Than Hsiang DMS

Then I, walking on tour, in time arrived in Benares, at Isipatana, the Deer Park,
and there met the five monks.

Asoka’s Pillar

Originally over 12 meters high and crowned with the magnificent lion capital now in the museum, Asoka’s pillar was a most fitting monument to the important event that took place nearby.
The inscription reads, minus the first two lines, which are fragmentary: ‘…. The Sangha cannot be splits. Whoever, whether monk or nun, splits the Sangha must be made to wear white clothes and live somewhere other than in the monastery……’
This edict may well have been issued by Asoka just after the Third Council during which, tradition says, schismatic monks and nuns were expelled from the Sangha. The same edict with minor differences is to be found on pillars in Sanchi and Allahabad. When discovered in 1904, the broken shaft of the pillar still stood in its original position, indicating that it was not shattered by falling over but rather by being hit with a tremendous force, perhaps the spire of the Mulagandhakuti collapsing on it.

Mulagandhakuti

This shrine was built at the site of the original hut in which the Buddha resided during his stay in Sarnath, hence its name, ‘The Original Fragrant Hut.’ In later centuries it evolved into a huge structure. Huien Tsiang saw it and described it thus: ‘In the great enclosure is a temple about 200 feet high; above the roof is a golden-covered figure of a mango. The foundations of the building are of stone, and stairs also, but the towers and niches are of brick. The niches are arranged on the four sides in a hundred successive lines, and in each niche is a golden figure of the Buddha. In the middle of the temple is a figure of the Buddha made of copper. It is life-size, and he is represented as turning the wheel of the Dhamma.’
Among the small votive stupas close to the west side of the Mulagandhakuti was found a fragment of a stone umbrella with part of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta inscribed on it. It reads:
‘There are, O monks, these Four Noble Truths. What four? The Noble Truth of suffering, the Noble Truth of the cause of suffering, and the Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering, and the Noble Truth of the path leading to the cessation of suffering.’
The inscription, which dates from about the 3rd century CE, is written in Pali and indicates that the Pali Tipitaka was known and used in Sarnath at that time. This interesting inscription is now displayed in the museum.

Dharmek Stupa
It marks the site of the teaching of te Buddha’s second discourse, the Anattalakkhana Sutta.
Cunningham spent three years from 1834 excavating inside the Dharmek Stupa. He started digging a shaft from the top down and later linked it up to a tunnel he dug inwards from the top of the stonework. He discovered that the stupa was solid stone from the ground level up to 10 meters and that every stone was held together with at least eight iron clamps. But months of laborious digging and a cost of more than 500 Rupees yielded not a single relic. The Dharmek Stupa was first built during the Mauryan period, although the stone facing that the pilgrm can see today dates from the Gupta period.

Note: information extracted from ‘Middle Land Middle Way’ by Ven. S. Dhammika.