Book contents
- The Cambridge World HistoryVolume IV
- The Cambridge World History
- A World with States, Empires, and Networks, 1200 bce–900 ce
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1Introduction: the world from 1200 bce to 900 ce
- Part IGlobal histories
- Part IITrans-regional and regional perspectives
- 10Western and Central Eurasia
- 11Regional study: Baktria – the crossroads of ancient Eurasia
- 12The Mediterranean
- 13Regional study: Athens in the fifth century bce
- 14Late antiquity in Europe c. 300–900 ce
- 15East Asia
- 16Regional study: Confucianism and the state
- 17Regional study: exchanges within the Silk Roads world system
- 18South Asia
- 19Regional study: Pataliputra
- 20The Americas
- 21Regional study: Chaco Canyon and the US Southwest
- 22Australasia and the Pacific
- 23Africa: states, empires, and connections
- 24Regional study: trans-Saharan trade
- Index
- References
19 - Regional study: Pataliputra
from Part II - Trans-regional and regional perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
Book contents
- The Cambridge World HistoryVolume IV
- The Cambridge World History
- A World with States, Empires, and Networks, 1200 bce–900 ce
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1Introduction: the world from 1200 bce to 900 ce
- Part IGlobal histories
- Part IITrans-regional and regional perspectives
- 10Western and Central Eurasia
- 11Regional study: Baktria – the crossroads of ancient Eurasia
- 12The Mediterranean
- 13Regional study: Athens in the fifth century bce
- 14Late antiquity in Europe c. 300–900 ce
- 15East Asia
- 16Regional study: Confucianism and the state
- 17Regional study: exchanges within the Silk Roads world system
- 18South Asia
- 19Regional study: Pataliputra
- 20The Americas
- 21Regional study: Chaco Canyon and the US Southwest
- 22Australasia and the Pacific
- 23Africa: states, empires, and connections
- 24Regional study: trans-Saharan trade
- Index
- References
Summary
The earliest reference to Pataliputra is a passing one from the Buddhist canonical texts, the Tripitaka, which were composed over the second half of the first millennium BCE. This chapter explains Ajatashatru's role in the fortification of Pataliputra; in the Puranas his grandson and successor Udayin is credited with the founding of the city. With the increasing power of Magadha and the development of trade and commerce along the Ganga, Pataliputra, located at the confluence of the Ganga and the Son rivers, must have seemed a suitable choice. Pataliputra is historically best associated with the period of Mauryan rule when it seems to have come into its own as an imperial city. Pataliputra can be understood as a product par excellence of the Second Urbanization. The high point of early Indian urban culture reached by a cosmopolis like Pataliputra is believed to have been the post-Mauryan period, that is, between the second century BCE and the third century CE.
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- The Cambridge World History , pp. 514 - 536Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
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