View source for Names of Patna

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}
{{refimprove|date=August 2016}}

Since its origin in 600 BCE, the city of '''[[Patna]]''' {{audio|Patna.ogg|pronunciation}} ({{langx|hi|पटना}}) has gone through many name changes.<ref>{{cite web |title=The history - Patna |url=http://patna.bih.nic.in/District/history.htm |publisher=patna.bih.nic.in |access-date=28 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413050240/http://patna.bih.nic.in/District/history.htm |archive-date=13 April 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> The article lists various names of Patna used throughout its history. The article could also be taken as the ''Toponymy of Patna''.

==Pataligram==
One legend ascribes the origin of the city to a mythological king, ''Putraka'', who created Patna by a magic stroke for his queen ''Patali'', literally ''trumpet flower'', which gives it its ancient name ''Pataligram''. ''Gram'' is the [[Sanskrit]] word for a [[village]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://patna.bih.nic.in/html/Patna/PATNA%20A%20HISTORICAL%20PLACE.htm |title=History of Patna |publisher=Agriculture Technology Management Agency |location=Patna |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010065333/http://patna.bih.nic.in/html/Patna/PATNA%20A%20HISTORICAL%20PLACE.htm |archive-date=2007-10-10 |quote=Adapted from an article in ''The Hindu'' by Shahid Akhter Makfi |access-date=2011-02-26}}</ref>

==Patliputra==
{{main article|Patliputra}}
The name ''[[Patliputra]]'' (Devanagari: पाटलिपुत्र ) is composed ([[sandhi]]) of two words, ''Patali'' and ''Putraka'' (king).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biharandjharkhand.com/bihar/town/patna/pataliputra.htm |title=Patna (Bihar): The Story of Pataliputra |access-date=2008-09-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402090532/http://www.biharandjharkhand.com/bihar/town/patna/pataliputra.htm |archive-date=2 April 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
The name Patliputra was given by [[Ajatashatru]], a king of the [[History of India|ancient Indian]] state of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadh]], who created a [[fort]] in [[Names of Patna#Pataligram|Pataligrama]] near the River [[Ganga]] in 490 BCE and later, King Ajatashatru shifted his capital to Patliputra.<ref>*{{Citation |last1=Kulke |first1=Hermann |last2=Rothermund |first2=Dietmar |year=2004 |title=A History of India |publisher=4th edition. Routledge, Pp. xii, 448 |isbn=0415329205 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The name Patliputra may also have been derived from Patli, a variety of tree that is found in the city.<ref>{{cite news |title=Patna losing floral wealth to concrete jungle |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Patna-losing-floral-wealth-to-concrete-jungle/articleshow/44818169.cms |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=15 October 2014 |access-date=28 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117103058/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Patna-losing-floral-wealth-to-concrete-jungle/articleshow/44818169.cms |archive-date=17 November 2017 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Plants in Mahavamsa |url=https://tamilandvedas.com/tag/bodhi-tree/ |publisher=tamilandvedas.com |author=London Swaminatham |date=3 October 2014 |access-date=28 August 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915224308/https://tamilandvedas.com/tag/bodhi-tree/ |archive-date=15 September 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Indeed, according to the ''[[Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta]]'' ([[Sutra|Sutta]] 16 of the ''[[Dīgha Nikāya]]''), Pāṭaliputta was the place "where the seedpods of the Pāṭali plant break open".<ref name=DN16>{{cite web|title=Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta (DN 16), translated from the Pali by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu|work=[[Dīgha Nikāya]] of the [[Pali Canon]]|publisher=dhammatalks.org|year=2022|url=https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/DN/DN16.html|accessdate=9 October 2022}}</ref>

==Palinfou==
The Chinese called the place Palinfou. This name appears in books of Chinese travelers [[Fa Hien]] & [[Hsuan-tsang]] who visited Patliputra.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/ |title=A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms Being an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.d. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline |author=Fa-Hien |others=Trans. Legge, James |authorlink=Faxian |publisher=eBooks |date=2010 |access-date=2011-02-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124223922/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/ |archive-date=24 January 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hindubooks.org/temples/bihar/patandevi/index.htm |title=Patan Devi |last1=Chaoudhoury |first1=P. C. Roy |publisher=Dharma Universe |work=Hindu Books |access-date=2011-02-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215114659/http://www.hindubooks.org/temples/bihar/patandevi/index.htm |archive-date=15 February 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Palibothra==
This name was mentioned by [[Megasthenes]] (350 BCE-290 BCE), the Greek historian, (calling it 'Palibothra'(Devanagari: पलिबोथरा) or 'Palimbotra' (Devanagari: पलिम्बोत्र), in his writings during the 4th century.<ref name=edu>[http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Foreign_Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm Of the city Pataliputra]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210080315/http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/Foreign_Views/GreekRoman/Megasthenes-Indika.htm |date=10 December 2008 }} Indika, Book II, Frag. XXV, Strab. XV. i. 35-36,--p. 702. Frag XXVI.Arr. Ind. 10. ''Of Pataliputra''..." the greatest city in India is that which is called Palimbothra, in the dominions of the Prasians, where the streams of the Erannoboas and the Ganges unite,--the Ganges being the greatest of all rivers, and the Erannoboas being perhaps the third largest of Indian rivers, though greater than the greatest rivers elsewhere; but it is smaller than the Ganges where it falls into it. Megasthenes informs us that this city stretched in the inhabited quarters to an extreme length on each side of eighty stadia, and that its breadth was fifteen stadia, and that a ditch encompassed it all round, which was six hundred feet in breadth and thirty cubits in depth, and that the wall was crowned with 570 towers and had four-and-sixty gates...."</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071018045710/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3038.html Ancient Library]}}</ref>

==Azimabad==
{{main article|Azimabad}}
Prince [[Azim-us-Shan]], the grandson of [[Aurangzeb]] became the [[Governor]] of [[Patliputra]] in 1703. Earlier to that, [[Sher Shah Suri]] had moved his capital from [[Bihar Sharif]] to Patliputra. It was Prince Azim-us-Shan who gave it the name ''[[Azimabad]]''.

==See also==
* [[Azimabad]]
* [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadh]]

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Bernstein, Richard |date=2001 |title=Ultimate Journey: Retracing the Path of an Ancient Buddhist Monk (Xuanzang) who crossed Asia in Search of Enlightenment |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=0-375-40009-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ultimatejourneyr00bern_0 }}
* {{cite book |author=Watters, Thomas |title=On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India |edition=Reprinted |publisher=Hesperides Press |date=1996 |isbn=978-1406713879}}
* Legge, James 1886. ''[http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/f15l/ A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms: Being an account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist Books of Discipline]''. Oxford, Clarendon Press. Reprint: New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corp. 1965. {{ISBN|0-486-21344-7}}

[[Category:History of Patna]]
[[Category:Patna]]
[[Category:Historical geography of India]]