In “The Antiquarian Remains of Bihar”, D.R. Patil has stated that Marshall however did not accept the above interpretation and identification of Stein and Beglar. According to him the place where the first Buddhist Council was held was not a cave but a large hall or building in the direction as given in Hieun Tsang’s account and discovered on the northern slope of the hill. He therefore tried to search for the remnants of a building or hall in the direction given by Hieun Tsang and discovered on the northern slope of the hill, at a distance of a mile and a quarter from the Satadhara hot springs, the ruins of what he considered to be the Saptaparni Hall. The spot is about half a mile west of the caves referred to by Beglar. He noticed here a plateau with its top “artificially built up and leveled” and found that “ramps had been made on each side to give approach to it, and there were remains of massive walls around the edges of the plateau.”

The area was apparently excavated  but of this no details are available except that “a spindle whorl and a small toothed wheel of copper” was discovered in the course of the work. D.R. Patil mentions that if this was the site of the first Buddhist Council of antiquity, then it is indeed surprising that not a single characteristic Buddhist monument marking the site was reported from the place. There is besides nothing to indicate the age of the ruins. The conclusions of Marshall may therefore be judged accordingly.

To be continued...