Pataliputra

Also called: Patna · Topic: Janapadas, Mahajanapadas and the Second Urbanisation · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "The Rise of Empires"; Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"; Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"

Meaning

Pataliputra (present-day Patna, Bihar) was the later capital of Magadha. It grew out of a village called Pataligrama on the Ganga. The capital moved there from Rajagaha.

It matters because it controlled the river routes along the Ganga. It became the capital of the Mauryan Empire, India's first empire, and was later the seat of Ashoka and of the Guptas. [5]

Explanation

Background: why Magadha needed a new capital

• Magadha (present-day Bihar) was the strongest of the sixteen mahajanapadas (large early states) between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE.
• Its first capital was Rajagaha (present-day Rajgir). This was a fortified city ringed by hills, which made it a good choice for defence.
• Magadha grew, so its needs changed.
• It now had to move armies, grain and goods over long distances.
• Moving them by river cost much less than moving them over land.
• So a capital on the Ganga made more sense than a capital hidden in the hills.

From fort to capital: the sequence

• Ajatashatru (Bimbisara's son, of the Haryanka dynasty) built a small fort on the Ganga at Pataligrama in the 5th century BCE. [2][3]
• His son Udayin (Udaya) is said to have made it the capital. [6]
• Dates differ:
• NCERT places the shift of capital in the fourth century BCE.
• Britannica says the capital was there by about 475 BCE. [5][6]

• In the exam, follow the NCERT date. Remember that the site was already in use earlier as a fort.

• When the capital moved, the village Pataligrama was renamed Pataliputra.

Main features: why the site was well chosen

• Command of the river. Pataliputra controlled the routes of communication along the Ganga. Whoever held it could control boats, trade and troop movement both up and down the river.
• A link in a strong chain. Magadha already had:
• fertile farmland, which gave a grain surplus for taxes and armies
• iron ore from present-day Jharkhand, for better tools and weapons

• elephants from the forests for its army

• Pataliputra added the route to these resources.

Results and later history

• The pre-Mauryan dynasties (Haryanka, then Shaishunaga, then Nanda) all ruled from Magadha. [2][5]
• Pataliputra became the capital of the Mauryan Empire. Textbooks describe it as one of the largest cities in Asia at the time.
• According to the Greek envoy Megasthenes, it was a large walled city.
• Britannica says it stayed a capital down to about the 1st century BCE. Later it was the seat of Ashoka and of the Guptas. [5]
• After that its importance declined. When the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang visited in the seventh century CE, he found it mostly in ruins, with few people living there.

Time, place and evidence

• Place: Pataliputra is present-day Patna, Bihar, on the river Ganga. Rajgir, the earlier capital, is about 110 km south-east of Patna. [7]
• Period:
• 5th century BCE: a fort at Pataligrama.
• Fourth century BCE (NCERT): the capital moves there.
• Mauryan and later Gupta periods: still a major seat of power.

• Seventh century CE: in ruins when Xuan Zang visits.

• Key people:

• Ajatashatru: built the fort. [3]
• Udayin: made it the capital. [6]

• The Nandas, then the Mauryas (including Ashoka), then the Guptas. [5]

• How we know:

• Early Buddhist and Jaina texts describe Magadha's ambitious kings.
• Megasthenes gave a Greek account of the Mauryan capital.
• Xuan Zang described its later decline.
• Modern historians such as Britannica's writers add the dates. [5][6]

Don't confuse with

• Rajagaha (Rajgir): this was Magadha's first capital. It was a defensive hill fort, and its name means "house of the king". Pataliputra was the later capital, on the river and open to trade.
• Pataligrama: the village (grama means village) where Ajatashatru built his fort. It became Pataliputra only after it was made the capital and renamed.
• Ajatashatru vs Udayin: Ajatashatru built the fort at Pataligrama. [3] His son Udayin is credited with making it the capital. [6]
• Rajgir's walls vs Pataliputra: the ASI-protected walls of old and new Rajgriha are at Rajgir, not at Patna. [4][7]

Prelims Hooks

• Pataliputra grew out of the village Pataligrama. It is present-day Patna, Bihar.
• Ajatashatru built a fort at Pataligrama on the Ganga in the 5th century BCE. [2][3]
• Udayin (Udaya), son of Ajatashatru, is credited with making Pataliputra the capital. [6]
• NCERT dates the shift of Magadha's capital from Rajagaha to Pataliputra to the fourth century BCE. Britannica says about 475 BCE. [5][6]
• The order of Magadha's capitals was Rajagaha (Rajgir) → Pataliputra (Patna). The order of its dynasties was Haryanka → Shaishunaga → Nanda → Maurya.
• Xuan Zang (seventh century CE) found Pataliputra largely in ruins.

Mains Points

• Geography as strategy. Rajagaha was a defensive capital, protected by hills. Pataliputra was an outward-looking capital that controlled movement along the Ganga. The move shows Magadha changing from a kingdom that guarded itself into a power that reached outwards. That change prepared the way for the Mauryan Empire.
• Cities in the Second Urbanisation. Pataliputra shows how the state and the city grew together in this period. Iron tools and a grain surplus fed it, river trade enriched it, and royal power fortified it. It began as a fort and became an imperial capital.
• Continuity and decline. The same city served the Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan and Gupta rulers. [5] By Xuan Zang's visit in the seventh century CE it lay in ruins. This shows that a city's fortunes rose and fell with the political power based in it.

Related concepts

• Rise of Magadha
• Magadha
• Haryanka dynasty
• Bimbisara
• Ajatashatru
• Udayin
• Rajagaha
• Cyclopean wall of Rajgir
• Shishunaga dynasty
• Mahapadma Nanda

Read more

• First amongst the sixteen: the rise of Magadha