Sârnâth

History

As always do it the Sâdhu S of India nowadays, the Buddha did not move during the season of the Mousson or Vassa and it thus remained in Sârnâth during this one, sheltering in the Mulagandhakuti Vihara , makes a hut of it where it will take the practice to reside at the time of its stays at Sârnâth. Sangha having reached the number of 60 people, the Buddha dispersed it so that it spreads Dharma.

Sârnâth became a major Buddhist center of the school Sammatiya, a primitive Nikâya of the Hînayâna. However, one found in Sârnâth of the representations of Heruka and Târâ, which seems to indicate that the Bouddhisme vajrayâna also was practiced there or taught. The local râjas and the commercial rich person based with Vârânasî took part largely in the blooming of Buddhism with Sârnâth. At the 3rd century, it had become an important artistic center which reaches its zenith during the period Gupta - IVe at the 6th century). At the time of his visit with Sârnâth during the reign of Chandragupta II, the Buddhist pilgrim Chinese Faxian discovered four there Stûpa S and two monasteries. Later at the 7th century, Xuanzang counted 30 monasteries and 3.000 monks there.

The site continues to thrive under the dynasty of the Pâla before undergoing, in 1026, the blows of the Afghan plunderer Mahmûd de Ghaznî at the time of one of its 17 raids in the north of India.

The Dharmachakrajina Vihâra is the last large monastery set up on the site, a construction sponsored by the Kumardevi wife of the râja of the Principauté of Bénarès, Govindachandra of the dynasty of the Gâhadavâla, which reigned of 1114 to 1154.

The site is shaved by the sultan of Delhi Qûtb ud-DIN Aibak in 1194 and becomes inactive with quasi the disappearance of Buddhism of the Indian ground. It falls then into the lapse of memory during six centuries until in 1794, when Jagat Singh, the Dîvân of the râja of Bénarès, recovers bricks of the Stûpa Dharmarâjika to use them like construction material. In 1798, Jonathan Duncan, the English resident with Bénarès makes the report of discovered of a green marble box contained in a stone trunk put at the day during work on the stûpa, involving an interest for the site. The box which had been taken site, contrary to the trunk that Sir Alexander Cunningham will find in place in 1835, sheltered fragments of bone, pearls, rubies and gold and disappeared today with its contents. The stone trunk empties as for him was sent to the Bengal Asiatic Society by Cunningham and fact part today of the collections of the Indian Museum of Kolkata.

Following the discovery of Jagat Singh, Sârnâth will become a field of excavations for the treasure hunters. In 1815 are carried out the first official excavations under the direction of colonel C. Mackenzie. Those of Cunningham into 1835-1836 follow which update a monastery. In 1851 - 1852, major Kittoe, who occupies the station of Archaeological Enquirer reveals several stûpas and a monastery, then in 1904 - 1905, F.C. Gertel finds the principal sanctuary and the pillar of Asoka with its famous capital with the lions, as well as many sculptures and inscriptions. Among the other excavation campaigns of Sârnâth, one counts those of C. Horne (1865), Sir John Marshall (1907), H. Hargreaves (1914 - 1915) and Daya RAM Sahni (1927 - 1932).

It is a Buddhist singhalais Anagarika Dharmapala, which is the craftsman of the restoration of the monuments of Sârnâth, which were, at this time, in a great state of decay and abandonment. He pleads in his writings and his speeches for a rehabilitation of Sârnâth and raises funds at prosperous Indiens and of Westerners. He is also at the origin of the construction of the Mulagandhakuti Vihâra - a Buddhist temple which will be built there in 1931.

Inheritance

All the old buildings of Sârnâth were ransacked by the Moslems. Among the notable ruins, one counts:

the Dhâmek Stûpa , of which the original structure dates from the IIe and 3rd century. The cylindrical building was altered and increased at the 7th century. Brick fact, it measures still today some 35 meters height for about thirty meters in diameter. It is decorated with planks and is dug niches. Its base however is built out of stones and its cohesion is ensured by iron cramps.

the Dharmarâjika Stûpa is one of rare the stûpas dating from the time of Ashoka, only remain its foundations after its plundering by Jagat Singh.

the ruins of the Mulagandhakuti Vihâra indicates the place where the Buddha passed its first monsoon while that in the east one finds the building modern of the same name, decorated of fresco of the Japanese painter Kosetsu Us.

the Chaukhandî Stûpa , set up according to the tradition at the place of the meeting of the Buddha and the Bhadravargîya , and on which Akbar made raise an octagonal tower in memory of his/her father Humâyûn.

the Pilier of Ashoka broken for a long time remains however drawn up. The capital with the lions, today emblem of the country, did not suffer from its fall of about fifteen meters. It is exposed in the archaeological museum.

Moreover, one finds on the site:

a tree pipal planted by Anagarika Dharmapala starting from a rejection of the tree of Bodh-Gaya,

the museum, oldest managed by the Archaeological Survey off India. Built on the initiative of Sir John Marshall, then managing director of Archeology in the Indies, the plans are drawn not James Ramson and the museum opens its doors with the public in 1910. It exposes parts dating from third century BC to the 12th century of the Christian era.

Project

In 1996, it was decided to draw up in Sarnath a statue of Buddha upright out of sandstone of Gandharva style, which would be largest in the world since the destruction of those of Bamiyan. The realization could begin in 2003 thanks to the financial participation from the Thailand. Completion is planned for 2009-2010.

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