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36-567: The founders of Angas , Vangas , Kalingas , Pundras and Suhmas shared a common ancestry. They were all adopted sons of a king named Vali, born by a sage named Gautama Dirghatamas, who lived in Magadha close to the city of Girivraja. Pandu (the father of Pandavas ) after defeating the Magadhas and the Videhas of Mithila , led his army against Kashi , Suhma, and Pundra , as well as by

72-464: A common ancestry. They were all adopted sons of a king named Vali (Bali), born by a sage named Gautama Dirghatamas, who lived in Magadha close to the city of Girivraja. Other texts say that, because king Bali had no descendants, this deputed rishi Dirghatamaas to give birth of the children through Niyoga and thus five sons were born from the womb of the wife of Bali. The Kashmiras , the Daradas ,

108-464: Is from the forest") after being assumed to be Vindhyaketu's daughter, was brought to Vatsa to become servant of Vāsavadattā, and later married Udayana after the Āṅgeya chamberlain recognised her as once Udayana had defeated Kaliṅga. Aṅga's prosperity ended when, in the middle of the 6th century BCE, the Māgadhī crown prince Bimbisāra Śreṇika avenged his father's defeat against Aṅga by defeating and killing

144-522: Is mentioned as the ruler of Vanga at (8:22). Probably all these rulers had a stake in the territory of Vanga. All of them were mentioned as ruling the neighbouring kingdoms of Vanga, in other passages in Mahabharata. Bhagadatta was the ruler of Pragjyotisha kingdom to the north of Vanga. Paundraka Vasudeva ruled Pundra kingdom to the east of Vanga and Karna ruled Anga kingdom to the west of Vanga. Kings of Kalinga and Vanga were mentioned as attending

180-598: Is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region. It was located in southern Bengal. Vanga features prominently in the epics and tales of ancient India as well as in the history of Sri Lanka . Vanga was probably the center of the Gangaridai Empire mentioned by numerous Greco-Roman writers. The exact capital of ancient Vanga kingdom could not be identified. After the rule of the Gupta Empire , ancient Bengal

216-1192: The Kaurava army at (7:158). Many foremost of combatants skilled in elephant-fight, belonging to the Easterners, the Southerners, the Angas, the Vangas, the Pundras, the Magadhas, the Tamraliptakas, the Mekalas, the Koshalas, the Madras , the Dasharnas , the Nishadas united with the Kalingas (8:22). Satyaki , pierced the vitals of the elephant belonging to the king of the Vangas (8:22). Bhagadatta

252-1140: The Kuntis , the Kshudrakas, the Malavas , the Angas , the Vangas , the Kalingas , the Videhas , the Tamraliptakas, the Rakshovahas, the Vitahotras, the Trigartas , the Martikavatas were all vanquished by Bhargava Rama (7:68). Karna captured the Angas, and the Vangas, and the Kalingas, and the Mandikas, and the Magadhas. the Karkakhandas; and also included with them the Avasiras, Yodhyas, and

288-672: The Rajmahal hills to the east. However, at times, its territories did extend to the sea in the south, or included Magadha in the west. The capital of Aṅga, named Campā, was located at the confluence of the Campā and Gaṅgā rivers, and corresponds to the modern-day area of Campāpurī and Champanagar in Bhagalpur the eastern part of the Indian state of Bihār . According to the Jātaka s , Campā

324-581: The Sundarbans . The rulers of the Vanga kingdom remain mostly unknown. After the 2nd century BCE, the territory became part of successive Indian empires, including Mauryans , Guptas , Shashanka 's reign, Khadgas , Palas , Chandras , Senas and Devas . The term Vangala was often used to refer to the territory. For example, an inscription of the South Indian Chola dynasty referred to

360-587: The 11th–12th century, Anga region was under the control of Varman dynasty . Belava copperplate of Bhojavarman mentions that Jatavarman under the leadership of his father Vajravarman conquered Anga and established the rule of his family. Vanga kingdom#References in the Mahabharata Vaṅga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division within the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent . The kingdom

396-867: The Ahikshatras (3:252). The Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingas, the Magadhas, the Kasis , the Kosalas , the Vatsyas , the Gargyas, the Karushas and the Paundras were mentioned to be vanquished by Vasudeva Krishna (7:11). Arjuna defeated the countries of the Vangas, the Pundras, and the Kosalas (14:82) in his military campaign after Kurukshetra War . The kings of Anga, Vanga and Pundra were mentioned as attending

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432-868: The Kalingas, the Magadhas, the Tamraliptas, the Supundrakas, the Dauvalikas, the Sagarakas, the Patrornas, the Saisavas, and innumerable Karnapravaranas, were found waiting at the gate (2:51). Vanga army was skilled in handling war elephants . They sided with the Kauravas . Vangas sided with Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War (8:17) along with the Kalingas. They are mentioned as part of

468-653: The Vanga king Sinhabahu 's son prince Vijaya sailed across the Bay of Bengal and established a kingdom in what is now Sri Lanka . The religious traditions of the kingdom included Buddhism , Jainism and Hinduism . Vanga is recorded as an administrative unit in the Arthashastra written by Kautilya . It is described as a notable naval power by Kalidasa . There are also records of subdivisions within Vanga, including an area called "Upa Vanga" (minor Vanga) which corresponds to Jessore and forested areas corresponding to

