Important heritage of Pataliputra

Abstract

The capital of ancient Magadha Pātaliputra (Latitude: 25° 35' 11" N & Longitude: 85° 16' 31" E) is situated in the north bank of Ganga of modern Patna dist. of Bihar. Its ancient Sanskrit name was Kusumpura and Puṣpapura which was derived from the numerous flowers which grew in the royal enclosure. The Greek historians call it Palibothra and the Chinese pilgrim, Pa-lin-tou. It had a glorious existence of more than a millennium and which is known to history of the great Indian emperor Nanda to Gupta. Third Buddhist council was held during the time of Ashoka in this Glorious city. Being a very ancient city, having the credit of being the capital of Magadha under a number of dynasties, particularly under the great Mauryas and the Imperial Guptas, it is no surprise that the city should have yielded a number of rare objects by way of archaeological excavations and also as being chance finds. Pataliputra or Patna had been one of the most important cities of India found as early as the 5th century B.C. by king Udayin, the son and successor of Ajatasatru of the Harayanka dynasty. He had shifted the capital of Magadha from Rajgriha to this new city of Pataliputra which came to be strategically situated on the confluences of the river Ganga and Son.

The ancient city of Pataliputra has maintained a glorious tradition of being a very important centre of political activities in Northern India. Its past had been more glorious. During last hundreds of years it witnessed many political ups and downs and the pages of its history are full with accounts of many interesting events. The city passing through many critical periods, even today remains to be the capital of one of the states of Indian Union. It was perhaps here that the famous Indian economist and statesman Chanakya or Kautilya wrote his famous “Arthasastra”, and the great grammarian Panini composed the sutras of his “Asthadhayi”. The famous astrologer-mathematician Aryabhatta belonged to this city and he wrote his famous “Aryabhattiyam” here in 499 A.D. It was here that the tenth Guru of the Sikhs took his birth to guide the Sikhs and the destiny of the nation. Hence in every age the city contributed a lot to the Indian history and Culture. The origin of the name Pataliputra has been connected with the Patali tree, though this specie of the tree is not found in the vicinity of the city. An unusual presence of a single tree in the locality might have inspired the people to call the place as Pataligrama.