Pataliputra (IAST: Pāṭaliputra), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar,[1] was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort (Pāṭaligrāma) near the Ganges river.

As per the Greek diplomat, traveler and historian Megasthenes, during the Mauryan Empire (c. 320–180 BCE) it was among the first cities in the world to have a highly efficient form of local self government.

[6][7] Excavations early in the 20th century around Patna revealed clear evidence of large fortification walls, including reinforcing wooden trusses.

[16] Early Buddhist sources report a city being built in the vicinity of the village towards the end of the Buddha's life; this generally agrees with archaeological evidence showing urban development occurring in the area no earlier than the 3rd or 4th Century BCE.

[19] Its central location in north eastern India led rulers of successive dynasties to base their administrative capital here, from the Nandas, Mauryans and Shungas and down to the Palas.

[20][page needed] Situated at the confluence of the Ganges, Gandhaka and Son rivers, Pataliputra formed a "water fort, or jaldurga".

[23][24][25] Girnar fifth Major Rock Edict of Ashoka mention Patliputra: (M).They are occupied everywhere, both in Pățaliputra and in the outlying [......] and whatever other relatives of mine (there are).(N).

-Major Rock Edict No.5, Girnar, E. Hultzsch translation[26]During the reign of Emperor Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE, it was one of the world's largest cities, with a population of about 150,000–400,000.

- Strabo, "Geographia"[32]Aelian, although not expressly quoting Megasthenes nor mentioning Pataliputra, described Indian palaces as superior in splendor to Persia's Susa or Ecbatana: "In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neither Memnon's city of Susa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of Ecbatana is to be compared with them.

- Aelian in "De Natura Animalium"[33]Under Ashoka, most of wooden structure of Pataliputra palace may have been gradually replaced by stone.

[36] Which may be the result of the formative influence of craftsmen employed from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great.

[39] He found that the nobles and householders of the city had constructed several hospitals in which the poor of all countries, the destitute, the crippled and the diseased can get treatment.

He wrote that the old city had been completely deserted for many years, and all that was left was a small walled town by the bank of the Ganges, home to no more than about 1,000 people.

A later Jain work, the Titlhogali Painniya, records a traditional account of a disastrous flood on the Son River destroying Pataliputra at some point.

A thick layer of ashes found at the 80-pillar hall at Kumrahar suggests that the building may have been destroyed by fire, possibly corroborating this theory.

It describes the crowds of boats, elephants, horses, and "limitless foot-soldiers of all the kings of Jambudvīpa assembled to render homage" to Dharmapala.

[43]: 5, 8 In a fanciful 1559 book about world geography, the Italian Caius Julius Solinus briefly mentions a powerful Indian kingdom of Prasia with a capital at Palibotra.