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For other uses, see Patna (disambiguation).
Paṭnā pronunciation (Hindi: पटना) is the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Megasthenes (350 BCE-290 BCE), in his book Indica has mentioned that the city of Palibothra (Pataliputra, modern day Patna) was situated on the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Arennovoas (Sonabhadra - Hiranyawah) and was 9 miles long and 1.75 miles wide. The modern city of Patna lies on the southern bank of the Ganges, as it flows past with the combined waters of the rivers Ghagra, Son and Gandak. At the point where the city is located, the sacred Ganges looks more sea than river: mighty, wide and never-ending. A city of 1,800,000 people, the city is approximately 25 km long and 9 km to 10 km wide. The Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir (or Rajgriha), Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna is also a sacred city for Sikhs (the tenth and last "human" guru, Guru Gobind Singh, was born here). It is the ideal gateway for all the places on this circuit. The monuments in and around the city take one down the history to its glorious past. Apart from being the administrative centre of the state and its historic importance, the city is also a major educational and medical centre. It is the centre for all the students from Bihar preparing for various competitive examinations. The walled old area, called Patna City by the locals, is also a major trading centre.
[edit] NameThere are several theories regarding the source of the appellation Patna (Devanagari:पटना ):
The city has been known by various names during its more than two millennia long existence — Pataligram, Patliputra, Kusumpur, Pushpapura, Azimabad and the present-day Patna.[4] Patna received its current name during the reign of Sher Shah Suri, whose tomb is at Sasaram, a place near Patna. [edit] HistoryLegend 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 first born to the queen, the city was named Pataliputra. Gram is the Sanskrit for village and Putra means son. 
From a scientific history perspective, it would be appropriate to surmise that the history of Patna started around the year 490 BC when Ajatashatru, the king of Magadh, wanted to shift his capital from the hilly Rajagriha to a more strategically located place to combat the Licchavis of Vaishali. He chose the site on the bank of Ganges and fortified the area. From that time, the city has had a continuous history, a record claimed by few cities in the world. Gautam Buddha passed through this place in the last year of his life, and he had prophesized a great future for this place, but at the same time, he predicted its ruin from flood, fire, and feud. With the rise of the Mauryan empire, the place became the seat of power and nerve centre of the sub-continent. From Pataliputra, the famed emperor Chandragupta Maurya (a contemporary of Alexander) ruled a vast empire, stretching from the Bay of Bengal to Afghanistan. Early Mauryan Patliputra was mostly built with wooden structures. Emperor Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, transformed the wooden capital into a stone construction around 273 BC. Chinese scholar Fa Hein, who visited India sometime around A.D. 399-414, has given a vivid description of the stone structures in his travelogue. Megasthenes (350 BCE-290 BCE), Greek historian and ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, gives the first written account of Patliputra. In his book Indika, he mentions that the city of Palibothra (Pataliputra, modern day Patna) was situated on the confluence of the rivers Ganges and Arennovoas (Sonabhadra - Hiranyawah) and was 9 miles (14 km) long and 1.75 miles (2.82 km) wide [2][5], Much later, a number of Chinese travellers came to India in pursuit of knowledge and recorded their observation about Pataliputra in their travelogues, including those of a Chinese Buddhist Fa Hien, who visited India, between A.D. 399 and 414, and stayed here for many months translating Buddhist texts [6]. In the years that followed, the city saw many dynasties ruling the Indian subcontinent from here. It saw the rules of the Gupta empire and the Pala kings. However, it never reached the glory that it had under the Mauryas. 
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, 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 birth place Harmandir saheb is a one of most sacred pilgrimage 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 visualised a fort and a town on the banks of Ganga. Sher Shah's fort in Patna does not survive, but the mosque built in Afghan architectural style survives. Mughal emperor Akbar came to Patna in 1574 to crush the Afghan 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. 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. 
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, urging other Europeans—French, Danes, Dutch and Portuguese—to compete in the lucrative business. Peter Mundy, writing in 1632, calls this place, "the greatest mart of the eastern region". After the decisive Battle of Buxar (1765), Patna fell in the hands of the East India Company which installed a puppet government. Ruled during the raj by a series of ineffectual Viceroys, the most well known was Rahul Gunderjaharagand. During this period it continued as a trading centre. 
