When we read the History of a vast country like India,with its roots stretching back to over thousands of years,we should remember the landmass and the present poltical maps have no relevance.
The Ancient Indian kingdoms were 56 and I have listed them in another article.
We have to have a rough division of the Bharatvarsha into four regions for better understanding and remember that the borders of the Kingdoms were subject to periodical changes depending on which King won and annexed the vanquished territory.
I shall soon begin a Timeline of the Kings of India,though I had written on the List of Indian Kings.
And we may bear in mind that Bharathavarsha of ancient times was not limited to the present Geographical area of India.
I have written on the Rama Empire that encompassed the world and also that of Emperor Vikramaditya.
Now in the last article I had dealt with the History of India in general ,the Dynasties from Ikshvaku to Chandragupta.
It covered,though it speaks of Bharatvarsha in totality,it concentrated more on Central and North India as we know at present.
In this article,we shall check the Eastern Part of India.
Unlike the History of Central and North India,the Eastern,Southern and Western part of India are interwoven move intricately aming themselves.
For instance,the Eastern India was closely connected to Dravida Desa,the present South India.
The Eastern and Southern people,Dravidas were classified as Dasyus,that is who did not follow the Vedas in its entirety.
And while the Central and North Indian Kings expanded more towards North and North East of India,the Western and Southern kings expanded their Kindoms towards the east of India to Micronesia and the present Australia.
The Southern ,Dravida kings ,in addition to East ,expanded their Kingdoms towards Middle East,Africa,Greece and the Americas.
The Eastern kingdoms comprised of the present West Bengal,Bangladesh,Assam,Odisha and Northeastern State.
The Eastern Indian polity comprised of five major tribes and were predominantly Kshatriyas and I itiallythey did not accept the Brahmins and the Vedas fully and hence were called Dasyus.
Angas, Vangas, Kalingas, Pundras and Suhmas shared a common ancestry.
Some interpretations suggest Dasyu means Slave (Monier Williams)
I take the well researched interpretation of Sri.P.T.Srinivasa Iyengar,in his ‘History of Tamils’that Dasyu means who do not follow Vedas in its entirety.
‘Hindu scriptures such as the Mahabharata suggest that ancient Bengal was divided among various tribes or kingdoms, including the Nishadas and kingdoms known as the Janapadas: Vanga (southern Bengal), Pundra (northern Bengal), and Suhma (western Bengal) according to their respective totems. ‘
‘The Vanga Kingdom was the first powerful seafaring nation of South Asia, especially Bengal. They had overseas trade relations with Java, Sumatra and Siam (modern-day Thailand). According to Mahavamsa, the Vanga prince Vijaya Simhaconquered Lanka (modern-day Sri Lanka) in 544 BCE and gave the name “Sinhala” to the country. Bengali people migrated to the Malay Archipelago and Siam (in modern Thailand), establishing their own colonies there.‘
*I do not agree with these dates;they can be pushed earlier.
The Southern ,Dravida kings ,in addition to East ,expanded their Kingdoms towards Middle East,Africa,Greece and the Americas
These kingdoms find reference in thebAtharva Veda and Greek writers refer extensively these areas.
‘Gangaridai (Greek: Γανγαρίδαι; Latin: Gangaridae) was an ancient region corresponding to the Ganges delta region of the Indian subcontinent, which was mentioned in the records of numerous Greco-Roman writers. The term means “nation of the Ganges” in Greek and Latin. It is one of the earliest references to the Bengal region in the Indian subcontinent (now divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). According to ancient Indian records, the Vanga Kingdom and Samatata Kingdom occupied the region during the same period. The capital of the Gangaridai is thought by some archaeologists to be situated at Kotalipara in present-day Gopalganj District, Bangladesh…..
Diodorus Siculus further describes “Gandaridae”:
Leave a Reply