Revisiting the sarnath buddhist site with the help of remote sensing & GIS

Abstract

Sarnath is located in the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, at a distance of about 8 km northwest of Varanasi Cantt railway station. It is an ancient site protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and has been included in UNESCO's "Tentative list of heritage sites" since 1998. According to literary and archaeological evidence, Sarnath is the place where Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon, known as DharmachakraPravartan. Sarnath has been mentioned in the Shunga inscription found here by the name of "Saddhadharma Chakra Pravartana". The most ancient structure found here dates back to the Maurya period, followed by remains from the Shunga, Gupta, Rajput, and Mughal eras. Sarnath has been mentioned in accounts of travelers such as Faxian and Xuanzang, as well as in Lalitvistara and Jataka tales. The site of Sarnath had a Buddhist monastery until the 12th century AD, which is believed to have been destroyed by Muhammad Ghori's general, Qutbud-Din Aibak, in 1194 (Sahni, D.R. 1972). This ancient site remained neglected until the ASI came into existence. The present research has utilized remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify the archaeological extent of the Sarnath site and its surroundings. In this article, we will demonstrate how GIS and RS can be used in the field of archaeology to understand the context of the currently visible remains within the original extent, thereby revealing the extent to which the site has been affected by modern development.