Ahead of a UNESCO team’s proposed visit to Sarnath, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will install what it is calling a “corrected” plaque that will credit a local ruler, and not the British, for preserving the holy Buddhist site.
“The proposal is for the new plaque to credit [Babu Jagat Singh] for bringing to light Sarnath’s archaeological importance for the first time in 1787-88, and not in 1798,” sources told The Indian Express. The change, sources said, was made based on a proposal submitted by Singh’s family to the ASI.
Earlier this year, India officially nominated Sarnath for the UNESCO World Heritage List for the 2025-26 cycle — a move that could end its 27-year wait on the tentative list. Here’s a brief history.
Sarnath: among holiest Buddhist sites
Sarnath, roughly 10 km to the northeast of Varanasi, is where the Buddha is said to have delivered his first sermon in c. 528 BCE, and the place at which the Buddhist sangha (community) is said to have formed.
While ancient Buddhist texts refer to this location as Mrigadava or Rishipatana, and do not provide an exact or even approximate location for it, oral tradition and the actions of Emperor Ashoka (c. 268-232 BCE) have been key to making this association.
Ashoka famously constructed a lion pillar at Sarnath that today acts as the emblem of the Republic of India. “…the very act of erecting the lion pillar probably was intended to mark the place as the location of the Buddha’s first sermon,” historian Frederick Asher wrote in his book Sarnath: A Critical History of the Place Where Buddhism Began (2020).
Recent excavations have unearthed evidence of pre-Ashokan activity and habitation at the site, but Ashoka remains singularly associated with Sarnath as its original patron. He oversaw the establishment of several monastic structures at the site, including the Dhamek Stupa, which is said to mark the exact location from where the Buddha delivered his first sermon. It is during his reign that Sarnath became a Buddhist pilgrimage site.
Sarnath was also patronised by Kushana (1st-4th century CE) and Gupta (3th-6th century CE) rulers, who refurbished Ashokan-era structures and built new ones. A thriving monastery survived at the location till about the 12th century CE.
Who ‘destroyed’ Sarnath?
There is historical consensus about the fact that Sarnath was sacked and burned sometime in the 12th century. Archaeologist Alexander Cunningham, who founded the ASI in 1861, wrote in his field notes: “… Major Kittoe (responsible for some of the earliest scientific excavations at the site)… summed up his conclusions… ‘All has been sacked and burnt, priests, temples, idols, all together’…”. (quoted in Giovanni Verardi, Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India, 2011).
Who was responsible for this destruction, however, remains a matter of debate.
Asher wrote: “…in 1193, Qutb-ud-din Aibek, the military commander of Muhammad of Ghor’s army, marched toward Varanasi, where he is said to have destroyed idols in a thousand temples. Sarnath very likely was among the casualties of this invasion…”. While Asher said this invasion was likely driven by the motive “to acquire land and wealth”, it probably led the surviving monks to flee, after which the monastery fell into ruin.
Verardi and archaeologist Federica Barba, however, make a different case. “…the archaeological evidence suggests that around the mid-twelfth century the Buddhists were forced to leave and that an imposing Saivite temple was erected on the site,” they wrote in the appendix of Verardi’s book. They added, however, that the “brahmanical project” in Sarnath “was never brought to conclusion”, perhaps due to the arrival of Muslim invaders.
What can be said with a degree of certainty is that for roughly seven centuries after Sarnath’s destruction, the site remained in ruins as Buddhism all but went extinct in its birthplace.
Modern ‘rediscovery’
Sarnath was among the earliest sites explored by amateur British archaeologists and indologists, possibly due to its proximity to Varanasi, which had a strong Company presence.
The credit for its “rediscovery”, however, goes to workers of Jagat Singh, the diwan of Raja Chait Singh of Benares, who were digging at the site to retrieve brick and stone for a new marketplace being built in his name. (The locality at the heart of modern Varanasi still goes by the name ‘Jagatganj’). The workers discovered the inscribed pedestal of an image of the Buddha and two stone reliquaries, the contents of which, according to historian B C Bhattacharya, “were thrown into the river Ganges” (The History of Sarnath or the Cradle of Buddhism, 1923).
In 1799, these findings were reported by Jonathan Dunancan, a prominent indologist who had founded the Sanskrit College at Varanasi in 1791. Duncan’s descriptions were what spurred subsequent British excavations at the site, most notably by Cunningham in 1835-36.
During these excavations, Cunningham discovered and removed many statues from the site, as well as the sandstone box reported by Duncan from the Dharmarajika Stupa (formerly known as the ‘Jagat Singh Stupa’). By 1836, Cunningham had conclusively identified Sarnath as the location of the Buddha’s first sermon.
The most significant work on Sarnath, however, was carried out by archaeologist Friedrich Oertel in 1904-05. “He was the first scholar to carry out the work of excavation systematically and on a scientific basis. As a result of his work, 476 architectural and sculptural relics and 41 inscriptions were discovered in one season,” Bhattacharya wrote.
Today, Sarnath is one of the four holiest Buddhist sites of pilgrimage (along with Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha; Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha attained enlightenment; and Kushinagara, where he left his mortal body). According to data released by the ASI, 8,43,836 people visited Sarnath in 2024-25.
An 1814 water colour painting of the Dhamek Stupa. (Wikimedia Commons) 
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