English: Plate 10 from the first set of Thomas Daniell's 'Oriental Scenery.' Patna, the ancient city of Pataliputra on the right bank of the Ganges, was a prosperous trading centre during the Buddha's lifetime and became the capital of the Mauryan empire in the 3rd century BC. The Dutch, French and English East India Companies all established factories here in the 17th and 18th centuries. As the artists explained about the aquatint, '...the larger building is the house of a Hindoo merchant, and is an example of the general style of buildings on the river side inhabited by men of that class.'