What the Buddha Preached in his first Sermon at Sarnath?

Sarnath, a small town near Varanasi is the place where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon. It was after attaining enlightenment at Bodh Gaya(in Bihar) that the Buddha travelled to Sarnath. At Sarnath, in the pristine surroundings of the deer park, the Buddha preached his first set of teachings to the five ascetics who had known him earlier. The Buddha explained to them the Four Noble Truths and The Eight-fold Path.According to Buddha, the four noble truth's are : 1. There is suffering; 2. Suffering has a cause; 3. The cause is removable, and 4. There are ways to remove the causes.

He prescribed the eight-fold path to remove the causes which included:Right speech, Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness, Right concentration, Right attitude and Right view.
Eventually, Sarnath evolved and developed as a center of the Sammatiya school of buddhist learning.Several other 'suttas' were preached by Gautama Buddha over the next few years.These are:
the Anattalakkhana Sutta,
the Saccavibhanga Sutta,
the Pañca Sutta (S.iii.66f),
the Rathakāra or Pacetana Sutta (A.i.110f),
the two Pāsa Suttas (S.i.105f),
the Samaya Sutta (A.iii.320ff),
the Katuviya Sutta (A.i.279f.),
a discourse on the Metteyyapañha of the Parāyana (A.iii.399f), and
the Dhammadinna Sutta (S.v.406f), preached to the distinguished layman Dhammadinna, who came to see the Buddha.

Later though, towards the end of the 12th century, Sarnath was destroyed by the invading Turkish Muslims. The site was discovered by Alexander Cunningham during the British rule in India.

The famous Chaukhandi Stupa in Sarnath

Now for those of you who do not know- Sarnath is a small town close to Varanasi and is the place where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon after his enlightenment. Sarnath was the site of archaelogical excavations that revealed a large number of structures prominent among them the Stupas and the monasteries where buddhist monks lived and studied.One of the fist stupas that you will see on your way to Sarnath is the Chaukhandi Stupa. This stupa is a huge structure made of red bricks and is called Chaukhandi because of its four armed plan. Chau means four and khand means parts or arms in the local language and hence the name chaukhandi.
The Chukhandi stupa was built around 4th -5th Century AD during the Gupta period. The spot according to the historians is where Lord Gautam Buddha “probably” met his first five disciples/companions after enlightenment. This stupa also finds mention in the written accounts of the celebrated Chinese Traveller, Hiuen Tsiang of 7th century AD.

The image of Buddha in Dharmachakra Pravartan mudra and Leogryphs with swordsmen found here are astonishing remnants of the classical Gupta Art of those times.

The octagonal brick tower crowning the Stupa is actually a Mughal structure erected in 1588 AD by Govardhan son of Raja Todar Mal to commemorate the visit of Humayun, the great Mughal emperor to this place. This is recorded in an Arabic inscription on a stone slab above its doorway on the north side.

The stupa is now maintained by the archaelogical survey of India.