Sarnath

This article is about the Indian city. For H. P. Lovecraft's fictitious city, see The Doom That Came to Sarnath.

Sarnath
Town
View of Sarnath, looking from the ancient Mulagandha Kuty Vihara towards the Dhamek Stupa
Sarnath Location within India Sarnath Location within Uttar Pradesh
Coordinates: 25.3780°N 83.0251°E / 25.3780; 83.0251
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Varanasi
Population  (2019)
• Total	11,000
Languages
• Local	Bhojpuri
Time zone	UTC+5:30
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath
Criteria	Cultural: iii, vi
Reference	927
Inscription	2026 (48th Session)
Area	8.05 ha
Buffer zone	72.2 ha

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with deprecated parameter settlement_type. Replace with type.

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with deprecated parameter image_caption. Replace with caption.

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with deprecated parameter image_skyline. Replace with image.

Translations of Sarnath
Sanskrit	सारनाथम् (IAST: saraṅga-nāthá)
Bengali	সারনাথ
Burmese	ဣသိပတန မိဂဒါဝုန်
Chinese	鹿野苑 (Pinyin: Lùyěyuàn)
Indonesian	Sarnath
Japanese	サールナート/鹿野苑 (Rōmaji: Sārunāto/Rokuyaon)
Korean	사르나트/녹야원(鹿野園) (RR: Sareunateu/Nokyawon)
Sinhala	සාරනාත්
Tamil	சாரநாத்
Thai	สารนาถ
Vietnamese	Sarnath
Glossary of Buddhism

Map of Sarnath in relation to other Eight Great Places Buddhist pilgrimage sites and notable nearby cities

Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, Sarangnath, Isipatana Deer Park, Rishipattana, Migadaya, or Mrigadava) is a town northeast of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh, India. It was here that the Buddha gave his first sermon after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The Lion Capital of Ashoka, raised on a column in Sarnath in 250 BCE by the first Buddhist emperor Ashoka, commemorates this event. It is also the State Emblem of India.

Sarnath is one of the eight most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists, and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being added to the list in 2026.

Sarnath is where Gautama Buddha's sangha first convened, when he gave the first teaching to his original five disciples Kaundinya, Assaji, Bhaddiya, Vappa and Mahanama, known as The First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. As the Lalitavistara sutra states, the Gautama Buddha chose "Deer Park by the Hill of the Fallen Sages, outside of Varanasi" for his first teaching after he attained enlightenment The teaching is entitled Dhammacakkappavattana sutra. This teaching occurred circa 528 BCE when the Buddha was approximately 35 years of age.

The hagiographic Buddhavamsa says that a previous Buddha called Kassapa Buddha was born in Sarnath. There, like his successor Gautama, he joined a sangha of men and women in order to give his first teaching.

Several sources state that the name Sarnath is derived from Saranganath, which translates to 'Lord of the Deer'. According to one history, during the local king's hunting trip, a male deer (buck) offered to sacrifice himself to save the life of a female deer (doe) that the king was aiming to kill. Impressed, the king then declared his park would thereafter be a deer sanctuary.

According to Sutra 16 of the Mahaparinibbana sutra within the Digha Nikaya, the Buddha named Sarnath as one of four Buddhist pilgrimage sites that devout followers should visit and look upon with samvega or feelings of reverence. The other three sites named by the Buddha are Lumbini, his birthplace; Bodh Gaya, where he achieved enlightenment; and, Kushinagar, where he attained parinirvana.

Sarnath is located eight kilometres (five miles) northeast of Varanasi near the confluence of the Ganges and the Varuna rivers.