#chaukhandi
Located 600m south of the main Sarnath Buddhist Complex, Chaukhandi Stupa is a lofty brick structure curiously crowned with an octagonal tower. The name #Chaukhandi comes from the four-armed plan of the stupa, declared of national importance by the ASI in 2019.
The stupa was erected to mark the place where it is believed Lord Buddha and his first disciples met as he made his way from #BodhGaya to the location of his first sermon at Sarnath. It is not clear if originally there was a more regular smaller stupa here, as the monument has been altered considerably over the centuries.
#ChaukhandiStupa is first recorded by the Chinese #Buddhist monk-scholar Hiuen T’sang (Husan Tsang/Xuanzang), who traveled extensively in north India between 634 and 645. So as far as documentary evidence is concerned, we know there was a stupa here by the mid 7th century.
As far as the archaeological record is concerned, the rising stepped-terraces most prominent on the eastern side were uncovered during excavations in 1835 and 1904-05. These date to the Gupta period, sometime between the 4th and 6th century. Unearthed was an image of Buddha seated in dharmachakra-mudra, a Bodhisattva and two carved bas-reliefs of leogryphs and gladiators.
In 1835, Alexander Cunningham dug a vertical shaft from the top all the way down to the foundation layers hoping to find a relic chamber. His efforts proved fruitless, nothing of any significance was found.
The octagonal tower perched on top of the stupa is a much later addition. It was commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1567 in memory of his father Humayun, who visited Sarnath in 1532. The construction was undertaken by Govardhan, son of Akbar’s Hindu finance minister Raja Todar Mal. Akbar is famous for his reported tolerance of religion and secularism, detailed in my blog about Akbar’s Tomb at Sikandra.
Chaukhandi Stupa is isolated from the other monuments at #Sarnath, and perhaps a little overshadowed by them as well. It’s a #monument well worth visiting, providing solitude and peace far removed from the crowds a short distance away.
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