504-478: The Vangas, however, quickly jumping down from that elephant, alighted on the ground (6:93). At (2:29) two rulers Samudrasena and Chadrasena were mentioned. It is not clear if they were rulers of Vanga kingdom. Karna is mentioned as the ruler of Anga and Vanga at (2:43). Paundraka Vasudeva, an ally of Jarasandha and enemy of Vasudeva Krishna is mentioned as king of Vanga, Pundra and the Kiratas at (2:14). Bhagadatta

540-620: The capital city of Campā being a wealthy commercial centre from where traders sailed to Suvarṇabhūmi . According to the Kathā-sarit-sāgara , the Āṅgeya city of Viṭaṅkapura was located on the shores of the sea. During the 6th century BCE, the king of Aṅga was Dadhivāhana, who was married to the Licchavika princess Padmāvatī, who was herself the daughter of the consul of the Licchavika republic, Ceṭaka . Ceṭaka's sister Trisalā

576-582: The court of Yudhishthira at (2:4). The Vangas, Angas, Paundras, Odras , Cholas , Dravidas and Andhrakas were mentioned to be giving tribute to Yudhishthira (3:51). The Angas, the Vangas, the Punras, the Sanavatyas, and the Gayas—these good and well-born Kshatriyas distributed into regular clans and trained to the use of arms, brought tribute unto king Yudhishthira by hundreds and thousands. The Vangas,

612-848: The east; Pundravardhana in the north; and Magadha , Anga , Suhma and Radha in the west. The Vanga kingdom encompassed the many islands of the Ganges delta and the Sundarbans mangrove forest. Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar ruins are the major archaeological site of the kingdom. At (6:9), Anga , Vanga, and Kalinga were mentioned as close kingdoms in Bharata Varsha (Ancient India). All regions of sacred waters and all other holy palaces there were in Vanga and Kalinga, Arjuna visited all of them, during his pilgrimage lasting for 12 years throughout ancient India . The founders of Angas , Vangas, Kalingas , Pundras and Suhmas shared

648-618: The epic poem Raghuvamsa , written by Kalidasa mentions that King Raghu of Ikshavaku Dynasty during his conquest in the East, he had defeated the Suhmas .In order to save their lives, they begged for his mercy. The then king (whose name is not mentioned in the Raghuvamsa ) was ousted from his throne by King Raghu, but was later rethroned by him, when the king pleaded him and offered him with innumerable riches. Anga kingdom Anga

684-696: The first woman convert to Jainism shortly after Mahāvīra attained Kevala . Under Dadhivāhana's rule, Aṅga had conquered its western neighbour, the state of Magadha , hence why the Vidhura Paṇḍita Jātaka described the Māgadhī capital of Rājagaha as a city of Aṅga. This conquest brought Aṅga in direct contact with Magadha's western neighbour Vatsa , whose king Śatānīka attacked the Āṅgeya capital of Campā out of fear of Dadhivāhana's expansionism. Dadhivāhana instead sought friendly relations with Vatsa, and he gave his daughter in marriage to Śatānīka's son, Udayana . After Śatānīka's death from dysentery at

720-662: The king of Pundra and king Mahaujah who reigned in Kausika-Kachchha, and then attacked the king of Vanga . Having vanquished Samudrasena and king Chandrasena and Tamralipta, and also the king of the Kaivartas and the ruler of the Suhmas , as also the kings that dwelt on the sea-shore, that bull among the Bharatas then conquered all Mleccha tribes. Karna also subjugated the Pundras and Suhmas. The fourth canto of

756-650: The region as Vangaladesha during a war with the Chandra dynasty of Samatata region of Bengal . After the Muslim conquest of Bengal , the region was referred to as Bangalah , which may have evolved from Vangala . The names are the precursors of the modern terms Banga and Bangla . The core region of Vanga lay between the Padma - Meghna river system in the east and the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system in

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792-487: The sage, Dirghatamas, to bless him with sons. The sage is said to have begotten five sons through his wife, the queen Sudesna. The princes were named Aṅga, Vaṅga , Kaliṅga , Sumha and Pundra . The Ramayana (1.23.14) narrates the origin of name Aṅga as the place where Kamadeva was burnt to death by Siva and where his body parts ( aṅgas ) are scattered. Aṅga was first mentioned in the Atharvaveda , where it

828-486: The same time as a campaign against Vatsa was being carried out by the king Pradyota of Avanti , the latter became the overlord of Vatsa, and Udayana lived as a captive at the court of Pradyota, in Ujjenī . During Udayana's captivity, the state of Kaliṅga attacked Aṅga and took Dadhivāhana captive. It was once Pradyota had restored Udayana to his throne, after the latter's marriage to his daughter Vāsavadattā, that Udayana

