Editing Sarnath (section)

===19th century: more looting and early archeological excavations===
The next modern description of Sarnath was by [[Francis Buchanan-Hamilton]], who visited the site around 1813. He drew a crude map of the site—which he called Buddha Kashi—at that time.{{sfn|Asher|2020|pp=12-13}} [[Colin Mackenzie]] was an officer in the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] who later became the first [[Surveyor General of India]]. Visiting Sarnath in 1815, he was the first to describe a dedicated exploration of the ruins.{{sfn|Oertel|1908|pp=61-62}} Throughout the early 19th century, amateur archeologists explored and excavated at Sarnath, removing antiquities, and several artists drew sketches of the site (especially of the Dhamek Stupa).{{sfn|Asher|2020|pp=14-15}}

In 1835–1836, a 21-year-old British Army engineer with the [[Bengal Engineer Group]] named [[Alexander Cunningham]] conducted the first systematic archaeological excavations at Sarnath.{{sfn|Asher|2020|p=23}} He had carefully studied the writings of [[Faxian]] and [[Xuanzang]], two Chinese Buddhist monks who travelled extensively throughout northern India in the early 5th and early 7th centuries, respectively. Based on their writings and those of Duncan, he conducted some careful measurements and excavations at Sarnath in 1835–1836. During the course of these excavations, Cunningham discovered and removed many statues from monastery "L" and temple "M", as well as the sandstone box reported by Duncan from the Dharmarajika Stupa. He presented these items to the [[The Asiatic Society|Asiatic Society of Bengal]], and they are now located in the [[Indian Museum, Kolkata|Indian Museum in Kolkata]].{{sfn|Oertel|1908|pp=61-62}} By 1836, Cunningham had conclusively identified Sarnath as the location of [[Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta|the Buddha's first sermon]].{{sfn|Cunningham|1871|pp=103-130}}{{sfn|Asher|2020|p=12}} In 1861, Cunningham became the founder and first Director-General of the [[Archaeological Survey of India]].

In 1851–1852, Markham Kittoe (1808–1853) conducted further excavations at Sarnath. Kittoe noted the presence of four stupas at Sarnath and excavated a structure he described as a hospital, which was located roughly midway between the Dhamek and Jagat Singh stupas.{{sfn|Asher|2020|pp=27-28}} He also recovered a seated Buddha statue from Jagat Singh's house and transcribed its inscription.{{sfn|Asher|2020|p=24}} In his writings, Kittoe speculated that Sarnath was destroyed as a result of a great fire.{{sfn|Asher|2020|p=27}}

Sometime in the mid-19th century, Sarnath was subjected to further depredations, as 48 statues and a tremendous amount of bricks and stones were removed from the historic site to be used in the construction of two bridges over the [[Varuna River]].<ref>{{harvnb|Sherring|1868|p=25}} Quote: "...in the erection of the bridges over the river Barna, forty-eight statues and other sculptured stones were removed from Sarnath and thrown into the river, to serve as a breakwater to the piers; and that, in the erection of the second bridge, the iron one, from fifty to sixty cart-loads of stones from the Sarnath buildings were employed".</ref> A final instance of despoilation occurred around 1898, when many bricks and stones were removed from Sarnath and used as ballast for a narrow-gauge railway that was under construction at that time.{{sfn|Oertel|1908|p=64}}