Varanasi, July 25 -- Twenty-eight years after entering UNESCO's Tentative List, Sarnath, where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon and the Buddhist Sangha took shape, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, becoming India's 45th World Heritage Site and Uttar Pradesh's fourth.
The recognition announced during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee puts one of Buddhism's holiest places on the world's highest heritage platform and gives a major boost to UP's Buddhist Circuit.
Sarnath had remained on UNESCO's Tentative List since July 3, 1998. Its inscription is also significant for Uttar Pradesh because its three existing World Heritage Sites, the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, are concentrated in the Agr...