The site

Sarnath is a town northeast of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, India, revered as the place where the Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment. Here he set in motion the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma before his original five disciples. The Lion Capital of Ashoka, raised on a column here around 250 BCE, commemorates the event and now serves as the State Emblem of India, making Sarnath one of the eight great Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

Field notes

civilizations

Ancient India (Gupta)

types

City

occupied

300 BCE — 1,200 CE

country

India