Excavators at ArchaeologicalSurvey of India (ASI) claimed to have found important artefacts from a Buddhist mound around 2km from the Nalanda University ruins but ruled out any links to the ancient varsity.

The mound situated at Rukministhan in Jagdishpur village in Nalanda has thrown up square-shaped cells, more than 12ft-high black basalt image of Lord Buddha, more than 100 terracotta seals, besides a number of votive stupas among other artefacts.

The excavation exercise on the mound (spread across 100m approximately) started from February this year and it has been put on hold at present, after covering 70m.

Deliberating on the claims regarding the link of this mound with the Nalanda ruins, K.C. Shrivastava, ASI's excavation branch in-charge said: "We did not find any direct evidence based on which it can be said that it was a part of the ancient Nalanda varsity. Though the mound was developed around the same time, when the Nalanda ruins were established and the construction material in both structures also seem similar, there is no established link between them."

Shrivastava, who led the excavation, claimed it was perhaps a Buddhist monastery or a temple, outside the boundary of the ancient Nalanda varsity. "Based on preliminary assessment, it can be said it was a Buddhist religious structure, which might be a part of ancient Nalanda but not the university. The upper parts of the structure belong to the Pal period (8-12th century AD) and lower parts belong to the Gupta period (4-5th century AD). Nalanda ruins started getting developed around the BC 6th century and it took shape of the university around 4th century AD," he said.

Shrivastava claimed the documentation of the artefacts found from the Buddhist mound is being done at present.

Alexander Cunningham, the first director-general of ASI, had claimed that Nalanda was spread over 16sqkm, of which only 1sqkm has been excavated till date.

"Excavations have been conducted around the Nalanda ruins in the past few years as an application for its inclusion in the list of World Heritage sites is pending with Unesco at present. Though findings from such excavations would support Nalanda ruins' claim for a World Heritage status, it cannot be said that all such mounds and other structures are part of the ancient varsity," said Shrivastava.