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Sarnath - Historical Background
King Asoka visited Sarnath in 249 BC and erected several
monuments to mark his pilgrimage, notably; the
Dhamek stupa, Dharmarajika stupa
and the Asokan pillar surmounted by the famous Lion Capital,
which is now the crest of India. During the reign of King
Kaniska (78 AD), Sarnath was a centre of religious activity and
the famous collosal
Bodhisatta
image with a large parasol, was installed by the
bhikkhu
Bala of Mathura. During the Gupta period (4th-6th century AD),
the
Dhamek Stupa
was encased with carved stones, the Mulagandhakuti main shrine
was enlarged and the famous Preaching Buddha image, a gift of
King Kumaragupta, was added. In 520 AD, Sarnath had its share of
destruction during the invasion of the Huns under the barbarian
Mihirakula. But after the Huns were defeated, Sarnath again
flourished under the Buddhist king, Harsa Vardharna (606-647 AD)
and continued to be a living shrine under the Pala kings
(8th-12th century AD). The last known patron of Sarnath was
Queen Kumaradevi, the pious Buddhist wife of King Govindachandra
of Benares (1114-1154 AD). She built a large monastery at
Sarnath named Dhammacakka Jina Vihara, the ruins of which were
exposed during excavations in the early 20th century. Things
took a turn for the worse when Muslim hordes overran India and
started their trail of destruction. After
the
diaspora of the
Sangha
in
India, Sarnath became deserted and was forgotten for about 600
years. In 1794, Sarnath came to the notice of the world under
tragic circumstances. Jagat Singh, a minister in Benares,
dismantled the famous Dharmarajika
stupa
as a
convenient way of collecting bricks and stones for building a
housing colony. When the
stupa
was
pulled down, workmen found at a depth of 8.3m, a stone box
containing a green marble casket. Inside it were human relics,
presumably those of the Buddha, since they were enshrined there
by King Asoka. Following Hindu custom, Jagat Singh consigned
them into the Ganges River, where they were lost forever. This
act of vandalism would have gone unnoticed but for a report
about the discovery by Jonathan Duncan, Commissioner of Benares,
which appeared in the ‘Asiatic Researches.’ Soon public
attention was attracted to the ruins of Sarnath and in 1815,
Col. C. Mackenzie began explorations and discovered some
sculptures, which are now kept at the Calcutta Museum. In
1835-36, Cunningham carried out excavations and recovered over
forty sculptures and carved stones. Another tragedy struck when
they were carted away in his absence together with sixty
cartloads of stones from the shrines as construction material
for two bridges and some buildings in Benares. Further
excavations were continued on and off from 1851 to 1922, which
exposed the Dhamek
stupa,
the
Dharmarajika
stupa,
Mulagandhakuti shrine, Asokan pillar and the ruins of several
monasteries. The first four monuments are considered more sacred
because of their association with the Buddha. The fifth sacred
spot is probably the sunken shrine of Pancayatana, which is
believed by some monk teachers to be the site where the Buddha
preached the First Sermon. |
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