Buddhist carvings in the museum at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, from the Kitchener of Khartoum Collection: 'Views of Benares. Presented by the Maharaja of Benares' by Madho Prasad, c. 1905. Sarnath is the sacred place where the Buddha preached his first sermon known as the Wheel of Law, the Dharmachakra in the sixth century BC. The remains here reveal a continuous occupation from the period of Ashoka in the third Century BC until the last days of the faith in northern India in the 11th to 12th Centuries. The Museum displays sculptures found at the site. In this photograph we see the Gupta period 5th century Buddha preaching the first sermon at Sarnath. Seated in posture of meditation the Buddha makes the two-handed preaching gesture. The two deers reveal that the sermon is at Sarnath.
