Patna Bihar India
Paṭnā (Hindi: पटना, Urdu: پٹنہ), is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar and the second largest city in Eastern India (in terms of population). Patna is also one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Ancient Patna, known as Pataliputra, was the capital of the Magadha Empire under the Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan, Sunga, Gupta, Pala and Suri dynasties.
Pataliputra was also a seat of learning and fine arts. Its population during the Maurya period (around 300 BCE) was about 400,000. The walled old area, known locally as Patna City, is a major trading centre.
The modern city of Patna is situated on the southern bank of the Ganga. The city also straddles the rivers Sone, Gandak and Punpun. The city is approximately 35 km long and 16 km to 18 km wide.
In June 2009, the World Bank ranked Patna in second place in India, after Delhi, in terms of the ease of starting a business. As at 2004-2005, Patna had the highest per capita gross district domestic product in Bihar, at Rs31,441. On the basis of,assumed average annual growth,Patna has been ranked as 21st fastest growing city in the world and 5th fastest growing city in India by City Mayors Foundation.Patna registered average annual growth of 3.72%,for the period of 2006-2020.
The Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya, and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna is also a sacred city for Sikhs as the last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born here.
History :
Origin of name -
There are several theories regarding the source of the name Patna (Devanagari:पटना ):
1.It is etymologically derived from Patan (Devanagari: पतन), the name of the Hindu goddess, Patan Devi.
2.It comes from Pattan (Devanagari: पत्तन) (meaning "port" in Sanskrit), since the city, located near the confluence of four rivers, has been a thriving river port.
3.It may be a short form of Pataliputra (Devanagari: पाटलिपुत्र), one of the most ancient names of this city.
4.The Greeks called it Palibothra. Megasthenes (350-290 BCE), the Greek historian, referred to it in Greek as Palibothra or Palimbotra.
5.The place appears in the records of the Chinese traveller, Fa Hien, as Pa-lin-fou.
6.The city has been known by various names during its more than 2,000 years of existence – Patligram, Patliputra, Kusumpur, Pushpapura, Azimabad, and the present-day Patna.
7.Patna received its current name during the reign of Sher Shah Suri, whose tomb is at Sasaram, near Patna.
Legend ascribes the origin of Patna to a mythological King Putraka who created Patna by magic for his queen Patali, literally "trumpet flower", which gives it its ancient name Pataligrama. It is said that in honour of the queen's first-born, the city was named Pataliputra. Gram is Sanskrit for village and Putra means son. Legend also says that the Emerald Buddha was created in Patna (then Pataliputra) by Nagasena in 43 BC.
Vedic era -
The history of Patna spans at least three millennia. The city is referred to in ancient Indian texts such as the Vedas, the Puranas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The first references to the ancient region of Patna are found about 2,500 years ago in Jain and Buddhist scriptures.
Medieval era -
Patna became significant around the year 490 BCE when Ajatashatru, the king of Magadha, wanted to shift his capital from the hilly Rajagaha to a more strategically located place to combat the Licchavis of Vaishali. He chose the site on the bank of the Ganga and fortified the area. Gautama Buddha passed through this place in the last year of his life. He prophesied a great future for this place, but at the same time, he predicted its ruin from flood, fire, and feud. It is said that Buddha made a halt here when he was on the last journey to his native land of Kapilavastu.
Mauryan empire -
With the rise of the Mauryan empire, the place became the seat of power for the sub-continent. The emperor Chandragupta Maurya (a contemporary of Alexander) ruled a vast empire, stretching from the Bay of Bengal to Afghanistan. The early Mauryan city mostly consisted of wooden structures. Emperor Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, transformed the wooden capital into a stone construction around 273 BCE.
Megasthenes, the Greek historian and ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, gives the first written account of the city. He wrote that the city was situated on the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Arennovoas (Sonabhadra - Hiranyawah) and was 9 miles (14 km) long and 1.75 miles (2.82 km) wide. Michael Wood, in The Story of India (2007), describes this city as the greatest city on earth during its heyday. The Sungas ultimately retained control of Pataliputra and ruled for almost 100 years. The Sungas were then followed by the Kanvas and eventually the Guptas. There has been academic controversy regarding whether or not the Indo-Greeks occupied the area around 185 BCE.
A number of Chinese travellers came to India in pursuit of knowledge and recorded their observations about Pataliputra in their travelogues, including those of a Chinese Buddhist Fa Hien, who visited India between 399 and 414 CE, and stayed here for many months translating Buddhist texts.
Gupta and Mughal empires -
In the years that followed, many dynasties ruled the Indian subcontinent from the city, including those of the Gupta empire and the Pala kings. With the disintegration of the Gupta empire, Patna passed through uncertain times. Bakhtiar Khilji captured Bihar in the 12th century AD and destroyed many ancient seats of learning, and Patna lost its prestige as the political and cultural center of India.
Guru Gobind Singh (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ਸਿੰਘ) (22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, was born as Gobind Rai in Patna to Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs, and his wife Gujri. His birthplace, Patna Sahib, is one of the most sacred pilgrimages for Sikhs.
The Mughal period was a period of unremarkable provincial administration from Delhi. The most remarkable period during these times was under Sher Shah Suri, who revived Patna in the middle of the 16th century. He built a fort and founded a town on the banks of the Ganga. Sher Shah's fort in Patna does not survive, although the Sher Shah Suri Masjid mosque, built in Afghan architectural style, does. Mughal emperor Akbar came to Patna in 1574 to crush the Afgha Chief Daud Khan. Akbar's navratna and state's official historian and author of "Ain-i-Akbari" Abul Fazl refers to Patna as a flourishing centre for paper, stone and glass industries. He also refers to the high quality of numerous strains of rice grown in Patna, famous as Patna rice in Europe.
By 1620 the city of Patna was the great entrepot of northern India, "the largest town in Bengal and the most famous for trade". This was before the founding of the city of Calcutta. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb acceded to the request of his favourite grandson, Prince Muhammad Azim, to rename Patna as Azimabad, in 1704 while Azim was in Patna as the subedar. However, very little changed during this period other than the name.With the decline of the Mughal empire, Patna moved into the hands of the Nawabs of Bengal, who levied a heavy tax on the populace but allowed it to flourish as a commercial centre.
British empire -
During the 17th century, Patna became a centre of international trade. The British started with a factory in Patna in 1620 for trading in calico and silk. Soon it became a trading centre for saltpetre,Bernier, Franois (A.D. 1656-1668),in Travels in the Mogul Empire, has written that,a prodigious quantity of saltpetre was imported from Patna. It was carried down the Ganges with great facility, and the Dutch and English send large cargoes to many parts of the Indies,and to Europe. urging other Europeans—French, Danes, Dutch and Portuguese—to compete in the lucrative business. Peter Mundy, writing in 1632, described Patna as "the greatest mart of the eastern region". After the decisive Battle of Buxar (1764), Patna fell into the hands of the East India Company, which installed a go
