Only six miles from
Varnassi is the city of Sarnath, which is the site where the Buddha gave his
first sermon after achieving enlightenment. Even if nothing of world significance
had happened at this site one might venture from Varnassi to this site just to
gain a measure of peace.
The site of Buddha’s
first speech is a large park cordoned off from the surrounding city. There are
several ruins on the site, partially excavated temples and such. But everyone
heads straight to the stupa, the giant stone tower-like structure built to
honor the spot where the Buddha supposedly gave his first speech. Devotees
circumambulate the structure or sit in meditation.
Although we wanted to
drive up in a car, the hotel said they had no cars left and so we were forced
to take a tuk-tuk there. Surprisingly there are no guides, as exist at almost
every other site in India, to hit you up before you walk into the site. Also,
no one really bothers you while you are there except for a few random young men
selling postcards or small statues. One came up to Jane, opened his shirt and
flashed a statue and said, “Buy the Buddha?”
Jane and I sat on a shaded
bench near a spot where group of about twenty French tourists were sitting in a
circle listening to a man discourse on something or other. I went up to go to
the bathroom and immediately after I left a golden-robed monk, head-shaved, approached
Jane and asked for a donation to some charity he was running.
We spent two hours
sitting peacefully in the park and could have easily have spent more time if we
hadn’t booked the tuk-tuk for three hours and wanted to get to the museum
What was in the museum
escapes me. What I do remember is that we spent more time in the gift shop
before heading back to the craziness of Varansi.
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