ABSTRACT
R.N. Nandi in an article has shown on the basis of old literary sources and archaeological findings that the present town of Patna stands almost on the ruins of an old city which was known by different names such as Pataligram, Pataliputra, Pushpura, Kusumpura, and so on, of which the name Pataliputra was the most popular. But Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador who came to the court of Chandragupta Maurya in 315 bc, called it Palimbothra. The grammarian Patanjali called it Pataliputra in the 2nd century bc. The Jain monk who lived here in the first-second century Ad, called it Kusumpura. Both the Chinese travellers, Fa-shien and Hiuen-tsang between the fifth century and seventh century Ad called it Pataliputra.
