The Bengal Conundrum | How Bengal, a Land of Mighty Rulers, Was Born

It has been almost a year since unprecedented violence took place in West Bengal after the Assembly election results were announced. Why Bengal has been suffering violence (both West Bengal and Bangladesh)? What was the original demographic composition of Bengal and how it has changed; and how this has affected the socio-political milieu in this region? This multi-part series would attempt to trace the origin of socio-political trends in the larger Bengal region (state of West Bengal and Bangladesh) over the last several decades. These trends are related to the evolution of Bengal over the last 4000 years. It’s a long journey and unfortunately most part of it has been forgotten.

The history of Bengal can be traced back to the ancient Vedic times though many historians believe that the documented history of Bengal is available from around 326 BC only. The references to Bengal and people living in that region have found mention in Mahabharata, Ramayana and several other ancient texts like Aitareya Brahmana.

Archaeological excavations carried out during the 1960s mainly at Pandu Rajar Dhibi in the valley of Ajay (near Bolpur) in Birbhum district, and several other sites on the Kopai and Kunnur rivers and in Chandraketugarh (Berachampa) near Barasat in North 24 Parganas district have furnished evidence of a developed civilisation in some parts of Bengal around the second millennium BC. (Source: P.C. Dasgupta, Exploring Bengal’s Past (1966) and The Excavations of Pandu Rajar Dhibir, Directorate of Archaeology Bulletin No. 2, 1964)

Unfortunately, our history textbooks as well as our mainstream public discourse has not discussed the historical role of Bengal in ancient India; the focus has been kept largely on Muslim and British rule in Bengal. The golden era of Bengal that comprised rule of Vangas, Gauras, Gupta, Mauryas has largely been ignored and hence the rich cultural legacy doesn’t find much mention in present day discourse. Bengal’s story had started thousands of years ago and it is time to go back beyond the Muslim and the British era and trace the rich cultural roots of the Sanatan Dharma.

Birth of Bengal

Bengal as a region is largely an outcome of a complex river system that comprises two main rivers – Ganga and Brahmaputra – and their numerous branches and tributaries. They gave birth to the Bengal Delta by carrying alluvial deposit into the sea. This process took thousands of years but gradually a delta arose out of the sea. It also continued its southward movement. Fourteenth century Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta had described Bengal as a ‘land with abundance’. Another 16th century Dutch Merchant Van Lindolan had termed Bengal as the ‘granary of the east’.

The river system split up Bengal into four broad divisions. To the north of the main Ganga and west of Brahmaputra lies the vast area which in medieval times was known as Varendrabhumi. It comprises the Rajshahi division of Bangladesh, the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal and the peripheral areas of Assam and Bihar. Part of this region also constituted the ancient land of Pundravardhana.

To its south-west and to the west of Bhagirathi or Hooghly lies the ancient Radha (Rar) land comprising the Burdwan (Bardhaman) division of West Bengal with peripheral areas in Odisha and Bihar.

To its east, bounded by the Bhagirathi, the Padma, the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra and the Meghana, lies the region of Central Bengal comprising the Presidency division in West Bengal, the Khulna division in Bangladesh and parts of Dhaka division. This included the Vanga kingdom that finds mention in Kalidasa’s works and the kingdom of Gangaridai.

The fourth division lies to its east and includes all territories between the Padma and the Meghana rivers on one side and up to the Khasi and Jantia Hills, and Mizoram and Chittagong hills on the other. This roughly corresponds to the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj in Assam, Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong divisions of Bangladesh and the state of Tripura in India. The ancient kingdom of Samatata belonged to this region. (Source: Nitish Sengupta, Land of Two Rivers, Penguin 2011, Pp7)

Origin of the Word ‘Bengal’

There were several territorial divisions in ancient Bengal, the two most prominent among them were Vanga and Gaur. The former is referred to as East Bengal and the latter as West Bengal.

In fact, the word ‘Bengal’ was not in use till late medieval period. This region was denoted largely as ‘Vanga’ and ‘Gaur’.

One version is that the name ‘Bengal’ came from the expression ‘Bangla’ or ‘Vangla’, used by Arabian and Persian chroniclers to describe the country 13th century onwards; it gradually came to denote the entire province that stood between Bihar on the one hand and Kamrup on the other. It was this name which was adopted by the Portuguese as ‘Bangla’ and subsequently by other European traders, which led to the name ‘Bengal’— which also gave its name to the Bay of Bengal to its south.

Abu’l Fazal has provided another interesting version about the origin of the word ‘Bengal’ in Ain-i-Akbari where he stated, “The original name of Bengal was ‘Bung’ and the suffx ‘al’ came to be added to it from the fact that the ancient kings of this land raised mounds of earth of 10 feet in height and 20 in breadth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which are called ‘al’. From this suffix added to the Bung, the name Bengal became popular and established.”

Bengal in Holy Scriptures

The kingdoms in Bengal were closely connected to kingdoms in other parts of then Bharat. Ramayana mentions Vanga being part of King Dashrath’s empire.

The ruler of Vanga took part in the epic battle of Mahabharata. He had sided with Kauravas.

The Bhishma-Parva of Mahabharata gives a thrilling account of a lively encounter between a scion of the Pandus and the mighty ruler of the Vangas as explained by R.C. Majumdar in his seminal work The History of Bengal: Vol. I:

“Beholding that lance levelled at Duryodhana, the lord of the Vangas quickly arrived on the scene with his elephant that towered like a mountain. He covered the Kuru King’s chariot with the body of the animal. Ghatotkacha, with eyes reddened with rage, flung his upraised missile at the beast. Struck with the dart, the elephant bled profusely and fell down dead. The rider quickly jumped down from the falling animal and Duryodhan rushed to his rescue.’

According to Majumdar, “While some of the Bengal kings fought on elephants, others rode on ‘Ocean bred steeds of the hue of the moon’. There dhwajas (flags) or standards are also referred to in the epic… (the) epic stories recall the military prowess of Bengal rulers of fierce energy.”

Several Jain and Buddhist texts have also mentioned the presence of various Bengal kingdoms as well as several holy places in this region.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. One of his latest books is ‘The Forgotten History of India’. The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not represent the stand of this publication.

Read all the Latest Opinions here