Part 15 - Chaukhandi stūpa

Outside the main monastic complex one approaching it through the Ghazipur Road can see a large brick stūpa with an octagonal tower at the top half a mile before reaching the main complex. It is basically a brick made stūpa of a squarish shape and hence locally known as the Chaukhandi stūpa. The octagonal tower at the top gave a height of total 84 feet. The tower was however added much later into the stūpa. It was probably a memorial stūpa built on the spot to commemorate the Buddha’s meeting with his first batch of lay devotees. In the description of Xuang Zang a stūpa not having the usual inverted bell shape featured. It was located some 2 or 3 li to the south west of the Deer park monastery. From all probability it seems to be the Chaukhandi stupa that the pilgrim was talking about. The credit of its first exploration goes to Cunningham. He examined the centre of the present mound and saw that it was a solid brick built structure. He sank a shaft into the structure from the floor of the octagonal tower at the top to the level of virgin soil and concluded that it must be the same memorial stūpa mentioned by Xuang Zang where the Buddha met his five recluses.^[1] Later Kittoe found three massive straight walls about mid way up the eastern side and the two more on the western side. Apparently they seemed to be gigantic buttresses. Else they might have been built to support the upper portion of the building that no longer exists.

A more detailed survey of the structure was made in 1904- 05. This report confirms the view of Cunningham that the brick stupa located half a mile south-west of the Dhamek stūpa and mentioned by Hiuen Tsang was actually the Chaukhandi stūpa. In this session lower parts of the stūpa was exposed. It stood on a basement consisting of three square terraces each of 12 feet breadth and height. The innermost portion of the stūpa was solid brickwork laid in clay mortar.^[2]

The site layout and its gradual evolution of monastic life suggests that Sārnāth’s growth shows that from Aśoka’s time it was continuously promoted and upgraded to commemorate the central event of the Buddha’s Dharmacakrapravartaṇa. An active monastic life grew under the royal prerogatives and no schisms were tolerated at least under Aśoka. However from different epigraphic evidences we see sectarianism could not be prevented and from time to time the site came under the domination of Sarvāstīvādins, Vāstuputrikasandsammitya sects. Other than Aśoka, Śuṅga, Kuṣāṇa, Gupta rulers showered lavish grants on the site. So from Aśokan to subsequent time it grew as an active monastic centre where Buddhist sects vied with one another to gain royal favour and to dominate Sārnāth.

We also see local Vārāṇasī kings monitoring and granting towards its growth. This continued up till the medieval times, when Gahadvala queen Kumārīdevī built a whole monastic structure for the residential purpose of the monks. So Sārnāth’s history was totally associated with Vārāṇasī. In the pre-Buddhist period it was one of the many hermitages located near Vārāṇasī for easy availability of livelihood. The Buddha’s first sermon rendered it a new identity that got a direction under Aśoka and flourished in subsequent times with help and aid from different quarters. Even the grant of Kāśī queen Kumārī devī shows that Sārnāth could never come out of the shadow of Vārāṇasī in the medieval times and remained a subsidiary settlement of the former.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Alexander Cunningham, Archaeological Survey of India, Four Reports made During the Years 1862-63-64-65, vol. I, Delhi, Rahul Publishing House, 1994, pp.116-17.

[2]:

Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1904-05, Delhi, Swati Publications, 1990, pp.76-78.