Patna is a city of great antiquity, and is supposed by some to be the site of the ancient Palibothra. Among them are Rennel, Lord Valentia, Colebrooke and Tennant. By the modern Mahomedans, Patna is named Azimabad, which signifies "The Great City"; by the Hindoos it is called "Sri Nugur." The town of Patna is one continued street, running along the right bank of the river, to the length of four miles by one in breadth. It is surrounded by a fortified wall, in bad condition. The citadel is small, and is now used as a store-house. The contrast between the lofty houses of Benares and this city is very striking; here they are, generally speaking, only one or two stories in height. The residences of the Europeans, chiefly of the civil service, are built of brick, and are very handsome, and extend as far as Bankipore; but the rest of the dwellings are rather mean, and for the most part constructed of mud. There are likewise a few elegant mosques and temples. There was formerly a college of Jews here, and also a Roman Catholic College. The latter was of very early date, probably as remote as the fourth or fifth century; for it is stated in the Asiatic Researches, "That there was, in the fourth century a Christian College at Sirhind, near the Sutlej." From this College, missionaries were sent to the town of Bettiah, ninety miles NNW. of Patna.
The town is very prosperous and populous. Taking the population of the city of Benares at something above 183,000, Patna can scarcely have more than 130,000 souls. Among the inhabitants are several Nawabs and native noblemen, whose income is as low as from 1,000 to 500 rupees a month. Many of them have been thus reduced in their worldly circumstances, in consequence of the British having gained the ascendancy over the former Mahomedan governments. Poor nobility are, however, by no means confined to Patna or to any part of India, but may be found in Poland and Germany; nay, on the Continent generally, and even in favoured England.
There are two Nawabs at Bareilly and at Meerut, holding the offices of Sudder Ameens or magistrates, on salaries of from 700 to 1,000 rupees monthly; and in the Bengal Presidency, there are five Pundits, and several Baboos in the same position, besides forty-two Baboos, one Pundit, and several learned Mahomedans (Moolvees), who are deputy collectors. These are uncovenanted appointments, and are, in addition to the civil servants on the establishment. From the printed lists, it would appear that they are almost as numerous as the covenanted appointments, for there are no less than 402 of the former, and 476 of the latter. The uncovenanted appointments are divided as follows:—
| Europeans. | Mahom. | Hindoos. | Total. | |
| The Deputy Magistrates are | 67 | 6 | 8 | 81 |
| Sudder Ameens | 20 | 89 | 37 | 146 |
| Deputy Collectors | 61 | 45 | 69 | 175 |
| — | — | — | — | |
| 148 | 140 | 114 | 402 |
In the North-Western Provinces, the Mahomedans are less than one-sixth, or 3,747,022, out of a population of 23,199,668 souls, so that the Hindoos have not their share of the loaves and fishes. The Chairman of the East India Company animadverted upon this subject a few years since. The Hindoos are usually the most studious, and have often been employed in some of the most responsible and critical posts. Chundoo Lall, a Brahmin, was Prime Minister at the Court of Hyderabad, the Nizam's capital, for many years; and a Hindoo was Prime Minister to the Emperor Akbar. Possibly the Government of India may be desirous of conciliating the Mahomedans, who were for so many years the rulers of Hindoostan. The vacancies in the above appointments are most eagerly sought for; and innumerable are the expectants for preferment. This spirit of emulation has certainly improved the minds of the higher classes, who now study English and the Company's regulations to good purpose. In Calcutta a native has been a Commissioner in the Court of Requests for many years. The subject of the extension of the system of employing natives in high civil offices of responsibility, will very probably be discussed at the end of the East India Company's Charter in 1854; for the question is one of great importance, and immediately connected with the scheme of native education.
Patna is not a large manufacturing town; but there are many cotton and linen factories in the neighbourhood, where chintzes, and various kinds of cotton diaper and damask, are made. There are also manufactories of flannels, and a sort of canvas for sails and other purposes. Linen can be procured in the neighbourhood, and is sent to the metropolis. In fact, almost every article, whether Asiatic or European, may be purchased in the bazaars.
The finest saltpetre and opium are produced in the vicinity; and immense quantities of wheat, sugar, and indigo, are grown here. Provisions are very cheap in Bahar, for instance, gram, a kind of vetch for horses, used to sell at 100 seers, or 200 lbs. for a rupee; but from 1805 to a late period, one or more native cavalry corps have been stationed at Ghazepore, which has raised the market, and the same quantity now costs three rupees. The establishment of the stud, and its branches at Kurruntadhee, Ghazepore, and Buxar, has likewise had an influence upon the price of grain. The opium and saltpetre trade is here, as elsewhere, monopolized by the Government, and exported in immense quantities to Calcutta. But a very considerable trade in all other articles is carried on by merchants from every country. It has always been a place of much commercial importance; and, at a very early period, there were English, French, Dutch, and Danish factories. Patna is the first station at which the East India Company established a factory. This was in the year 1620.
We still see the remains of the old British factory, where the fearful massacre of two hundred prisoners was perpetrated, in 1763, by the German adventurer Summer, pronounced by the natives Somroo, but whose real name was Walter Reinhard, then in the service of Mir Cossim. Much as this atrocious event must be condemned, the English had themselves to blame in the first instance; for the soldiers, who had been stationed at the factory for its protection, scaled the walls of the town, wantonly attacked the inhabitants, and plundered their houses. The native garrison immediately turned out, and succeeded in taking the English soldiers prisoners of war. They were confined in the factory; but the Nawab Cossim, incensed at the various indignities which he had received from the British Government, commissioned Somroo to kill all his prisoners, two hundred in number. This charge the German executed with the greatest barbarity. The prisoners were just seated at dinner, in the hall of the factory, when the myrmidons of Somroo fired upon them from the doors and windows, and butchered them all in cold blood. In revenge for this atrocity, Major Adams stormed the city and captured it. Since that period, Patna has owned the British sway; and it is now the residence of the Provincial Court of Appeal and other civil establishments. A monument to the memory of these wretched victims was erected in the European burial ground, but without any inscription.
The road from Patna to Dinapore is excellent, and marked by mile-stones. The snowy mountains are visible on a clear evening, during the rainy season. I am told that the Himalayas, too, command the most extensive view of the plains during the same period of the year, when the rains prevent the dust from rising into the air.