Ancient · Buddhist · India

Dhamek Stupa, Sarnath

धामेक स्तूप

Sarnath, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh · 25.3808°, 83.0245°

Buddha (first sermon site)GuptaStupa

Sacred since

249 BCE

Ashokan stupa & pillar, 3rd c. BCE

Standing structure

current stupa c. 500 CE over Mauryan core

Gupta

History & significance

Where the Buddha, weeks after enlightenment, turned the Wheel of Dharma — preaching the Four Noble Truths to five companions in the deer park. The 43.6 m Dhamek Stupa (Gupta-era brick over Ashoka's original) marks the spot; Ashoka's lion capital found here is India's national emblem, and the site anchors the global Buddhist circuit.

Sthala katha — the legend

A bodhisattva deer-king of Sarnath's ancient herds, offering his own life to a hunter-king in place of a doe's, converted the king and made the park inviolate — the deer that still graze here recall it.