This volume attempts an objective assessment of the history, rise and decline of Sarnath by studying archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources. It explores the religious traditions, origin and geomorphological construction of the Sarnath region, dhammacakkapabattana, its religious and architectural symbolism and patronage.

This book is an attempt to discuss the status of Buddhism in Sarnath on the basis of the vast available original sources. It is a reconstruction of different Buddhist traditions that evolved in Sarnath since the preaching of four noble truths to the construction of Dharmachakrajina Vihara in the early medieval age. An objective assessment of the history, architecture, epigraphs and decline of Sarnath has been undertaken by placing reliance mainly on archaeological, epigraphic and literary sources. An effort has been made to analyse the religious traditions, origin and geo-morphological construction of the Sarnath region, dhammacakkapabattana, its religious and architectural symbolism and patronage. The probable causes of the decline of Buddhism in Sarnath is also traced on the background of Chinese, Indian and Persian sources supported by archaeological reports.Z