacts discovered in its ruins evidence to the fact that not only was the early form of Buddhism practised here, but so was also Mahayana and Vajrayana. This awe-inspiring wealth of religious structures thrived until the twelfth century when these were razed by the Turkish Muslim invasion that swept the region and nearly eradicated Buddhism from

the land of its birth. What was once a major centre of pilgrimage that boasted remarkable expressions of religious art, knowledge and activity, today presents itself as a flattened space where one can at best distinguish the outline of their excavated remains.

Dominating the ground is the Dhamek stupa, the only structure to have survived the onslaught of destruction that leveled everything around it, and the main focus for the thousands of pilgrims that continue to visit Sarnarth today. General consensus has it that this

monumental structure marks the place where the Buddha first turned the Wheel of Dharma for His five companions. From the small fragments that remain of the intricately carved surface of its base, one can only guess at what might have been its erstwhile splendour.

As one enters the Sarnath grounds, one is immediately met with the imposing Chaukhandi mound, a vestige of a what was described by the 7th century Chinese pilgrim Hsüang-tsang as a colossal stupa of astonishing beauty, said to commemorate the first meeting of the Buddha with His five companions following His enlightenment. Today, an octagonal tower erected by a Mughal emperor in the sixteenth century replaces the reversed-vase dome that originally crowned it.

Among the ruins that cover the grounds are the remnants of what was an expansive monastery whose main shrine is now one of the focal points of interest for pilgrims. Next to this is what is left

of a great pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka, said to mark the spot from where the Buddha sent His first sixty disciples to preach the Dharma. In all likelihood struck down by lightning during the

course of its history, it was originally capped by a stunning lion capital that has become the symbol of the Indian nation and, virtually intact from its long and abrupt fall, is now the pride of the Sarnath Archeological Museum collection.

Another major point of interest at Sarnath is the Dharmarajika Stupa, which vies with Dhamek Stupa as a possible location for the Buddha’s first teaching. In what turned out to be a fortunate twist

of fate, it was thanks to the stupa’s dismantling for building material that Sarnath was discovered as a site of archeological interest. Built by Emperor Ashoka in the third century, assumedly to enshrine a portion of the Buddha’s relics brought from Kushinagar, its destruction was ordered in the late eighteenth century by a ruling lord of Varanasi in order to put its bricks to more practical use. As they were tearing the stupa apart, the workmen discovered among

the rubble a green marble casket encased in a stone coffer. When pried open, it revealed its treasure of pearls, rubies, gold, silver and charred bones; the latter were taken to be the Buddha’s and committed to the Ganges, while the rest of the contents were given to a leading archeologist for safekeeping. This, and the unearthing of other artifacts on the site created a stir of curiosity among archeologists that led to the discovery of the fount of treasures laying underground, establishing Sarnath as one of the major sites of Buddhist pilgrimage. The last, and also the largest, monastery ever to be constructed at Sarnath was the impressive Dharhachakra-jina Vihara. In an attempt to revive the decaying glory of Sarnath, this monastery

was built by Kumaradevi, the pious queen of 12th century Benares King Govindachandra. Among its ruins a stone slab was discovered, displaying a poem versed in six languages praising the incomparable qualities of Queen Kumaradevi; her character is described as being exhaustively devout and moral, her appearance charming to the eye, and her gait that of an elephant. The verses go on to describe her monastery as an ornament to the earth and destined

to last as long as the sun and the moon. Ironically, it was not long after its construction that the Turkish onslaught destroyed it and everything around it. Following His enlightenment, the Buddha spent His first rainy season retreat at Sarnath, in a monastery called Mulgandhakuti, whose ruins include votive stupas of great beauty, which are in remarkably good repair. Nearby is the modern Mulgandha Vihara, built in 1931 by Anagarika Dharmapala, the Sri Lankan founder of the Mahabodhi Society, which is

nowadays responsible for its upkeep. The Vihara is a hub of activity, with the daily chanting of the First Sermon by local monks. Its walls are decorated with charming Dharmachakra-jina Vihara Ruins of the original Mulgandha Kuti Modern Mulgandha Vihara Anagarika Dharmapala

frescoes depicting the life of the Buddha, executed by the Japanese artist Kosetu Notsu. Sitting on its altar is a gilded statue of the Buddha in teaching mudra, a replica of one of the many statues unearthed at the site.

What was salvaged of the many statues and artifacts that survived invaders and treasure hunters are today to be seen at the Sarnath Archeological Museum, sole reliquary for the treasures that once made Sarnath a major centre of religious art and education. Many of the works on display date from the Gupta dynasty, which ruled the subcontinent from the 4th to the 6th centuries in a climate of peace and prosperity,

leading to incomparable advances in all fields of knowledge and artistic expression, and spawning the creation of Hindu culture as we know it. Some of the statues in the museum, particularly those dating from this period, are of an arresting beauty that is unmarred by the ill fortunes that beset them.

As one wanders through the ruins of Sarnath, it is difficult to remain untouched by the significance and intensity that each brick and stone exudes, and not to wonder whether one might have been among the extraordinarily fortunate beings that were there for the First Turning of the Wheel.