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Indian TRAVELOGUE

SARNATHSarnath Stupa

The deer park in Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha first taught the Dharma, and where the Buddhist Sangha came into existence through the enlightenment of

Kondanna. Singhpur, a village approximately one km away from the site, was the birthplace of Shreyansanath, the eleventh Tirthankara of Jainism, and a temple

dedicated to him, is an important pilgrimage site.

Sarnath is a city located 13 kilometres north-east of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Gomati rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India.

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Indian TRAVELOGUE

Isipatana is mentioned by the Buddha as one of the four places of pilgrimage which his devout followers should visit, if they wanted to visit a place for that reason. It

was also the site of the Buddhas Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, which was his first teaching after attaining enlightenment, in which he taught the four noble truths and

the teachings associated with it.

Mrigadava means deer-park. Isipatana is the name used in the Pali Canon, and means the place where holy men (Pali: isi, Sanskrit: rishi) landed.

The legend says that when the Buddha-to-be was born, some devas came down to announce it to 500 rishis. The rishis all rose into the air and disappeared and their relics fell to the ground.[citation needed] Another explanation for the name is that Isipatana was so called because sages, on their way through the air (from the Himalayas), alight here or start from here on their aerial flight (isayo ettha nipatanti uppatanti cati-Isipatanam). Pacceka Buddhas, having spent seven days in contemplation in the Gandhamadana, bathe in the Anotatta Lake and come to the habitations of men through the air, in search of alms. They descend

to earth at Isipatana. Sometimes the Pacceka Buddhas come to Isipatana from Nandamulaka-pabbhara.

Xuanzang quotes the Nigrodhamiga Jataka (J.i.145ff) to account for the origin of the Migadaya. According to him the Deer Park was a forest given by the king of Benares of the Jataka, where deer might wander unmolested. The Migadaya was so-called because deer were allowed to roam about their unmolested.

Sarnath derives from the Sanskrit Saranganatha, which means Lord of the Deer, and relates to another old Buddhist story in which the Bodhisattva is a deer and offers his life to a king instead of the doe the latter is planning to kill. The king is so moved that he creates the park as a sanctuary for deer. The park is still there today.