In 1912, Patna became the capital of Orissa Province and Bihâr when Bengal Presidency was partitioned. It soon emerged as an important and strategic centre. A number of imposing structures were constructed by the British. Credit for designing the massive and majestic buildings of colonial Patna goes to the architect, I. F. Munnings. Most of these buildings reflect either Indo-Saracenic influence (like Patna Museum and the state Assembly), or overt Renaissance influence like the Raj Bhawan and the High Court. Some buildings, like the General Post Office (GPO) and the Old Secretariat bear pseudo-Renaissance influence. Some say, the experience gained in building the new capital area of Patna proved very useful in building the imperial capital of New Delhi. Orissa was created as a separate province in 1935. Patna continued as the capital of Bihar province under the British Raj. Patna played a major role in the Indian independence struggle. Most notable are the Champaran movement against the Indigo plantation and the 1942 Quit India Movement.Patna's contribution in the freedom struggle has been immense with outstanding national leaders like Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the first President of the Constituent Assembly of India Dr. Sachidanand Sinha, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Bihar Bibhuti[7]Anugrah Narayan Sinha , Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan, Sri Krishna Sinha , Sheel Bhadra Yajee, Sarangdhar Sinha(Singh) , Yogendra Shukla, and many others who worked for India's freedom relentlessly. Patna continued to be the capital of the state of Bihar after independence in 1947, though Bihar itself was partitioned again in 2000 when Jharkhand was carved out as a separate state of the Indian union. [edit] GeographyPatna is located on the south bank of the Ganges River, called Ganga locally. Patna has a very long riverline, and it is surrounded on three sides by rivers—the Ganga, Sone, and Poonpun (also spelt Punpun). Just to the north of Patna across the river Ganga flows the river Gandak making it a unique place having four largish rivers in its vicinity. It is the largest riverine city in the world. A historical city on the banks of Ganges was nomenclated by princess Sarika, daughter of king Patliputra. The bridge over the river Ganga (Mahatma Gandhi Setu), is 5850 m long is said to be one of the longest single river bridge in the world. [edit] Economy
From the very ancient time patna has rich socio economic background. Patna has long been a major agricultural center of trade, its most active exports being grain, sugarcane, sesame, and medium-grained Patna rice. It is also an important business centre of eastern India. The hinterland of Patna is endowed with excellent agro-climatic resources and the gains of the green revolution have enabled the older eastern part of Patna (locally called as Patna City) to develop as a leading grain market of the state of Bihar, and one of the biggest in eastern India. Patna, being the state capital, with a growing middle income group households, has also emerged as a big and rapidly expanding consumer market, both for Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), as also for other consumer durable items. A large and growing population, and expanding boundaries of the city, is also spurring growth of service sector. The old and established educational institutions of the city have always been contributing to the national pool of excellent human resources. Financial Express reported on 7th April 2008 that even as Bihar has the lowest per capita income in the country at Rs 5,772 against the national average of Rs 22,946, some of its southern districts are much better off compared with those in the north. This disparity within the state is clearly reflected in Bihar’s latest Economic Survey for 2007-08. The survey shows that Patna, Munger and Begusarai in south Bihar were the three best-off districts out of a total of 38 districts, recording the highest per capita gross district domestic product of Rs 31,441, Rs 10,087 and Rs 9,312, respectively in 2004-05. In contrast, right at the bottom of the rung, with the lowest per capita GDP, were the northern districts of Araria at Rs 4,578, Sitamarhi at Rs 4,352 and Sheohar at Rs 3,636. [edit] Climate
Patna, as most of Bihar, has a subtropical climate with hot summers from late March to early June, the monsoon season from late June to late September and a mild winter from November to February. The table below details historical monthly averages for climate variables. Highest ever recorded is 47°C,lowest ever is 1°C and annual rainfall is 1000 mm. [edit] DemographicsThe population of Patna is over 1,885,470. The population density is 1132 persons per square kilometre. There are 839 females to every 1,000 males. The overall literacy rate is 62.9%, and the female literacy rate is 50.8%. [10] Many languages are spoken in Patna. Hindi is the official language. The native dialect is Magadhi or Magahi, named after Magadha, the ancient name of Bihar. Dialects from other regions of Bihar spoken widely in Patna are Angika, Bhojpuri, and Maithili. Other languages widely spoken in Patna include Bengali, Odiya and English. [edit] People and cultureThough geographically located in the Magadh region of Bihar, many residents of Patna are natives of one of the four other regions of Bihar -Bhojpur, Mithila, Vajj and Ang, which differ only slightly from each other. Intermarriages and cultural intermixing among the people of the five regions has been so common that it may be difficult for an outsider to discern the differences. Intermixing of people is also common at the village level (e.g. resident of Gulni include people from Gaya, Ganga-par and other villages). [edit] Family orientationPeople are religious and family-oriented, and their lives are deeply rooted in tradition. The interests of the family take precedence