பாடலிபுத்திரம் - Pataliputra

இந்திய வரலாற்றில் முக்கிய இடமாக பாடலிபுத்திரம்  விளங்கியது. ஆனால், இன்றைய பாட்னா தான் பாடலிபுத்திரமா என்ற வினாவும் உள்ளது. பாடலிபுத்திரத்தைப் பற்றி ஸ்வராஜ்யா-வில் வந்திருந்த பத்தி பல செய்திகளைச் சொல்லியுள்ளது. இது விவாதத்திற்குறியது.

Pataliputra (now Patna) is located at the confluence of the Ganges and Son Rivers in northeastern India. It was the capital city of the Mauryan Empire c. 326–184 b.c.e., when it was perhaps the largest city in the world, and again of the Gupta Empire, 320–550 c.e.   Alexander the Great invaded northwestern India in 326 b.c.e. The invasion had a catalytic effect in inspiring an Indian prince, Chandragupta Maurya, to form the first empire on the subcontinent. 

Chandragupta might have met Alexander and, taking advantage of the latter’s death, drove the Greek forces out of India, subdued the tribes and states in northern India, and proclaimed himself ruler at Pataliputra, the capital of a previous local state.  Chandragupta fought and then made peace with Seleucus Nicator, Alexander’s successor in Asia and founder of the Seleucid Empire, who sent an ambassador named Megasthenes to Pataliputra. Megasthenes kept a diary of his stay in India. The original account has not survived, but segments that were quoted in other ancient works give us the only firsthand information of Pataliputra.

கே.எஸ்.இராதாகிருஷ்ணன். 
02-06-2015. 


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___________      Pataliputra: The New Capital?________________

India’s government should consider relocating to the Patna-Gaya-Nalanda triangle, and rejuvenate growth in eastern India. 

Straight away, here is the recommendation: gradually move India’s capital from New Delhi to south of what is Patna today. Create a new union territory called Pataliputra, which can house the executive/secretariat. The Parliament and the Supreme Court can be housed in or near Bodh Gaya and Nalanda, or some such similar combination. The first instinct of many will be to consider this as a massive Tughlasque distraction, but there are compelling reasons to consider this idea:

The per-capita income of central-eastern states like Bihar, U.P., W.B, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Orissa, Assam (Bihar and eastern U.P. being the lowest) is a quarter to a half of states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
This part of India has 400+ million people, ~1/3rd of India’s population – and such massive inequality (along with inhuman levels of absolute poverty) cannot be ignored if India is to become a middle-income nation soon.
Many spatially large democracies – America, Canada, Australia, Brazil – do not have their political capitals based in their largest few cities.
The average resident of Delhi would benefit by a reduction in property prices without any significant decrease in long-term economic growth – and many state properties there can be auctioned to partially fund the new capital.
India is not just any nation-state; it is a civilizational state. In the truest sense, our modern republic is the successor state of the Mauryan, Gupta and Pala kingdoms (which mostly had their capital in Pataliputra) and not that of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire or the British Raj. 
Creating a new capital can be the flagship idea of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 100+ Smart Cities Project (Mr. Modi, MP from nearby Varanasi, should consider announcing this before the Bihar assembly polls)
Finally, creating a new capital in the heart of Central-Eastern India – along with the economic boom and the political spotlight that would inevitably follow – would be a body blow to Maoist terrorism.


-Courtesy #Swarajya