Sarnath: There are four geographically important places in the life of Buddha: Where he was born (Lumbini, Nepal), where he gained enlightenment (Bodh Gaya, India), where he gave his first sermon (Sarnath, India) and where he left his mortal body (Kushinager, India). Buddhist worldwide look upon India as the land of the Buddha and a visit to this country means a pilgrimage to those place sacred to the memory of the Enlightened one.
Sarnath is now home to India’s tallest statue of Lord Buddha at 80 feet, built in an area of 2.5 acres and consisting of 815 stones. We
will see a number of Stupas, excavated ruins of monasteries, the deer
park where Buddha gave his first sermon and the Ashoka Pillar with
the four-sided lions head, which is India's National Emblem at Sarnath
museum. In the Sarnath Museum, we will see a rich collection of Buddhist
sculptures comprising numerous Buddha and Bodhisattva images, considered
amongst the finest specimens of Buddhist art. Feel free to walk around
(clock-wise) the great Stupa, or if you are feeling energetic, do
the whole thing - walk around it 108 times. The Mulagandha Kuti Vihar is a modern temple erected by the Mahabodhi Society. It has excellent frescoes by Kosetsu Nosu Japan's foremost painter and is a rich repository of Buddhist literature. Also see the bodhi tree whose sapling was brought from a tree in Sri Lanka, which in turn originated from the original tree under which Buddha sat in Bodh Gaya and gained enlightenment 2,500 years ago. |