This is a list of notable residents of Patna (formerly Pataliputra), Bihar, India.
Historical
- Aryabhata, great mathematician-astronomer[1]
- Ashoka, Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty
- Bhai Jiwan Singh, Sikh General and friend of Guru Gobind Singh
- Chanakya, teacher, philosopher, and royal advisor
- Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire
- Guru Gobind Singh, tenth of the ten Sikh Gurus
- Moggaliputta-Tissa, Buddhist monk and scholar
- Samudragupta, third ruler of the Gupta Dynasty
Nationalists and independence activists
- Bindeshwari Dubey, freedom fighter and former Chief Minister of Bihar
- Indradeep Sinha, freedom fighter and communist leader
- Jagannath Sarkar, leader, freedom fighter, and writer
- Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian independence activist, social reformer and political leader
- K. B. Sahay, former Chief Minister of unified Bihar
- K.P. Jayaswal, also a historian and lawyer
- Shah Ozair Munemi, Indian independence activist.
- Syed Abuzar Bukhari, a prominent figure of the freedom movement of undivided India; Pakistani Muslim scholar, orator, poet, writer, former president of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
- Tarkeshwari Sinha, active role in the Quit India Movement
- Thakur Ramapati Singh, freedom fighter, politician, former MLA and Minister of Bihar, former MP
- Yogendra Shukla, Indian nationalist and freedom fighter.
Writers and scholars
- HMJ Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh, Eminent Persian, Arabic and Hindustani Scholar, Founder of Khuda Bakhsh library
- Abdul-Qādir Bīdel, representative of Persian poetry and Sufism in India and Central Asia
- Acharya Kishore Kunal, retired IPS Officer and Sanskrit scholar
- Bhabatosh Datta, economist, academic and writer
- Hrishikesh Sulabh, Hindi writer
- Kumari Radha, Magahi poet
- Muhammad Shams-ul-Haq Azimabadi, Islamic scholar
- R. K. Sinha, English scholar
- Ram Avatar Sharma, Sanskrit scholar and academic
- Ram Karan Sharma, Sanskrit poet and scholar
- Siyaram Tiwari, Hindi scholar and author
- Sulaiman Nadvi, historian, biographer, litterateur and scholar of Islam
- Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, Islamic Hanafi Deobandi scholar
- Talib Jauhari, Pakistani Islamic scholar, religious leader
- Raza Naqvi Wahi, preeminent Indian Urdu language poet; known for Tanz-o-Mazah Shayari
Authors
- Anurag Anand
- Hetukar Jha, author, professor, researcher, and Fulbright Scholar
- Kalanath Mishra
- Sahajanand Saraswati
- Satinath Bhaduri, novelist and politician
- Saurav Jha, writer
- Vikram Seth, novelist and poet
Holders of high constitutional offices
- HMJ Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh, former Chief Justice of Hyderabad State, Founder of khuda bakhsh oriental library
- Abdul Ghafoor, former chief minister of Bihar
- Anugrah Narayan Sinha, first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar
- Arun Singh, former union minister of state for defence in the Government of India
- Ashok Sekhar Ganguly, industry expert and former chairman of Hindustan Lever, former member of Rajya Sabha
- Bali Ram Bhagat, former speaker of Lok Sabha
- Balmiki Prasad Singh, 14th Governor of Sikkim
- Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha, 6th Chief Justice of India
- Bidhan Chandra Roy, second chief minister of West Bengal
- Dilip Sinha, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to United Nations in Geneva
- Dinesh Nandan Sahay, former Governor of Tripura and Governor of Chhattisgarh
- Hamoodur Rahman, seventh Chief Justice of Pakistan
- Lalit Mohan Sharma, 24th Chief Justice of India
- Lieutenant General (Retd.) Srinivas Kumar Sinha, former Governor of the states of Jammu & Kashmir and Assam
- Mohammad Yunus, first Prime Minister (Premier) of Bihar province in British India
- Muni Lall, minister of state for labour and employment in Third Vajpayee Ministry
- Nikhil Kumar, former governor of Nagaland and Governor of Kerala
- Nitish Mishra, former Minister of the Department of Rural Development, Government of Bihar
- Ram Dulari Sinha, former Union Minister and former Governor of Kerala
- Shyam Saran, former Foreign Secretary, Government of India
- Tejendra Khanna, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
Politicians
- Ashok Kumar, Bihar MLA
- C. P. Thakur, current member of Rajya Sabha and Vice-President of Bhartiya Janata Party
- Digvijay Narain Singh, former Member of Parliament
- Ganesh Prasad Singh, former Member of Parliament
- Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha), former Member of Parliament
- Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare
- Kiran Ghai, national vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party
- Kishori Sinha, former Member of Parliament
- Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar.
