Visit
the Amazing Destinations of All India Travel
- Rajasthan,
Kerala, Goa,
Delhi, Mumbai
for Adventure,
Cultural,
Wildlife, Religious,
Beaches & Rail
Tours. Find over 600 Travel Agents & Hotels Reservation Networks
for comfortable holidays of a lifetime in the Indian Sub-continent - India,
Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet & Sri Lanka.
Beneath
the din and bustle of Patna, the capital of Bihar state, has a fascinating
past. And in each chapter of its history, it has been crowned by
a new name -Kusumpur, Pushpapur, Pataliputra and Azeemabad.
Turning over the pages of early Indian history one comes across
the name of the pre-eminent city of Pataliputra. Located at the
site where Patna is today, this city saw the rise and fall of India's
first major kingdoms. Its period of glory spanned a thousand years,
from 6th century BC to 6th century AD. Ajatshatru, second in the
line of Magadha kings, built a small fort at Pataligram at the confluence
of rivers Ganga and Sone.
This later became the famous Mauryan metropolis of Pataliputra and
was ruled by Chandragupta Maurya (a contemporary of Alexander),
and his grandson Ashoka, acclaimed for the spread of Buddhism. Other
emperors who ruled from Patna were the Gupta and Pala kings, Sher
Shah Suri (16th century) and Azimush-Shan (18th century), grandson
of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who renamed it Azeemabad.
Today, Patna is an important business center of eastern India. More
significantly, it is a gateway to the Buddhist and Jain pilgrim
centers of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodhgaya and Pawapuri.
How
to reach there
There are daily flights from Delhi, Calcutta and Lucknow. Several trains leave
Delhi daily for 15-hour journey to Patna. From Calcutta, the trip by rail takes
around 12 hours.
Patna has extensive road connections with Bodhgaya(125 km, Calcutta (608 km),
Nalanda (90 km), Pawapuri ( 90 km), Rajgir (102 Km) and many other places of
tourist interest within Bihar and the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh.
Beneath
the din and bustle of Patna, the capital of Bihar state, has a fascinating
past. And in each chapter of its history, it has been crowned by
a new name -Kusumpur, Pushpapur, Pataliputra and Azeemabad.
