An ancient city of पुराणिच् fame in उत्तर भारत . The former name of this city was पाटलीपुत्रक . There is a story behind the city getting this name:--

There was once a sacred pond named कनखल on the banks of river गङ्गा . A ब्रह्मिन् from दक्षिणभारत along with his wife came to this pond and started practising severe austerities there. He got three sons while living there. After some time the parents died. The three sons went to a place named राजगृह and studied there. The three were very poor and they went from there to perform penance to propitiate सुब्रह्मण्य ( कुमारस्वामी ). On their way they entered the house of a ब्रह्मिन् named भोजिक livtng on the sea-coast. भोजिक had three daughters and the ब्रह्मिन् after knowing all details about them gave his daughters in marriage to them along with all his wealth. The ब्रह्मिन् went to perform penance and the three ब्रह्मिन् boys with their wives lived in that house.

Once there occurred a famine and the three ब्रह्मिन्स् left their home leaving their wives alone. The second girl was pregnant at that time and she and her sisters went to the house of a friend of their father named यज्ञदत्त . In due course she delivered a son and all the three women looked after the child as their common son.

शिव and पार्वती were travelling by air once and seeing this child शिव said thus:--"I am blessing this boy. This boy in his previous birth jointly with his wife worshipped me with great devotion. They are now born again to enjoy life. His wife in his previous birth was born as the daughter of King महेन्द्र . Her name was पाटली and she would again be the wife of this boy in this life."

That night परमशिव appeared before the mother of the boy in a dream and said " You must name this boy पुत्रक . Everyday morning when he rises up a lakh of small gold coins will fall to the ground from his head. "

They therefore, named the boy पुत्रक and every morning they would collect and store the gold coins falling from his head. When पुत्रक grew up he was immensely rich and started giving away his riches to ब्रह्मिन्स् as gifts. The news of this spread far and wide and ब्रह्मिन्स् from all sides began to flock to his house.

One day among the ब्रह्मिन्स् who flocked to his house were his father and his two brothers. The fathers felt envious of the extraordinary progress in wealth and fame of their son and they cleverly took the son to a lonely place in a temple in the heart of the विन्ध्य mountains to kill him. After engaging some murderers to kill him they left the place. पुत्रक bribed the murderers with his costly dresses and ornaments and escaped from there. There was a great storm then and पुत्रक walked through it. On his way he met the two sons of मयासुर quarrelling for the three things left over to them by their father. The paternal property consisted of a stick, a pair of sandals and a pot all of which had some strange powers. If you draw on the ground with the stick you will have at that spot anything you desire. If you wear the sandals you can travel in the air. If you dip your hands into the pot you will get plenty of food.

Putraka immediately hit upon a plan and addressed the quarrelling brothers thus:--"Why do you fight like this? It is better you decide it by a competitive race. He who wins the race should have the right to get the things." The two brothers agreed to it and leaving the things with Putraka started running. When they had gone a long distance away from the spot, Putraka put on the sandals and taking the stick and pot with him rose into the air. He landed at a city far away from the spot and started living at the house of an old woman. The King of that country had a daughter named पाटली . When the old lady described to him the beauty and good qualities of पाटली , Putraka wanted to marry her. So at night when everybody in the palace was asleep Putraka put on his sandals and entered the room of पाटली through the windows. पाटली woke up; she liked Putraka and they were married according to गान्धर्व rites. Then they both went out of the palace by air with the help of the sandals and landed at a place on the shores of the गङ्गा . Then at the request of पाटली Putraka made a city there with the help of the stick and they named it पाटलीपुत्रक . (Kathāpīṭhalambaka, Kathāsaritsāgara)