In the heart of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh lies Sarnath, a site of profound historical and religious significance. It is the sacred ground where the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama delivered his first sermon, setting in motion the spiritual path of Buddhism. Today the site is an archaeological park and a tourist destination, receiving more than 750,000 visitors a year in pre-covid times.
“Sarnath is a quiet site, a spiritually aligned place of peace and of cultural and historical interest,” says Dr Kiran Shinde, convenor of the Planning Program at La Trobe University. “While it’s currently maintained for its archaeological significance it is underdeveloped as a spiritual site, and the infrastructure is not adequate for the tourist demands that are placed on it.”
Dr Shinde has spent years studying religious and historical sites and cultural landscapes and is an expert on how these are used for tourism purposes. For him, Sarnath is a perfect example of a convergence between tourism and spirituality. Sarnath is one of the four main sites on the Buddhism pilgrimage route. To the north in present day Nepal is Lumbini, where Siddhartha Gautama was born, and Bodh Gaya in the nearby state of Bihar, where he meditated under the Bodhi tree and achieved
enlightenment. The fourth site – Kushinagar – where the Buddha attained Parinirvana (passed away) is also
in Uttar Pradesh.
“Sarnath is a well visited site, and there is some variety in the visitors that find their way there,” says Dr Shinde. “One of the main groups of visitors is the Buddhist pilgrims, the monks, making their rounds of the different pilgrimage sites that are important to the
foundation of Buddhism. Then you have the curiosity-driven international tourists who are looking at the site from the archaeological standpoint.”
“Most significantly are the domestic tourists, which make up around 85 to 90 percent of the visitors to Sarnath. A good proportion of these come from nearby towns and visit for half a day, often as a part of their recreational tour in a private car while many also visit
the site as a part of package tour alongside Varanasi and other nearby places. The tourism activity of such tourists, however, brings with it profane impacts that are at odds with the spiritual nature of the site.”
While the site holds immense importance for followers of Buddhism, the local Hindu population views it differently, and the challenge arises in balancing the spiritual sanctity with the urban challenges that surround it.
“Other sites on the Buddhist pilgrimage trail, such as Lumbini and Bodh Gaya, are well developed religious tourism sites,” says Shinde. “For example, in Bodhgaya, there are facilities and services provided in numerous international monasteries, you can eat some Thai food, meditate and then may have a possibility of a massage as well. You can learn Japanese and Korean in a place where people are still struggling for primary education in Hindi language. So, there’s this dichotomy for such sites and it has become almost like what some scholars call the Disneyland of Buddhism.”
Sarnath has none of this development, and to Shinde the reason for this lies in the lack of attention given to the site - Sarnath is less than 10km north of Varanasi, a major site for the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world, and as a result, a place far more significant to the Hindu majority of India.
“Sarnath holds a very different priority in its surrounding landscape than Lumbini in Nepal, or Bodh Gaya in the neighbouring state of Bihar,” says Shinde. “Both of those sites have UNESCO World Heritage status, while Sarnath has been on UNESCO’s ‘tentative list’ for close to 25 years.”
While UNESCO status would be unlikely to change the situation for Sarnath, Shinde believes it’s a strong indication of where the state’s priorities lie.
“UNESCO status might make a site more attractive to an international tourist, but it would do little to change it for the locals,” he says. “It’s a bureaucratic process that requires local initiative, and even nearby Varanasi isn’t yet listed by UNESCO. Unfortunately, Sarnath lacks the dedicated organisational structure needed for such a nomination.”
Sarnath has existed for decades as an excavated archaeological site. Lacking major amenities or even a Buddha statue, it nonetheless attracts tourists and pilgrims to the area, offering them a different experience to other sites significant to Buddhism.
“When I visited the archaeological park, I had a sense of peace, absolute serenity,” says Shinde. “It is a quiet space, largely free of consumerism and marketing, much of which can be found in the nearby Varanasi, which is called ‘the living city’ for a reason.”
“While Sarnath could use enhanced spiritual engagement to deliver a more immersive and meaningful visitor experience it might come at the cost of this serenity. This is the challenge that comes with managing a multi-use tourism site.”
