What city served as the capital of the Maurya Empire?

Pataliputra served as the capital of the Maurya Empire. Located beside the Ganges in present-day Patna, Bihar, it stood in the ancient kingdom of Magadha and became the political heart of one of South Asia’s largest early empires.

The city began as a fortified settlement founded by the Magadhan ruler Ajatashatru around 490 BCE, and later rulers moved the capital there because of its strategic position near major rivers and trade routes. Chandragupta Maurya made Pataliputra the capital after overthrowing the Nanda dynasty in the late fourth century BCE.

Pataliputra reached its greatest prominence under Mauryan rulers Chandragupta, Bindusara, and Ashoka. The Greek ambassador Megasthenes described it as a vast, wealthy city, known in Greek accounts as Palibothra. It reportedly had a long wooden palisade, 64 gates, and hundreds of towers. Taxila, Ujjain, and Varanasi were important cities, but they were not the Mauryan imperial capital. Pataliputra later remained significant under the Shungas and Guptas.