PATNA

Patna, capital of Bihar, which abounds in sacred Buddhist relics. In Patna itself Khudabaksh Oriental Library, famous for its rare collection of Arabic and Persian manuscripts, possesses the only volume saved from the sack of the Moorish University of Cordove. The ancient city of Pataliputra is near Patna. It was the capital of Chandragupta the Maurya who defeated Alexander the Great's general, Seleucus. Megasthenes came to Pataliputra as the Greek Ambassador in the fourth century. Ashoka also had his capital in Pataliputra. One hundred kms south-east of Patna lie the ruins of Nalanda, the Buddhist university which came to fame in the fifth century and was a seat of oriental learning for seven centuries. Hsuan Tsang, the famous Chinese traveller, studies at this university and left glowing accounts of it.