Mod 3: Pataliputra and Megasthenes — the Wooden Capital, Kumrahar’s Pillared Hall, the Seven Classes and the City Boards
Concept
9.5 Pataliputra: the city on the Ganga
🏫 School level · NCERT Class 6–12 History (the base for UPSC, BPSC, BSSC and other PSC exams)
What Megasthenes saw and what archaeology found
Pataliputra (modern Patna), at the meeting of the Ganga and the Son, was the Mauryan capital. Megasthenes, who lived there as Seleucus’s ambassador, called it Palibothra. He says it was a parallelogram about 80 stadia long and 15 stadia wide (about 14.5 km × 2.7 km), protected by a wooden palisade with 570 towers and 64 gates, and a moat about 180 metres wide.
| Site | Excavator / years | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Bulandibagh | L. A. Waddell (1890s); D. B. Spooner (1912–15 nearby) | Long lines of timber palisade — confirming Megasthenes |
| Kumrahar | D. B. Spooner (1912–15); A. S. Altekar & V. K. Mishra (1951–55) | An 80-pillared hall of polished sandstone on wooden platforms; one pillar displayed today |
| Didarganj | Found 1917 on the Ganga bank | The polished Didarganj Yakshi (now in Bihar Museum) |
Spooner compared the Kumrahar hall with the Achaemenid apadana (audience hall) of Persepolis. Most scholars today accept some Persian influence in polish and plan, but stress the Indian timber tradition and local workmanship. Its exact date is debated — some place it in Ashoka’s time rather than Chandragupta’s.
The Kumrahar site is protected by the ASI in Patna and shows the surviving pillar. Patna’s Bihar Museum (opened 2015–17) displays the Didarganj Yakshi.
- Pataliputra = Palibothra; 80 × 15 stadia; wooden wall with 570 towers, 64 gates.
- Bulandibagh palisade; Kumrahar 80-pillared hall (Spooner 1912–15; Altekar & Mishra 1951–55).
- Question: Where is the 80-pillared hall? Answer: Kumrahar, Patna.
MCQs
Answer this question, then use Next.
Question 1: The excavations at Kumhrar and Bulandibagh in Patna revealed that Chandragupta Maurya's imperial palace was constructed of:
[School] Megasthenes called Pataliputra:
[BPSC level] According to Megasthenes the wall of Pataliputra had:
[BPSC level] The 80-pillared Mauryan hall was found at:
[UPSC level] D. B. Spooner compared the Kumrahar hall with the audience hall of:
[BSSC pattern] The second major excavation at Kumrahar (1951–55) was led by:
[School] Pataliputra stood at the meeting of the Ganga and the:
One-liners
Write your answer, then submit to see the correct answer.
Where is the 80-pillared hall?
Kumrahar, Patna.Concept
9.6 Megasthenes on society and the city
🏫 School level · NCERT Class 6–12 History (the base for UPSC, BPSC, BSSC and other PSC exams)
Seven classes and six boards
Megasthenes divided Indian society into seven classes. He was describing occupations as he saw them, not the four varnas, which is why historians treat his list with care.
- Philosophers (Brahmanas and Shramanas) — fewest in number but most honoured
- Farmers — the largest class; not disturbed even in war
- Herdsmen and hunters
- Artisans and traders
- Soldiers — paid by the state
- Overseers / spies (episkopoi)
- Councillors and assessors of the king
- He wrote there was no slavery in India — but the Arthashastra and Pali texts describe dasas.
- He said Indians did not know writing and there was no famine — both wrong.
- He records fables of gold-digging ants and men with ears to sleep in.
Besides the city boards (astynomoi), he mentions agoranomoi (district officers who looked after irrigation, land measurement, roads and pillars marking distances every 10 stadia) and an army of six boards of five: navy, transport and supply, infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants.
- Seven classes: philosophers, farmers (largest), herders, artisans, soldiers, overseers, councillors.
- City: 30 officials in 6 boards of 5; army also 6 boards of 5.
- Question: What did the sixth board do? Answer: Collected 1/10 tax on sales.
MCQs
Answer this question, then use Next.
Question 1: Into how many classes or categories did Megasthenes classify Indian society in his book 'Indica'?
Question 2: According to Megasthenes, municipal administration of Pataliputra was managed by how many members and committees?
[BPSC level] According to Megasthenes the largest class in society was:
[UPSC level] Which statement of Megasthenes is contradicted by Indian sources?
[BPSC level] The city board that kept a record of births and deaths was, per Megasthenes, the:
[UPSC level] Megasthenes’ “agoranomoi” were officers in charge of:
[BSSC pattern] Megasthenes says the army was managed by six boards of:
[UPSC level] The sixth city board in Megasthenes collected a tax on sales of:
One-liners
Write your answer, then submit to see the correct answer.
What did the sixth board do?
Collected 1/10 tax on sales.Concept
🎯 UPSC · BPSC · BSSC · State PSC level: PYQs, traps and mains
| Exam | What it asks from this module |
|---|---|
| UPSC | Reliability of Indica; Kumrahar; seven classes |
| BPSC | Palibothra; wooden palace; 30-member city council |
| BSSC / SSC | Who wrote Indica; capital of the Mauryas |
According to Megasthenes, the city of Pataliputra was administered by a council of: (a) 6 members (b) 30 members (c) 32 members (d) 60 members
- He describes six committees, each of five members — 6 × 5 = 30.
- Indica survives only in fragments (Strabo, Diodorus, Arrian), not as a full book.
- The largest class was the farmers; the most honoured, the philosophers.
- Kumrahar = pillared hall; Bulandibagh = wooden palisade.
Model question: How far does archaeology confirm Megasthenes’ account of Pataliputra? Points: palisade at Bulandibagh; Kumrahar hall; Ganga–Son site; limits of a foreigner’s view (no slavery, seven “castes”); value for city administration.
- Indica survives in fragments; errors — no slavery, no writing.
- Question: Who found the Didarganj Yakshi and when? Answer: Found on the Ganga bank in 1917.
MCQs
Answer this question, then use Next.
[BPSC level] Megasthenes’ account says the city of Pataliputra was run by how many officials in all?
[School] The Greek ambassador who wrote Indica was:
[UPSC level] Indica survives today mainly through the works of:
[BSSC pattern] The Didarganj Yakshi was found in the year:
[UPSC level] Which pair of a Patna site and its finding is correct?
One-liners
Write your answer, then submit to see the correct answer.
Who found the Didarganj Yakshi and when?
Found on the Ganga bank in 1917.