A walk through Patna heritage sites

PATNA: Heritage is something which is not locked in the pages of history but explains itself to the present and future generations. Patanites were keen enough to know it through the heritage walk organized on Sunday. Most of the 300 participants were amused to know that Patna was also known as Patligram, Kusumpur, Pushpur and Srinagar, besides the famous Pataliputra. Historians believe the city was called Patligram because it was created after cutting Patli trees.
The walk started at 8.30 am from Golghar and ended at the Martyrs Memorial with several ancient monuments and buildings on way. It was the first such walk. Art, culture and youth affairs department minister Vinay Bihari, students of NIT Patna and Magadh Mahila College were among the participants.
Yogendra Kumar Gupta (28), who is suffering from polio, felt such walks were important. “We are forgetting our history. The Gandhi Maidan and the Mahatma Gandhi’s statue are in a bad shape. But no one is to take care of them,” he said showing photographs to buttress his point.
The participants were informed about the history of these monuments. Most of the important city buildings were built in 20th century in renaissance style of the Greek and Roman architecture. Bihar Vidhan Mandal is a case in point. It has big pillars and red lines. The top portion has a ‘kalash’ style structure and the entire building is modelled as Roman amphitheatre. The Raj Bhavan, spread over 110 acre of land, is also built in renaissance style.
Golghar, the biggest attraction in the city, was built in 1786 to store grains during the famine. It is a dome built on the world’s largest arch. The Patna high court building, which was built more than 100 years ago, is one of the rare monuments which have a mixture of ancient Greek and renaissance style. It also has a touch of neo-gothic style in which Britain’s parliament building is built. Patna Museum, a storehouse of Bihar’s history, dates back to 1916.
It was Patligram through which Lord Buddha had visited Vaishali. Megasthenes and many other travellers had visited the city. Megasthenes was so impressed that he compared it with the modern city of Susa in 4000BC. Patna was the ‘karmabhoomi’ of Chanakya and Aryabhatta. It was an important centre of learning and famous intellectuals like Panini, Katyayan, Pingal and Varsha gained fame here.
Sufi saints made Patna their centre of activity from 12th century. In 18th century, it was named Azimabad by the Mughals. But after the British won the Battle of Plassey, they renamed it Patna.
Mother Teresa worked as a trainee in Padri ki Haveli which was built in 1772. Takhat Sri Harmandir Ji Patna Saheb was constructed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh although the present structure was built in 1957. Khuda Baksh Library dates back to 1895. Bihar attained statehood in 1912 after it was separated from West Bengal and Patna became the capital of erstwhile Odisha and Bihar region.
The organizers also distributed brochures mentioning the details of these monuments.