over that of an individual. Families are generally large, though the government is actively encouraging family planning to curb rapid population growth. Extended families often live together in one home because of economic necessity. Although the culture is same among the regions, the dialects spoken are quite different. Many talented people of Bihar have emigrated for better opportunities. [edit] MarriageMost marriages are arranged; the degree to which the children are consulted depends on the family. Marriage is sacred and is considered to endure beyond death. Weddings are times of great celebration, expense, and feasting. Ceremonies are often elaborate. In many ceremonies, the bride and groom exchange garlands and promises before they circle around a fire seven times to solemnize the marriage. Bright clothing, jewellery, and flowers are part of almost every type of ceremony. The bride's parents may still give a dowry, such as money or land, to the groom, even though the practice is illegal. This practice is called Tilak. Mostly marriages (arranged ones) are caste-based. Marriage practices are changing as the culture is becoming more progressive. Now People are marrying people from different cultures and castes as more & more women are becoming professionals. [edit] CuisineStaple food "Khichdi", the broth of rice and lentils, seasoned with spices, and served with several accompanying items like curd, chutney, pickles, papads, ghee (clarified butter) and chokha (boiled mashed potatoes, seasoned with finely cut onions, green chilies) constitutes the lunch for most Patnaites on Saturdays. Patna is also known for the sweet delicacies of central Bihar including Khaja, Motichoor ka Ladoo, Kala Jamun, Kesaria Peda, Parwal ki Mithai, Khubi ka Lai and Chena Murki. These owe their origin to towns in the vicinity of Patna: Khaja from Silao, Ladoo from Maner, Kala Jamun from Vikram, Khubi ka Lai from Barh, Kesaria Peda from Gaya and Chena Murki from Koelwar, Poori from Behea. Descendants of the original family members of the cooks, called halwais in the local language, have migrated to urban Patna and authentic sweet delicacies are now available in the city itself. Unlike the Bengali sweets which are soaked in syrup of sugar and are therefore wet, sweets of Patna and Bihar are mostly dry. The mangoes of Digha, Patna are very delicious & famous. There are several other traditional snacks and savouries:
A variety of non-vegetarian items are also prepared by a section of the population. Fish curries are widely used by a cross section of non-vegetarian population of all social groups. Mughal cuisine is well known and widely relished in Patna. Of late, continental dishes are also catching up fancy. Various types of rolls which are also available in New York owe their origin to Patna. Some Muslim families moved from here to Karachi, Pakistan during partition, and then to the U.S., taking with them their culture and cuisine. They sell various vegetarian and non-vegetarian rolls and are rather popular by the generic name Roll Bihari in and around Lexington Avenue (South) in New York. There are also numerous restaurants: Bansi Vihar, Basant Vihar, Dosa Plaza and Chennai cafe provide excellent South Indian cuisine. Yo China at bander bagicha is an excellent Chinese Restaurant. Kapil dev's "Elevens" is also a famous restaurant, it was established by Kapil Dev himself. The Bollywood Treats at Hotel Maurya is also one of quality restaurants. The Mayfair at Frazer road is one of the oldest restaurants. [edit] ShoppingShivpuri, Rai Complex, High tech cyber cafe in Patna & All type of high tech electronics goods are available hear. Shopping is one of the favourite recreational activities of Patnaites. Numerous shopping complexes exist in Patna, including: N.P.Centre, Maharaja Kameshwar Complex, Verma Centre, Kulharia complex and Khaitan market. Maurya lok is one of the oldest and largest shopping areas of Patna. Patna market and Hathwa market are also famous shopping points of the city. A number of shopping malls have also been opened in the city, including :Vishal Mega Mart at Frazer Road, Patliputra Shoppers' Plaza, Aditya's 9 to 9 Supermarket, Daily Needs Supermarket, Madhav SuperMart,Sudha Supermarket and Low Price Super Store at old Jakkanpur. [edit] TransportPatna was among pioneer selected towns of India having horse-drawn trams as urban transport. [11]Now days, Public transport in Patna is provided by buses, auto rickshaws and a Local trains.Auto rickshaws are the most popular means of public transportation in Patna, as they charge a lower . Most run on diesel and are Yellow and Black in colour.Buses are also one of the popular means of public transportation in Patna. Railways also served as means of public transportation in Patna. However Patna is a major junction in the rail map of India. The four main railway stations are Patna Junction, Rajendranagar Terminal , Gulzarbag Station and Patna Shahib Station.Among them Patna Shahib Station is oldest one. [edit] Places of interest
[edit] EducationPatna emerged as a center of learning in modern India during the later part of British Raj. The Patna University, the first university in Bihar, was established in 1917, and is the 7th oldest University of the Indian subcontinent. Most of the prominent colleges in Patna are affiliated to the Patna University, while the rest many are affiliated to Magadh University, Bodh Gaya.
Most government-run schools in Patna are affiliated with the Bihar School Examination Board, whereas most private schools are affiliated with the ICSE and CBSE boards. Some of the prominent old schools in the city were established by missionaries during the British Raj. Patna also houses one of India's world-renowned libraries, the Khuda Baksh Oriental Library and the Sinha Library, which is one of the largest in the region. Bold text==See Also==
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