Patna
Birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh. Six faiths inside one old city, which nowhere else in Bihar can say.
Patna and the rivers
Places around Patna
- Mahavir Mandir, Patna: Patna's beloved Hanuman temple
- Takht Sri Patna Sahib: Birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji
- Gurdwara Gobind Ghat: It commemorates the incident in which Gobind Rai threw his gold bangle (kangan) into the Ganga as a...
- Gurdwara Guru ka Bagh: It marks the spot where Guru Tegh Bahadur first alighted on his return, and where he met his son Guru...
- Gurdwara Bal Lila Maini Sangat: Pilgrims come for the childhood association with Guru Gobind Singh, and receive boiled salted gram as...
- Gurudwara Handi Sahib: To honour the handi of khichri offered to the child Guru; a distinctive evening prayer here recalls his...
- Gurdwara Gai Ghat: It commemorates Guru Nanak's stay in Patna and is part of the Bihar government's "Guru Circuit" of Sikh...
- Badi Patan Devi: Devotees believe the right thigh (and the *pata*, the cloth, from which "Patan" and the city's name are...
- Choti Patan Devi: It is the second of the two Patan Devi shrines associated with the fall of Sati's remains at Magadha
- Agam Kuan: The well and the adjoining goddess are revered for curing smallpox and chickenpox; people throw coins...
- Shitala Mata Temple, Patna: Devotees come to Shitala Mata for protection from and cure of pox diseases, and for the fulfilment of...
- Maner Sharif: Maner is a major Sufi pilgrimage centre, "the land of Sufi saints"; devotees come to the tombs to seek...
- Khanqah Mujibia, Phulwari Sharif: Devotees come to the khanqah and the old mosques and dargahs of the town for Sufi blessing and...
- Padri Ki Haveli: Catholics come to worship at Bihar's mother church; others come for its history and its Mother Teresa...
- Kamaldah Jain Temple: It is an important stop on the Jain pilgrimage circuit of Bihar and the place associated with...
- Sher Shah Suri Masjid: It is used for prayer and is the best-known piece of Afghan-period Islamic architecture in Patna
More to see and do
Bihar Museum
The state's own account of itself, from the Didarganj Yakshi to the present, in one building on Nehru Path.
The state museum of Bihar, opened in 2015, with galleries on the Mauryan and Gupta periods, the history of Bihar and a separate children's gallery.
Golghar, the granary on the Ganga
A British granary of 1786 built after the famine of 1770, and the widest view of the Ganga at Patna from its top.
A beehive-shaped grain store with a staircase of 145 steps winding around the outside to a platform over the river. An evening laser show tells its story on weekends.
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library
One of India's great manuscript libraries, open to the public since 1891, with a Quran 2.5 mm wide.
A national library under the Ministry of Culture holding about 21,000 manuscripts and 250,000 printed books in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and other languages, with Mughal-era painting and calligraphy.
Ganga aarti at Gandhi Ghat
The evening aarti on the Ganga that the Bihar government holds at Patna every weekend.
Priests perform the aarti with lamps and incense in the manner of Haridwar and Varanasi. Boats, including the MV Ganga Vihar, run from the same ghat.
Litti chokha
The dish people mean when they say Bihari food.
Wheat dough balls filled with spiced sattu, baked over coals and dipped in ghee, eaten with chokha of roasted brinjal, potato and tomato.
Maner laddu
The laddu Bihar Tourism names as the finest in the state, from the town of the Maner Sharif dargah.
Gram-flour laddu made with sugar and ghee in the shops of Maner, about 30 km west of Patna.
Tikuli painting of Patna
An 800-year-old Patna craft that began as painted bindis and survives in a few city neighbourhoods.
Fine enamel painting on small boards, descended from the decorated tikuli women wore on the forehead. Practised by a few hundred families in Digha, Danapur and Gai Ghat.
Upendra Maharathi Shilp Anusandhan Sansthan
The state's crafts institute since 1956, where Bihar's folk arts are taught, researched and shown.
The nodal agency for handicrafts in Bihar, with a museum of the state's crafts, a library, workshops and exhibitions, and a directory of artisans.
Khatwa appliqué
Bihar's cut-cloth appliqué, once for tents and canopies, now a GI-registered craft of Patna and Sitamarhi women.
Shapes of people, trees, birds and animals cut from cloth and stitched onto a base, for quilts, wall hangings and canopies.
Sattu sharbat in summer
What Bihar drinks against the heat: roasted gram, water, lemon and salt, sold from carts on every corner.
Sattu stirred into water with cumin, coriander, green chilli and black salt, salty or sweet.
Dahi chura on Makar Sankranti
The Makar Sankranti breakfast across Bihar: flattened rice, curd and jaggery, with tilkut after.
Chura, dahi and gur eaten together on the morning of Sankranti, with tilkut.
Thekua, the Chhath prasad
The moulded wheat-and-jaggery biscuit every Bihari home fries for Chhath.
Whole wheat, ghee and jaggery pressed in a wooden saancha and fried; offered to the sun at Chhath and shared after.
Yatras through Patna
- Jain Yatra: Mahavira was born here, renounced here and died here
- Sikh Yatra: Guru Gobind Singh was born in Patna and spent his first years here
- Sufi Yatra: Khanqahs and dargahs that have taken visitors of every faith for six hundred years
- Shakti Yatra: Devi shrines on hills and in villages, including the oldest working temple in India
- Mauryan and Ashokan Bihar: The capital of an empire that reached Afghanistan, and the pillars it left behind
Experiences
- Langar at Patna Sahib: Everybody eats, sitting on the same floor, at one of the five Takhts
- An urs, and the qawwali after it: The night a saint's death is kept as a wedding, with singing until dawn
Tirtham can arrange here
A guide who knows the places, a car with a driver we have met, and a stay nearby. Tell us your dates and we call to confirm.
Plan my Yatra. Rather talk to someone? Call or WhatsApp +91 87893 56605, or contact us.