Rajgir

Saptaparni Cave

There is almost nothing to look at when you get up there, and it hardly matters. This cave set into a hillside two kilometres southwest of Rajgir is where a few hundred monks are believed to have held the first Buddhist council after the Buddha died. He never wrote his teachings down, so what came out of this room is the reason a canon exists at all: Ananda was appointed to recite the sermons from memory, Upali the rules for monks. The walk up is the visit, and the place earns it.