10 km from ancient Varanasi is the city of Sarnath - one of the four most revered places among Buddhists, the city where Buddha Shakyamuni gave his first sermon. Another name for Sarnath is Rishipattan or Isipattan , which means the place where the holy man fell (in Sanskrit: Rishi , and in Pali: Isi ). And here there are two legends with which this name may be associated. The first legend says that immediately after the birth of Siddhartha Gautama , the future Buddha, the gods (Devas) descended to the earth and told about the incident five hundred saints (Rishis), after which the Rishis and the gods soared into the sky, and only their remains fell to the earth (relics ).
