Glimpses of Pataliputra in historical texts

Abstract

A cross evidences of archaeological and literary sources would suggest that a major portion of the present town of Patna stand almost on the ruins of an ancient city known by different names, Pataligrama, Pataliputra, Puspapura and Kusumapura. Of all these names, Pataliputra appears to have been the most popular since it is mentioned in the literary records of different periods. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador who visited the court of Chandragupta Maurya, calls it Palimbothra (Pataliputra). Patanjali, the famous grammarian of the second century B.C., calls it Pataliputra. The name Puspapura figures in the Yugapurana while in the Tattvarthasutra of Umasvati, a celebrated Jain author who lived here in the first-second centuries A.D., the place is described as Kusuma­pura. Fa-hien, who visited the city in the first decade of fifth century A.D., and his compatriot Hiuen-tsang who came here in the second quarter of the seventh century A. D., also knew it by the name Pataliputra.