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Indian culture is an ancient and dynamic entity, spanning back to
the very beginnings of human civilization. Beginning with a mysterious
culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern
lands of India, the history of the sub-continent is one puncuated
by constant integration with migrating peoples and with the diverse
cultures that surround India.So Book your Trip To India Or Trip For India
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Ancient Indya -» East India Tourism -» Patna India Tourism
Patna India Tourism
Patna 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 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. Their 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 centre and medical centre. Its the epicentre for all the students from Bihar preparing for various competitive examinations. Various educational instituitions are coming up here.
The walled old area, called Patna City by the locals, is also a major trading centre.
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. 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 Rajgriha 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.
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