Sarnath Museum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sarnath Museum

The Sarnath Museum or Archaeological Museum Sarnath contains only finds from the Buddhist archaeological site of Sarnath ; it is one of the most visited museums in India . The gazelle park of Sarnath is considered to be the place where, after his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree of Bodhgaya , Buddha first put into words the knowledge of his hikes, ascetic exercises and meditations and communicated Kaundinya , Vappa , Bhadriya , Mahanaman and Asvajit to his students .

location

Lion capital in the Sarnath Museum

The museum is located at the approx. 80 m high Buddhist archaeological site of Sarnath approx. 10 km northeast of the city ​​of Varanasi on the Ganges .

history

In Sarnath, several excavation campaigns had taken place since 1835, during which a large number of statues, reliefs, etc. were discovered. On the initiative of the then director of the Archaeological Survey of India Sir John Marshall , planning began in 1905 for a museum at the Sarnath archaeological site, which was ready for occupancy in 1910.

Exhibits

The museum presents numerous exhibits from the Buddhist era of Sarnath (approx. 3rd century BC to 12th century AD). Particularly noteworthy is an approximately 1.20 m high relief statue of the teaching Buddha from the Gupta period , but also that from the 3rd century BC. The finely polished and, despite some damage, still impressive lion capital on an Ashoka pillar , dating from the 4th century, is of exceptional handcrafted perfection. Several standing Buddha figures with honorary umbrellas ( chhatras ) are located in the large entrance hall.

Since the 8th and 9th centuries, Hinduism in northern India was regained and Buddha was accepted into the Hindu pantheon as the 9th incarnation of Vishnu ; There are also some Hindu figures of gods, which were probably brought here as votive offerings , among the exhibits in the museum.

  • Lion capital (photo around 1905)

  • Buddha with teaching gesture

  • Students in Gazelle park of Sarnath Buddha worship in the form of the wheel of the doctrine of

Web links

Commons : Sarnath Museum  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes


Coordinates: 25 ° 22 ′ 46 ″  N , 83 ° 1 ′ 23 ″  E