Patna

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.

A bustling city of 1,200,000 people, the city is approximately 15 km long and 5 km to 7 km wide.

The Buddhist and Jain pilgrim centres of Vaishali, Rajgir or Rajgriha, Nalanda, Bodhgaya, and Pawapuri are all nearby. Patna is a sacred city for Sikhs also.

Apart from being the administrative centre of the state and its historic importance, the city is also a major educational centre and medical centre.

The walled old area, called Patna City by the locals, is also a major trading centre.

Origin of name

The appellation Patna is etymologically derived from Patan, the name of the Hindu goddess Patan devi.

The city has been known by various names during its more than two millennia long existence—Pataligram, Pataliputra, Kusumpur, Pushpapura, Azimabad, and the present day Patna. It got its name of Patna during the reign of Sher Shah Suri, a Bihari ruler who has the distiction of making the only interruption to the long rule of Mughals. His tomb is at Sasaram, a place near to Patna.

History

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 Pataligram.

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 Rajgriha to a more strategically located place to combat the Licchavis of Vaishali.

With the rise of the Mauryan empire, the place became the seat of power and nerve centre of the sub-continent.

Early Mauryan Patliputra was mostly built with wooden structures.

In the years that followed, the city saw many dynasties ruling the Indian subcontinent from here.

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.

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. 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 Secretary of State and author of Ain-i-Akbari 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 Muhamad Azim to rename Patna as Azimabad, in 1704 while Azim was in Patna as the subedar.

With the decline of 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 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.

After the decisive Battle of Buxar (1765), Patna fell in the hands of the East India Company and continued as a trading centre.

In 1912, Patna became of the capital of Orissa Province and Bihâr when Bengal Presidency was partitioned. Credit for designing the massive and majestic buildings of colonial Patna goes to the architect, I. 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 say, the experience gained in building the new capital area of Patna proved very useful in building the imperial capital of New Delhi.

There are several prestigious educational institutions in Patna like Patna College, Patna Women's College, Patna Science College, Bihar National College,Bihar College of Engineering, now National Institute of Technology, Patna, Patna Medical College (formerly, Prince of Wales Medical College), Nalanda Medical College, Patna Dental College and the Patna Veterinary College. Patna continued as the capital of Bihar province under the British Raj.

Patna played a major role in the Indian independence struggle.

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.

Geography

Patna 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.

The bridge over the river Ganga, named after Mohandas Gandhi, is 5850m long is said to be the longest single river bridge in the world.

Climate

In Patna, as in most of Bihar, the summer temperatures rise very high as the hot tropical sun beats down with all its intensity coupled with a heat wave which though is not as severe as say in Delhi. The northern Indian winters bring bitter cold nights and sunny days to Patna from November to February till the arrival of the spring that brings the weather to a full cycle.

Demographics

The population of Patna is over 1,285,470 (2001 census), which has grown from 917,243 in the 1991 census. Source – District Elementary Education Report Card 2004 of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi (www.eduinfoindia.net)

Patna has a moderate crime rate.

Many languages are spoken in Patna. Other dialects from other regions of Bihar spoken widely in Patna are Angika, Bhojpuri, and Maithili. Other languages spoken in Patna include Bengali, and Oriya.

Memons from Patna are called Patni Memons and speak a form of Memoni

People and culture

The Main Culture- Patna's culture is vastly dominated by Ang and Maithil peoples.they are intellectual, smart, handsome with relatively short height and weak body.

Status of women

The women are respected and have a say in the affairs of the family.

Family orientation

People are religious and family oriented, and their lives are deeply rooted in tradition.

Marriage

Most marriages are still arranged by parents;

Cuisine

Staple food of majority of the population is “bhat, dal, roti, tarkari and achar”, prepared basically from rice, lentils, wheat flour, vegetables, and pickle grade raw, unripe fruits.

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 Bakhtiarpur, 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 &

There are several other traditional snacks and savouries:

Transport

Patna is connected by Indian Railways to all major cities of India. The airport at Patna is named Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport after a popular leader. Regular domestic flights, connecting Patna with Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai, Ranchi, and a few other places are available.

National Highway 31 passes through Patna. A number of roads branching from Patna connect the city to other parts of Bihar. Bailey Road the longest road of Patna &

The river Ganges is navigable throughout the year and there is considerable boat traffic for transporting cargo. A National Waterway goes through Patna connecting Allahabad &

Local public transport—City buses ply on many routes within the city limits. Patna is well connected by road to the whole of Bihar, Jharkand &

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.

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.

Places of interest

In Patna

Some of the places of interest in the city are:

Around Patna

See also

Education

Most of the government-run schools in Patna are affiliated to Bihar School Examination Board, whereas most of the private schools are affiliated to ICSE and CBSE boards. A number of schools are run by Christians missionaries - prominent among them being the Jesuits.Loyola High School is one of the best schools in Patna and produced some of the finest students who had made many contribution for the welfare of the humanity.

Unlike the rest of India, many colleges also provide an option for the plus 2 level of education (Class 11 and 12) raising the standard of education due to access to superior teachers of colleges.

Patna is served by two universities, Patna University, which was established in 1917, and Magadh University, with its headquarters at Bodh Gaya.

Patna University, established in 1917 and among the oldest universities on the Indian subcontinent. It has 11 colleges, including famous colleges like Bihar College of Engineering, Science College,Bihar National College Patna Women's College, Patna College and Patna Medical College & Patna Women's College is a leading women's college in Bihar, followed by Magadh Mahila College.

There are three engineering colleges in Patna

There are three medical colleges:

There are three B-Schools:

Anugrah Narayan College, popularly known as A. It was established in the year 1956 and is situated in Patna.

The city was a premier centre of education in the British India.