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Yusuke Kawasaki · CC BY 2.0
Landmark South Asia religious

Sarnath

528 BCE – still standing

Where the Buddha delivered his first sermon setting the Wheel of Dharma in motion, featuring the Dhamek Stupa and Ashoka's Lion Capital

See it on the timeline

Wikipedia

The opening of the article, and a way into the rest of it without leaving the site.

Sarnath on Wikipedia.

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Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–700 BCE)
  2. Kasi (500 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Magadha (400 BCE–323 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. Mauryan Empire (300 BCE–200 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Shunga Empire (100 BCE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. Hindu kingdoms (1 BCE–100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  7. Magadha (200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  8. Gupta Empire (300 CE–500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  9. Kanauj (600 CE–700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  10. Tibetan Empire (800 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  11. Tibet (900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  12. Rajput Kingdoms (1000 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  13. Chandellas (1100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  14. Ghurid Sultanate (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  15. Sultanate of Delhi (1279 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  16. Islamic and Hindu states (1530 CE–1600 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  17. Mughal Empire (1650 CE–1715 CE) Border precision: Defined
  18. Bengal (1783 CE) Border precision: Defined
  19. Bengal Presidency (1800 CE) Border precision: Defined
  20. British East India Company (1815 CE) Border precision: Defined
  21. British Raj (1880 CE–1938 CE) Border precision: Defined
  22. India (1945 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in South Asia at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · South Asia

Taj Mahal

1632 CE – still standing

Polity · South Asia

Tibet

Attested 1000 CE – 1960 CE

Conflict · South Asia

Naxalite–Maoist Insurgency

1967 CE – 2026 CE

Trade route · South Asia

Grand Trunk Road

300 BCE

Landmark · South Asia

Taxila

600 BCE – 500 CE

Polity · South Asia

Hindu kingdoms

Attested 500 BCE – 1715 CE

Conflict · South Asia

2025 India–Pakistan Conflict

2025 CE

Landmark · South Asia

Ajanta Caves

200 BCE – still standing

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 528 BCE and 2026 CE.

528 BCE Bodh Gaya (Mahabodhi Temple) 500 BCE Anuradhapura 305 BCE Seleucid–Maurya War 300 BCE Sanchi Stupa 300 BCE Sanchi Stupas

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Petra Landmark · Middle East 300 BCE – still standing Ottoman Empire Polity · Europe 1299 CE – 1922 CE Nile River Trade Trade route · Middle East 3000 BCE – 30 BCE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Buddha Figure · Northern India / Nepal 563 BCE – 483 BCE Colosseum Landmark · Europe 80 CE – still standing
Image credits 7 pictures from Wikimedia Commons