Notion Press Old No. 38, New No. 6 McNichols Road, Chetpet Chennai - 600 031 First Published by Notion Press 2016 Copyright © Navneet Sahay 2016 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-1-946204-53-0 This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. No part of this book may be used, reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Factual errors & ommissiions if any in this book are always open to corrections if substantiated with factual evidence. CONTENTS A Touching Blog on the Pain of Patna by Sri Arun singh xi Acknowledgment xvii Preface xix Message xxi 1. Shifting of capital of magadh from rajgriha to pataligram (village of roses) 1 2. Patna during the maurya&gupta empire 11 3. Period of obscurity 30 4. The sikh connection 31 5. Age of reconstruction 37 6. Patna during the reign of moghuls 43 7. Mir quasim and end of nawabs rule over patna and bengal 46 8. Religious places mosques churches temples of patna 50 9. How patna grew as an important business and trading centre for french dutch and the english 59 10. Evolution of civil & criminal courts in patna 62 11. Old patna city’s life 66 12. Fairs & melas of patna: 68 13. Prices of commodities in those times 70 14. Decline of the old patna city area and westward growth of the city 75 15. Emergence of principal localities from 1765 onwards in british india 78 16. Opium saltpetre & calico silk & dutch connection 92 17. Story of the mutiny in patna 1857 and pir ali 95 Contents 18. Municipal developments 101 19. History of important buildings 104 20. Hotels & restaurants of the bygone era 119 21. Important avenues of patna & the history behind them 121 22. Places of cultural & literary importance: 124 23. Establishment of railway link of patna with ranchi howrah gaya benares 126 24. Patna at the time of independence 130 25. Emergence of higher education under british rule in patna: 132 26. Old schools of patna 148 27. Libraries of patna 158 28. Emergence of new colonies in 18th & 19th centuries 162 29. Kadam kuan new area an abode of eminent personalities 173 30. Advent of cinema halls and subsequent death nails on the single screen halls in patna 187 31. Lawyers judges scholars poets doctors of eminence 190 32. Steamer service to pahleja 195 33. Student unrests 197 34. Batagunj dawn of a new era 201 35. Colonies that emerged in post world war era 203 36. Iconic eating houses that vanished in the waves of time 206 37. Entertainment 210 38. First interim govt of bihar formed 214 39. Patna the centre stage of political turmoil of mid 1970s & call for sampoorna kranti 216 40. The deluge 219 41. Ganga bridge and transformation of patna into a megacity 221 x CHAPTER 1 SHIFTING OF CAPITAL OF MAGADH FROM RAJGRIHA TO PATALIGRAM (VILLAGE OF ROSES) ot many cities of the world can boast of a legacy of a continuous Ninhabitation of more than 2500 years If you start counting the 4 lines on the little fingers will be enough Rome Instanbul Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Varanasi &Gaya Patna which has down the ages , got different names like Pattan, Kusumpur, Pataligram, Pataliputra ,Azimabad to present day Patna along with these great Cities has seen continuous habitation for close to 2500 years History of Patna as a port hamlet spans at least three thousand years It is said when Gautam Buddha also called Sidharth Gautama Sakyamuni Budhdha (B563BCDied 483BC) embarked on his journey to seek salvation he crossed the River from Gandak estuary and got down near a Fort made of mud Brick on the southern bank ,when he asked about the name of the village it was told to him that the village was Pattan or Pataligram. The credit goes to Udayin, the son of Ajatsatru to actually build Patliputra to a famous city and to use it as his capital of Magadh. The Gargi-Samhita, Yug Puran, Vayu Puran mentions that Udayin magnificently built Kusumpur. Gautama Buddha connection. On his way to Gaya to seek salvation Budhha arrived at Pattan ( an old name of Patna ) a place where a mud fortification existed & stayed for a day or two before proceeding to Gaya via Rajgrih ,where he met King Bimbisara Buddha passed from this city a second time in the last years of his life, and he had prophesized a great future for this Patna: A Paradise Lost! place, but at the same time, he predicted its ruin from flood, fire, and feud. Prior to that Vardhhmann Mahavir(B 599BC D 526 BC) also touched the port of Pattan while he embarked on a southward Journey from Vaishali The chronicle of Pataliputra For a Chronicle of Pataliputra (now Patna) we must begin from the beginning &start this story with the valiant & very powerful Magadh king Ajatshatru Son of the Bimbisara (Not to be confused with Bindusar Maurya ) 544-492 BC of Haryankas the 3rd dynasty of Magadh with the Capital at Rajgrih. Under the Rule of Ajatashatru, the Haryank dynasty of Magadh reached its largest extent. Both Bimbisar &Ajatashatru were contemporary with Mahavira (599– 527BCE) and Gautama Buddha (563–483 BCE).Bimbisar had constructed a pond with a garden on all sides which exists till this day for Gautama Buddha for his comfortable stay at Rajgir It is also a folklore that Bimbisar built a mysterious cave treasury filled with huge treasures with its gate sealed by huge thick yellow stone There is a code written on stone But not deciphered as yet None could open this treasure stone This sealed stone at the opening of treasure on the cave mouth exists till this day in Rajgrih as it was during his reign Ajatshatru imprisoned & killed Bimbisar in 491 BC But Jain texts have a different story Once Ajatashatru was eating his meal with his newborn son in his lap, his son suddenly urinated, of which some drops fell onto his plate but due to affection for his child he did not change the plate but wiped the drops with his own patta (cloth on the shoulder) and continued to eat from the same plate. After eating a morsel he asked his mother Chelna, who was sitting in the same dining room, whether she had ever seen a father as loving and caring as he was, to which his mother narrated the story of King Bimbisara’s affection for him when he was a child and one such emotional night when little Ajatshtru was ill his father held him on his lap standing & pacing around the room all night. This touched Ajatashatru’s heart and his affection for his father was aroused. At once he picked up his axe and hurried to the prison to free his father by breaking all the iron chains himself. But when Bimbisara saw him coming with an axe in his hand he thought,... so, he is coming to kill me. It is better that I end my life with my own hands. At once he removed the Talaputa poison from his ring, closed his eyes and chanted”Kevli pannato Dhammam saranam pavajyami”(I seek refuge in the dharma taught by the kevlins or omniscient) and swallowed the poison and ended his life. 2 Navneet Sahay Ajatashatru repented a lot but repentance was of no use. Ajatashatru then shifted his palace to Champa and made it his capital as the previous palace reminded him of his atrocious mistake. Recorded history of the city of Pataliputra begins in the year 490 BCE when great Magadhan King Ajaatshatru wanted to shift his capital from the hilly Rajgriha(the present day Rajgir) to a more strategically located place to combat the Licchavis of the Vajji Confederacy of Vaishali. Ajatshatru was always in war with the Lichhavis of Vaishali which lay on the other side of Ganges Amrapali Bimbisar Buddha & Ajatshatru The Magadh Connection: The life of ageless beauty Amarapali( a Royal Courtesan in Vaishali republic)& Lord Budhdha is closely linked with the Magadh Kings Bimbisar & his son Ajatshatru of Haryanka Dynasty. Both king Bimbisara and his successor sonAjatshatru mentioned in several Buddhist Sutras, being lay disciples, great friends and protectors of Gautama Buddha On the other hand Amrapali’s life has been a life of strange Paradox where love of motherland reigned supreme over her love for the 2 men from an enemy country in her life.Magadh & Vajji confederates were always at war Amrapali belonging to the vajji confederate was courted both by King Bimbisar & son Ajatshatru.Ajatshatru like Bimbisar was also infatuated by the beauty of Amrapali the most astonishing Beauty of the subcontinent of her time Nagarwadhu(Courtesan) of Vaishali.In Pali Text of 5th century BC ;Story goes like this: after his initial defeat at the hands of the vajjis Wounded, lost, and on the run from enemy soldiers, Ajaatshatru donned the guise of a soldier of Lichchavi clan and took shelter in the palace of Amrapali. When Ajatshtru recovered from his wound both found that they are in love with each other. Ajatshatru had a gameplan to avenge his defeat He found an ally by the name of Senapati Badbadhra who was also aggrieved with the Janapad and both started to plot against the Lichchwi Janapad - This time by reducing the number of soldiers, making them addicted to alcohol, poor training methods, and poor pay ; thus reducing them to a demoralized force , and paving the way for an easy victory for Magadh.