864-581: The strength and prowess of his arms spread the fame of the Kurus . Arjuna , that bull amongst the son of Pandu , at the head of all his troops, fiercely attacked the regions called Suhma and Sumala during his military campaign to collect tribute to Yudhishthira 's Rajasuya . Bhima vanquished in battle the Suhmas and the Prasuhmas . The Pandava Bhima subjugated in battle those strong and brave heroes of fierce prowess. The heroic and mighty Vasudeva,

900-558: The two major Sanskrit epics of India. The other epic, the Ramayana , mentions the kingdom as an ally of Ayodhya . The Vanga kingdom emerged in the lower Ganges delta during the Northern Black Polished Ware Period. It controlled many of the islands of the delta with its naval fleet and embarked on overseas exploration. Ancient Indian records refer to Vanga as a hub of sailors. In the 5th century BCE,

936-451: The very front of Duryodhana's car. With that elephant he completely shrouded the car of thy son. Beholding then the way (to Duryodhana's car) thus covered by the intelligent king of the Vangas, the eyes of Ghatotkacha became red in anger. He ruled that huge dart, before upraised, at that elephant. Struck with that dart hurled from the arms of Ghatotkacha, that elephant, covered with blood and in great agony, fell down and died. The mighty king of

972-469: The west. In the east, it encompassed the modern Bangladeshi Khulna Division excluding pre-1947 Jessore District i.e. Upa Vanga which is in Paschim (West) Vanga and Barisal Division , as well as the southwestern part of Dhaka Division . In the west, it included Presidency Division of West Bengal and may have extended to Burdwan Division and Medinipur division . Its neighbors included Samatata in

1008-546: The Āṅgeya king Brahmadatta , after which Aṅga became part of the Māgadhī empire, and Campā became the seat of a Māgadhī viceroy. During his pilgrimage there in the end of the 4th century, the Chinese monk Faxian noted the numerous Buddhist temples that still existed in Campā, transliterated Chanpo in Chinese (瞻波 pinyin : Zhānbō ; Wade–Giles : Chanpo ) . The kingdom of Aṅga by then had long ceased to exist; it had been known as Yāngjiā (鴦伽) in Chinese. In

1044-586: Was a powerful kingdom at the time of the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa , which mentions the "world conquest" of one of the Āṅgeya kings. The Āṅgeya capital of Campā itself was counted until the time of the Buddha's death among the six most prominent cities of northern India, along with Rājagaha , Sāvatthī , Sāketa , Kosāmbī , and Vārāṇasī . During the Iron Age, Aṅga expanded to include Vaṅga within its borders, with

1080-401: Was able to defeat Kaliṅga and restore Dadhivāhana on the Āṅgeya throne, and Dadhivāhana's daughter Priyadarśikā was married to Udayana; according to the later play Priyadarśikā , which itself rests on historical records, the Āṅgeya chamberlain took brought her into the refuge of the forest-king Vindhyaketu, from where she was captured by Udayana's army and, given the name Āraṇyikā ("she who

1116-535: Was also called Kāla-Campā, while Puranic texts claim its ancient name was Mālinī. The other important cities within the Aṅga kingdom included Assapura ( Sanskrit : Aśvapura ) and Bhaddiya ( Sanskrit : Bhadrika ). According to the Mahabharata (I.104.53–54) and Puranic literature, Aṅga was named after Prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom, and the son of Vali, who had no sons. So, he requested

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1152-411: Was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern India whose existence is attested during the Iron Age . The members of the Aṅga tribe were called the Āṅgeyas . Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya , Aṅga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti 's list of ancient janapadas . Aṅga proper was located between the Champā river to the west and

1188-404: Was connected to the Gāndhārīs , Mūjavats, and Māgadhīs . The founder of Aṅga might have been the king Aṅga Vairocana, who is mentioned in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa as a ruler who had been consecrated by the Aryan ritual of Aindra mahābhiśeka . Vedic literature such as the Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra nevertheless listed the Āṅgeyas with peoples described as being of "mixed origin." Aṅga

1224-403: Was divided into two independent kingdoms – Gauda and Vanga. Historically, Chandraketugarh , present-day Berachampa , has been identified as the capital of the Vanga kingdom. Indian and Greco-Roman writers referred to the region's war elephants . In Indian history, Vanga is notable for its strong navy . There are numerous references to Vanga in the Hindu epic Mahabharata , which is one of

1260-452: Was mentioned as the ruler of the Pragjyotisha kingdom that took part in the Kurukshetra War. Behind Duryodhana proceeded the ruler of the Vangas, with ten thousand elephants, huge as hills, and each with juice trickling down (6:92). The ruler of the Vangas (Bhagadatta) mounting upon an elephant huge as a hill, drove towards the Rakshasa, Ghatotkacha . On the field of battle, with the mighty elephant of great speed, Bhagadatta placed himself in

1296-410: Was the mother 24th Jain Tīrthaṅkara , Mahāvīra , thus making Ceṭaka his uncle and Padmāvatī his cousin; Ceṭaka himself had become an adept of the teachings of Mahāvīra and made the Licchavika capital of Vesālī a bastion of Jainism, and the marriages of his daughters contributed to the spreading of Jainism across northern India. The daughter of Dadhivāhana and Padmāvatī, Candanā or Candrabālā, became

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