Sarnath: Stupa and Thai Temple

One of the first weekends I was in Varanasi (I know, super late in putting up pictures. P.S. Happy Varanasi Monthiversary to meee!), we went to Sarnath, which is the place where Budda gave his first sermon. To commemorate the occasion they put up a gigantic stupa, which roughly translates to gigantic stone hump (my own translation). The carvings on the side were very beautiful, and there were chanting monks scattered on the lawns around it, despite the sunny, 100 degree weather. In my opinion, the coolest thing about the area is that different countries constructed temples in their own style because of the importance of the site. The first one we went to was the thai temple (pictured above). We also went to the Indian temple, the Chinese temple, the Japanese temple and my favorite, the Tibetan temple. All I will be posting about later. At the temples, and on the stupa, people put little pieces of gold foil (you can kind of see this in our group photo. The result is a collaged effect on most surfaces, which shows all the people that have come here over the years. It would have been quite a moving experience, if I had not been drowning in my own sweat. Story of my life in India! How am I supposed to have my stereotypical religious awakening if I am melting into the pavement.

Send mops in care packages.

Love,

Violet