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With archaeological sites littered here the there, entering Patna is a step back into an enchanted, glorious past – where the Sikhs vaunted their thrones; where the Mauryas and Guptas flourished with their exceptional arts; where the traces of a terrible famine remains…to be pondered.
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You hold your map of Patna and it’s there: a massive and imposing granary,
Golghar is a stirring reminder of a terrible famine. Built in 1786, the British Army used the facility to store grains helping alleviate starvation.
By Patna standards, the granary is a mammoth structure that one can even have a sweeping view of the city and the Ganges River from the top.
Back to the grounds, the past is haunting still. One can stumble upon excavations such as the Kumrahar archaeological site where remnants from a thousand years past have been unearthed.
Otherwise, the relics are safeguarded in several museums. In Jalan Museum, silver filigree work of the Mughal period and a collection of jade and Chinese paintings are well alive and telling of a colorful yet almost forgotten history. |
In The State Museum, there are caches of rare collection of coins, paintings, terracotta, bronze and stone sculptures of the Maurya and Gupta periods, as well as tidy Tibetan and Chinese sections. While here, the flock of history buffs cannot miss on the fossil of a 15-meter long tree.
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