Place:Patna, Patna, Patna, Bihar, India

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Patna, historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India.^[1] According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India.^[1] Covering and over 2.5 million people, its urban agglomeration is the 18th largest in India. Patna serves as the seat of Patna High Court. The Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrimage centres of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodh Gaya and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna City is a sacred city for Sikhs as the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh was born here. The modern city of Patna is mainly on the southern bank of the river Ganges. The city also straddles the rivers Sone, Gandak and Punpun. The city is approximately in length and wide.

One of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world, Patna was founded in 490 BCE by the king of Magadha. Ancient Patna, known as Pataliputra, was the capital of the Magadh Empire through Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan, Shunga, Gupta and Pala dynasties. Pataliputra was a seat of learning and fine arts. It was home to many astronomers and scholars including Aryabhata, Vātsyāyana and Chanakya. During the Maurya period (around 300 BCE) its population was about 400,000. Patna served as the seat of power, and political and cultural centre of the Indian subcontinent during the Maurya and Gupta empires. With the fall of the Gupta Empire, Patna lost its glory. It was revived again in the 17th century by the British as a centre of international trade. Following the partition of Bengal presidency in 1912, Patna became the capital of Bihar and Orissa Province.^[2]

Until the 19th century it was a major trading and commercial hub in India. After independence there were a few downturns but its economy was still stable. After the separation of Jharkhand from Bihar, it lost its glory. Now trials are made to develop the city. As per the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (Government of Bihar), Nominal GDP of Patna District was estimated at INR 63,176.55 crores in 2011-12. As of 2011-12, Patna already recorded per capita gross domestic product of 1,08,657, way ahead of many other Indian cities and state capitals. Using figures for assumed average annual growth, Patna is the 21st fastest growing city in the world and 5th fastest growing city in India according to a study by the City Mayors Foundation. Patna registered an average annual growth of 3.72% during 2006–2010.^[3] As of 2011-12, GDP per capita of Patna is ₹1,08,657 and its GDP growth rate is 7.29 per cent. In June 2009, the World Bank ranked Patna second in India (after Delhi) for ease of starting a business.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ancient Era

Traditional Buddhist literature attributes foundation of Patna 490 BCE as Ajatashatru, the king of Magadha, wanted to shift his capital from the hilly Rajagrha (today Rajgir) to a strategically chosen place to better combat the Licchavis of Vaishali. He chose the site on the bank of the Ganges and fortified the area. Gautama Buddha travelled through this place in the last year of his life. He prophesied a great future for this place even as he predicted its ruin due to flood, fire and feud. According to Dieter Schlingloff, the Buddhist accounts may have presented the grandeur of Patna as a prophecy and that its wooden fortifications unlike other early historic Indian cities indicate that it might be much older than thought but only archaeological excavation and C14 dates of its wooden palisades which is presently lacking may establish this.

Mauryan Empire

Megasthenes, the Indo-Greek historian and ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, gave one of the earliest accounts of the city. He wrote that the city was on the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Arennovoas (Sonabhadra – Hiranyawah) and was long and wide. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to India, described the city as the greatest city on earth during its heyday. The Shungas ultimately retained control of Pataliputra and ruled for almost 100 years. The Shungas were followed by the Kanvas and eventually by the Guptas. A number of Chinese travellers came to India in pursuit of knowledge and recorded their observations about Pataliputra in their travelogues. One such famous account was recorded by a Chinese Buddhist traveller Fa Hien, who visited India between 399 and 414 CE, and stayed here for many months translating Buddhist texts. When Chinese Buddhist Monk Faxian visited the city in 400 A.D, he found the people to be rich and prosperous; they practised virtue and justice. He found that the nobles and householders of the city had constructed several hospitals in which the poor of all countries, the destitute, the crippled and the diseased can get treatment. They could receive every kind of help gratuitously. Physicians would inspect the diseases, and order them food, drink, and medicines.

Pataliputra as a capital of the Magadha Empire.

Pataliputra as a capital of Maurya Empire. The Maurya Empire at its largest extent under Ashoka the Great.

Pataliputra as a capital of Shunga Empire. Approximate greatest extent of the Shunga Empire (c. 185 BCE).

File:Gupta Empire 320 - 600 ad.PNG Pataliputra as a capital of Gupta Empire. Approximate greatest extent of the Gupta Empire.

