The census of 1881 returned the population at 1,756,856 persons (males 858,783, and females 898,073). Hindus numbered 1,541,061, Mohammedans 213,141, Christians 2588, and “others” 66. Of high-caste Hindus there are 47,041 Brahmans and 64,332 Rájputs. Ranking next to these two castes are the Bábhans, a class who number 121,381 in Patna district, and whose origin is much disputed. They assert themselves to be Sarwariá Brahmans, but, although they are held in high respect, this rank is not generally accorded to them. Among the Súdras the most numerous are the Goálás or Ahírs, the great herdsman class, ofwhom there are 217,845; and the Kurmís, an agricultural caste, who number 194,222. Among the semi-Hinduized aboriginal tribes the Dosádhs, the ordinary labouring class of Behar, number 99,976. The Wahabis form the most interesting section of the Mohammedan community. They are a numerous body, and include several wealthy traders, though the majority belong to the lower classes. The following towns in the district contained a population in 1881 exceeding 10,000—Patna city (170,654); Behar (48,968); Dinápur, including the cantonment (37,893); Bárh (14,689); Khagaul (14,075); Mukáma (13,052); Fatwá (10,919).

Rice, which forms the staple of the district, is divided into two great crops—the kartikd or early rice, sown in June or July and reaped in October or November; and the agháni or winter rice, sown after the commencement of the rains and cut in November or December. The boro or spring rice is also cultivated to a limited extent, being sown in November or December and reaped in April or May. By far the most important of these is the agháni crop, of which forty-six varieties are named. Among the other principal crops are wheat and barley, khesárí, gram, pease, cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane, a little indigo and mustard, several other oil-producing plants, and poppy. All the poppy grown in the province of Behar is manufactured at Patna city.

Patna is subject to blights, floods, and drought, but seldom to such an extent as to seriously interfere with the general harvest. There are abundant facilities for importations of grain in case of distress. The trade of the district centres in Patna city, which, next to Calcutta, is the largest river-mart in Bengal. The total length of district and provincial roads is 454 miles. The East Indian Railway traverses the entire length of the district for 86 miles. Several newspapers are published at Patna, the most important being the Behar Herald, published weekly and conducted by the native pleaders of the Patna bar.

Patna is one of the two places in British India where opium is manufactured. The poppy cultivated is exclusively the white variety (Papaver somniferum album), and the crop requires great attention. The amount of produce from various lands differs considerably. Under favourable circumstances of soil and season, the out-turn per acre may be as high as 41 ìb of standard opium (i.e., containing 70 per cent, of pure opium and 30 per cent, of water), paid for by the Government at the rate of 5s. per lb; but the average is from 21 to 27 ft> per acre. The opium is made up into cakes weighing about 4 ìb, and containing about 3 ìb of standard opium. These cakes are packed in chests (forty in each), and sent to Calcutta for exportation to China. The price which they fetch varies every year; the average rate per chest in 1880-81 was about £135 and the cost £39.

The net revenue of Patna in 1882-83 amounted to £278,550, of which £147,205 was derived from the land-tax. In 1874-75 there were, exclusive of the Patna college, 309 Government and aided schools with 9003 pupils; by 1877-78 the number had risen to 816, and the pupils to 16,396. The Patna college was founded in 1862, and is the only institution for superior instruction in Behar; the total number of pupils in 1881-82 was 166. The climate of Patna is considered remarkably healthy. The average annual rainfall is 35 '66 inches.

PATNA, chief city of the above district, is situated in 25° 37' 15" N. lat. and 85° 12' 31" E. long., on the right or south bank of the Ganges, and adjoining Bánkipur, the civil station and administrative headquarters of the district. Its central position at the junction of three great rivers, the Son, the Gandak, and the Ganges, where the traffic of the North-Western Provinces meets that of Bengal, gives it great natural advantages. The city proper comprises the large business quarters of Márúfganj, Mán-súrganj, the Kilá or fort, the Chauk, with Mirchaiganj, Mahárájganj,Sádikpur, Alábakhshpur, Gulzárbágh, Colonel-ganj, and other petty bazaars extending westwards as far as Bánkipur civil station. According to the census of 1881 its population was 170,654 — Hindus 127,076, Mohammedans 43,086, “others” 492.

History.— Patna city has been identified with Pátaliputra (the Palibothra of Megasthenes, who came as ambassador from Seleucus Nicator to Chandragupta about 300 b,c.). Megasthenes describes Palibothra as being the capital city of India. He adds that its length was 80 stadia, and breadth 15, that it was surrounded by a ditch 30 cubits deep, and that the walls were adorned with 570 towers and 64 gates. According to this account the circumference of the city would be 190 stadia or 25⅜ miles. When Hwen T’sang visited the place in 637 a.d. the kingdom of Magadha was subject to the rule of Kanauj. The old city had then been deserted for a long time, and was in ruins, although a new Pátaliputra had sprung up close to it. In the south-east of Patna district, in the Rájágríhá Hills, are found some of the earliest remains of Indian Buddhism. During the early years of Mohammedan rule the governor of the Erovince resided at Behar town in the south-east of the district.

•tiring Sher Sháh’s revolt against the Mughals, Patna became the capital of an independent state, which was afterwards reduced to subjection by Akbar. The two events in the modern history of the district are the massacre of Patna (1763) and the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857. The former occurrence, which may be said to have settled the fate of Mohammedan rule in Bengal, was the result of a quarrel between the nawáb, Mir Kásim, and the English authorities regarding transit duties, which ultimately led to open hostilities. The company’s sepoys, who had occupied Patna city by the orders of the company’s factor, were driven out by the nawáb’s troops and nearly all killed. The remainder afterwards surrendered, and were put into confinement, together with the European officers and the entire staff of the Kásimbázár factory, who had also been arrested on the first outbreak of hostilities. Mir Kásim was defeated in two pitched battles at Gheriá and Udhánálá (Oodeynullah) in August and September 1763, and in revenge ordered the massacre of the whole of his prisoners, which was carried out with the help of a Swiss renegade in his employment, named Walter Reinhardt (afterwards the husband of the famous Begam Samru). About sixty English prisoners were murdered on this occasion, the bodies being thrown into a well belonging to the house in which they were confined.

At the outbreak of the mutiny in May 1857 the three sepoy regiments stationed at Dinápur (the military cantonment of Patna, adjoining the city) were allowed to retain their arms till July, when, on an attempt being made to disarm them, they broke into open revolt. Although many who attempted to cross the Ganges in boats were fired into and run down by a pursuing steamer, the majority crossed by the Son river into Sháhábád, where they joined the rebels under Kuar Sinh, who were then besieging a small European community at Arrah.

PATNA, a native state in the Central Provinces of India, lying between 20° 5' and 21° N. lat., and between 82° 45' and 83° 40' E. long., has an estimated area of 2399 square miles, of which 550 are under cultivation, and other 950 are returned as cultivable. The country is an undulating plain, rugged and isolated, with ridges of hills crossing it here and there, and shut in on the north by a lofty irregular range. Rice forms the staple produce, but pulses, oil-seeds, sugar-cane, and cotton are also grown. A vast forest extends for 30 miles around Patna village containing valuable large timber, but infested by tigers, leopards, and other wild animals. Iron ore exists in many parts of the state, but no mines are regularly worked. The only means of communication are a few bullock or pony tracks. The estimated population in 1881 was 257,959, nearly all of whom were Hindus. Patna was formerly the most important of the cluster of chiefships known as the Athára Garhjat (The Eighteen Forts), but under its later rulers it greatly declined. Since 1871, however, when it was taken under direct British management, it has gradually been regaining prosperity.