Pataliputra is the ancient name of Patna, the present day capital of Bihar. Pataliputra has had many names throughout its continuous history - Pataligram, Pataliputra, Palibothra, Kusumpur, Pushpapur, Azeemabad, Bankipore, and the current Patna. The name Pataliputra may have derived from the Sanskrit word pattan, meaning port, or from the word patali, meaning trumpet flower, in honor of Patali, a legendary queen. Two of the city's other names, Pushpapur and Kusumpur, both mean City of Flowers. Ancient Chinese texts refer to Pataliputra as Pa-lin-fou.

The ancient city of Pataliputra was stretched out along the south bank of the Ganga River. The Ganduk River empties into the Ganga from the north at Pataliputra, and the Sone enters the Ganga from the south, some miles to the west of the city. A smaller river, the Punpun, also enters the Ganga from the south at Pataliputra. Because of the city's location near the confluence of three large rivers, trade has always been an important part of its economy.

Spring arrives in Bihar in March but the pleasant temperatures are short lived as summer begins in April, lasting through late June or early July. Summer temperatures can reach as high as 115°F (46°C) and the city's proximity to so many rivers makes it very humid year round. The monsoon season lasts from July into early October. Winter in Pataliputra brings days of sunshine but very cold nights through February. The annual rainfall in the area is 43 inches (1076 mm).


Early History
Legend has it that Pataliputra was magically created by the mythological King Putraka for his queen, Patali. He named the place Pataligram for her. When she had their first son, the city was renamed Pataliputra. In Sanskrit, gram means village, and putra means son.

Pataliputra's recorded history began with Ajatshatru, the second of the Magadhan kings, who established a small fort in 490 BCE at Pataligram where the Ganga and Sone Rivers met in order to better fight his enemies, the Licchavis. According to Buddhist texts, the Buddha visited Pataligram during the construction of this fort on his last journey north.


The Mauryans
Chandragupta Maurya (322-301 BCE) ruled his kingdom from Pataliputra. Megasthenes, a Greek ambassador from Taxila to the Mauryan court, described Palibothra, as he called it, as the greatest city in India. He said that the city was laid out in the shape of a parallelogram, eighty stades on its long sides, and fifteen stades on the short sides. A Greek stade measured about six hundred feet. The city was surrounded by a wooden wall which had slots from which to shoot arrows. This wall had five hundred and seventy towers and sixty-four gates. Beyond the wall was a deep trench which was used for defense and as a sewage system. Megasthenes described life at the Mauryan court as one of "splendor and luxury". He gave us an idea of agriculture in the area when he described "reeds which produced honey without bees" (sugar cane) and "trees which grew wool" (cotton). Megasthenes also wrote of the social divisions among the populace, mentioning philosophers, soldiers, councilors, traders, artisans, peasants, and shepherds.

During the reign of Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka (273-232 BCE), the government became highly centralized. Ashoka's edicts were carved onto stone pillars, rocks, and the walls of caves for all to see. He maintained a large standing army and established a network of spies and agents who spread the king's edicts and reported to him on public opinion, and kept Ashoka informed of events throughout the kingdom. The government bureaucracy was administered by salaried civil and military officials. A system of taxation on real estate, agricultural production, and trade was established. Ashoka maintained a paternalistic attitude toward his subjects, but for the most part, treated them equally and fairly.

During the reign of Ashoka, many of the wooden buildings in Pataliputra were replaced with stone structures. The royal palace is reported to have covered an area of four square miles. Ashoka built universities and monasteries. He banned hunting for sport and even set up animal hospitals. He brought new fields under cultivation and developed irrigation systems. Trade routes linked Pataliputra with the port at Champa, and from there to Ceylon, Malaysia, and the Far East. Ashoka built a system of roads which connected the entire sub-continent, the most important of which was the one thousand mile long Royal Highway from Pataliputra to Taxila in the north. Today's Grand Trunk Road basically follows the route of the ancient Royal Highway.

The Mauryan empire began to decline after the reign of Ashoka, though Mauryas continued to rule Magadha from Pataliputra for another fifty years before the city fell into obscurity for three centuries.


The Guptas

Chandra-Gupta I (320-335 CE) married a woman of the Licchavis who were then in control of Pataliputra, which his bride brought to him as her dowry. He established his capital at Pataliputra and used this foothold to expand his power into the neighboring regions. His son, Sumudra-Gupta, reigned for 50 years and expanded the Gupta influence over twenty more kingdoms. Sumudra-Gupta was a patron of the arts, and practiced religious tolerance, even allowing the king of Ceylon to build a Buddhist monastery at Bodh Gaya. Chandra-Gupta II (375-415 CE), the grandson of Chandra-Gupta I, continued the expansion of the empire westward, eventually establishing a second capital at Ujjain in central India.

There was a strong central government during the reign of the Guptas and a caste system developed, based on their interpretation of the Hindu scriptures. The Gupta era is considered to have been the Golden Age of Indian culture, a time in which scholarship and the arts flourished. The ancient university at Nalanda was founded in the fifth century by the Guptas.

Fa-Hien, a Chinese Buddhist monk from Chang'an, traveled to India and Ceylon from 399 to 414 CE. He visited Pataliputra several times and described the city in his account of his journey. Three hundred years after the Mauryans, Fa-Hien was still able to admire the "elegant carving and inlaid sculpture-work" of Ashoka's palace, which the monk thought had to have been built by spirits, so beautiful was it all. Fa-Hien saw the inhabitants of the region as "rich and prosperous", and recounted that they "vie with one another in the practice of benevolence and righteousness". The traveler also found it remarkable that there was no capital punishment and he reported the lack of poll and land taxes, as well as the presence of a well-established caste system. He noted that most citizens did not consume onions, garlic, meat or wine.


Later History
In the late fifth century, the Gupta empire disintegrated in the face of continued foreign invasions, notably by the Huns. A minor branch of the Guptas kept their hold on Magadha and Pataliputra for another hundred years until they were overcome by the Vardhanas.

By the mid-12th century, Pataliputra had become a part of the Delhi Sultanate. During the Mughal period, Pataliputra continued to be ruled from Delhi. As the Mughal empire declined in the 17th century, the city became an international trading center under the control of the Nawabs of Bengal.

Under the British Raj, Pataliputra, called Patna from 1704, rose once more in importance as the capital of the state of Bihar and as a center of learning and trade. Today Patna is a thriving city of over one million people - a business center and a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination.





Sources:
Keay, John. India: A History. New York: Grove Press, 2000.
Basham, A. L. A Cultural History of India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004.
wikipedia - Patna
Ancient India
Earth History: Ancient India
WebIndia123.com
wikipedia - Gupta Empire
A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms
Sikh photo by Max Boschini.