Gupta and Pala empire

In the years that followed, many dynasties ruled the Indian subcontinent from the city, including the Gupta dynasty and the Pala kings. With the disintegration of the Gupta empire, Patna passed through uncertain times. Bakhtiar Khilji captured Bihar in the 12th century and destroyed everything, and Patna lost its prestige as the political and cultural centre of India. Guru Gobind Singh (22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, was born as Gobind Rai in Patna to Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs, and his wife Mata Gujri. His birthplace, Patna Sahib is one of the most sacred sites of pilgrimage for Sikhs.

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a period of unremarkable provincial administration from Delhi. The most remarkable period during the Middle Ages was under the Afghan emperor 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 Ganges. Sher Shah's fort in Patna does not survive, although the Sher Shah Suri mosque, built in Afghan architectural style, does. Mughal emperor Akbar reached Patna in 1574 to crush the rebellious Afghan Chief Daud Khan. One of the navratnas from Akbar's court, his 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 being described as the "chiefest mart towne of all Bengala" (i.e. largest town in Bengal)^[4] in 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. Patna or Azimabad did see some violent activities, according to Phillip Mason, writing in the book "The Men Who Ruled India". "Aurangzeb had restored the poll-tax (Jazia) on unbelievers and this had to be compounded for. In Patna, Peacock the Chief of the factory was not sufficiently obliging and was seized, forced to walk through the town bare-headed and bare-footed and subjected to many other indignities before he paid up and was released." 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. The mansions of the Maharaja of Tekari Raj dominated the Patna riverfront in 1811–12. In 1750, the future Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah revolted against his grandfather, Alivardi Khan, and seized Patna, but quickly surrendered and was forgiven.

Portuguese Empire

As trade grew, settlements of the Portuguese empire expanded to the Bengal Gulf. Since at least 1515 the Portuguese where at Bengal as traders, and later in 1521 an embassy was sent to Gaur to be able to create factories in the region. The Bengal Sultan after 1534 allowed the Portuguese to create several settlements as Chitagoong e Satgaon. In 1535 the Portuguese were allied with the Bengal sultan and held the Teliagarhi pass 280 km from Patna helping to avoid the invasion by the Mughals. By then several of the products came from Patna and the Portuguese send in traders, establishing a factory there since 1580 at least. The products were shipped out down the river until other Portuguese ports as Chittagoon e Satgaoon, and from there to the rest of the empire.

British Empire

During the 17th century, Patna became a centre of international trade.^[5] In 1620, the English East India Company established a factory in Patna for trading in calico and silk. Soon it became a trading centre for saltpetre. Francois Bernier, in Travels in the Mogul Empire (1656–1668), says ". It was carried down the Ganges with great facility, and the Dutch and English sent large cargoes to many parts of the Indies, and to Europe". This trade encouraged other Europeans, principally the 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".^[6] After the decisive Battle of Buxar of 1764, as per the treaty of Allahabad East India Company was given the right to collect tax of this former Mughal province by the Mughal emperor. Patna was annexed by the company in 1793 to its territory when Nizamat (Mughal suzerainty) was abolished and the British East India Company took control of the province of Bengal-Bihar. Patna however continued as a trading centre. In 1912, when the Bengal Presidency was partitioned, Patna became the capital of the British province of Bihar and Orissa, although in 1936 Orissa became a separate entity with its own capital. Till date, a major population of Bengalis live in Patna particularly.

Indian Independence Movement

People from Patna were greatly involved in the Indian independence movement. Most notable movements were the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and the 1942 Quit India Movement. National leaders who came from the city include Swami Sahajanand Saraswati; the first President of the Constituent Assembly of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad; Bihar Vibhuti (Anugrah Narayan Sinha); Basawon Singh (Sinha); and Loknayak (Jayaprakash Narayan).

Post-Independence

Patna remained the capital of Bihar after India gained independence in 1947, even as Bihar was partitioned again in 2000 when Jharkhand became a separate state of the Indian union.^[7] On 27 October 2013, six people were killed and 85 others were injured in a series of co-ordinated bombings at an election rally for BJP candidate Narendra Modi. On 3 October 2014, 33 people were killed and 26 injured in a stampede at Gandhi Maidan during Vijaya Dashmi celebrations.

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