<P> "In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country live, there are so many objects for admiration that neither Memnon's city of Susa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of Ectabana is to be compared with them . (...) In the parks, tame peacocks and pheasants are kept ." Aelian, "Characteristics of animals" </P> <P> Under Ashoka, most of wooden structure of Pataliputra palace may have been gradually replaced by stone . Ashoka was known to be a great builder, who may have even imported craftsmen from abroad to build royal monuments . Pataliputra palace shows decorative influences of the Achaemenid palaces and Persepolis and may have used the help of foreign craftmen . Which may be the result of the formative influence of craftsmen employed from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after the conquests of Alexander the Great . </P> <P> The city also became a flourishing Buddhist centre boasting a number of important monasteries . It remained the capital of the Gupta dynasty (3rd--6th centuries) and the Pala Dynasty (8th - 12th centuries). The city was largely in ruins when visited by Xuanzang, and suffered further damage at the hands of Muslim raiders in the 12th century . Afterwards, Sher Shah Suri made Pataliputra his capital and changed the name to modern Patna . </P> <P> Though parts of the ancient city have been excavated, much of it still lies buried beneath modern Patna . Various locations have been excavated, including Kumhrar, and Bulandi Bagh . </P>

Who shifted the capital of magadha from rajgir of patliputra