- Meira Kumar, former speaker of Lok Sabha
- Madan Prasad Jaiswal, founding member of the Bharatiya Janata Party political party, former MP
- Mehboob Ali Kaiser, Member of Parliament
- Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar
- Prem Chandra Mishra, Member of Legislative Council, Former Bihar NSUI Chief
- Putul Kumari, former Member of Parliament
- Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Member of Parliament and Minister of State for Skill development and Entrepreneurship
- Rajiv Ranjan Singh, former Member of Parliament
- Ram Kripal Yadav, Member of Parliament
- Ram Govind Singh, Former Mayor, Former Chairman, Legislative Council
- Ranjan Prasad Yadav, former Member of Parliament
- Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Minister of Law and Justice in Government of India
- Rita Verma, former Minister of State of Mines and Minerals in the Indian government
- Sushil Kumar Modi, former Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister of Bihar
- Shyama Singh, former Member of Parliament
- Surur Hoda, socialist politician
- Syed Hasan Imam, former President of the Indian National Congress
- Uday Singh, former Member of Parliament
- Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister of India
Entertainment
- Abhimanyu Singh, actor
- Amardeep Jha, film actress and television personality
- Anshuman Singh, actor and superstar
- Bijoya Ray, filmmaker
- Chhavi Pandey, Indian television and movie actress and singer
- Daler Mehndi, singer
- Deepali Kishore, singer
- Imtiaz Ali, Indian film director, actor and writer
- Kabeer Kaushik, Bollywood film director and screenwriter
- Kranti Prakash Jha, Bollywood film actor
- Manjul Sinha, TV director
- Manoj Bajpayee, Actor
- Mika Singh, singer, composer, performer and songwriter
- Nitu Chandra, actress
- Pankaj Jha, TV actor and painter
- Pankaj Tripathi, Actor
- Pariva Pranati, actress
- Poonam Sinha, actress
- Prachi Sinha, Bollywood actress
- Prakash Jha, filmmaker
- Pranati Rai Prakash, winner of India's Next Top Model 2016 edition; a finalist of Miss India 2015
- Prasun Banerjee, singer
- Rajesh Kumar, TV actor
- Roshan Seth, British actor
- Sandeep Das, Tabla player and composer
- Sanjai Mishra, comedian and film actor
- Shatrughan Sinha, actor and member of parliament
- Shekhar Suman, film actor and a television personality
- Siyaram Tiwari, Indian classical singer
- Sonakshi Sinha, actress
- Suhasini Mulay, actress
- Sushant Singh Rajput, theater, television and film actor
- Vineet Kumar, Indian actor
Arts
- Pranava Prakash
- Shambhavi Singh, painter
- Subodh Gupta, painter
Sports
- Kunal Datta, cricketer
- Moin-ul-Haq, former General secretary Indian Olympic Association
- Saba Karim, cricketer
- Subroto Banerjee, cricketer
- Christopher Oldfield, cricketer
- Veer Pratap Singh, cricketer
Bureaucracy
- Abhayanand, Director General of Police, Bihar and educationalist
- J. K. Sinha, former IPA and Special Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
- N. K. Singh, former Indian Administrative Service and now Member of Parliament
- Prasun Mukherjee, former Commissioner of Police in Kolkata Police department
- S. K. Majumdar, IAF officer
Business
- Anil Agarwal, founder and Executive Chairman of the United Kingdom-based Vedanta Resources PLC
- Iqbal Z. Ahmed, Pakistani businessman and philanthropist
Journalists
- Amitava Kumar, writer and journalist
- Kanchan Gupta, Indian journalist, political analyst, and activist
- Robert Loughnan, New Zealand farmer, journalist and politician
- Sweta Singh, anchor of the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak
- Ravish Kumar, works in the NDTV
- Mammen Mathew, works in the Hindustan Times
Others
- A. A. Khan, physicist
- Anand Kumar, mathematician and founder member of Super 30
- Narendra Kumar Pandey, Padma Shri awardee (2014), medical surgeon, founder of Asian Institute of Medical Sciences
- Ashutosh Mukherjee, educator
- Bindeshwar Pathak, sociologist
- Brajkishore Prasad, lawyer
- Creighton Carvello, British mnemonist
- Faz Husain, pizza shop owner, Muslim community leader, and politician
- Gauri Ayyub, social worker, activist, writer and teacher
- Gopal Prasad Sinha, neurologist, politician, member of the Institutional Ethical Committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research
- Makhdoom Yahya Maneri, Sufi saint
- Manish Mehrotra, award-winning chef
- Marshall D. Moran, American Jesuit priest, missionary
- Nidhi Yasha, Indian costume designer
- Papiya Ghosh, historian and professor
- Pravrajika Shraddhaprana, third president of Sri Sarada Math
- Ram Sharan Sharma, historian and academic
- Ratan Kumar Sinha, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India
- Sake Dean Mahomed, traveller, surgeon and entrepreneur
- Sanjaya Lall, development economist
- Shahn Majid, mathematician and theoretical physicist
- Shaibal Gupta, social scientist, founder Member-Secretary of Asian Development Research Institute
- Subhav Sinha, innovator
- Sujoy K. Guha, biomedical engineer
- Syed Ata-ul-Mohsin Bukhari, leader of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam
- Syed Ata-ul-Muhaimin Bukhari, president of Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam Pakistan
- T. Sher Singh, lawyer
- Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, physicist
