Vanga kingdom

Vaṅga
c. 1100 BCE–c. 340 BCE
Vanga and erstwhile neighbors among the Mahajanapadas
Religion	Vedic Hinduism
Government	Monarchy
Maharaja
• c. 6th century BCE	Samudrasena
• c. 3rd century BCE	Chadrasena
Historical era	Iron Age
• Established	c. 1100 BCE
• Disestablished	c. 340 BCE
Preceded by Succeeded by Vedic Period Nanda Empire Samatata
Today part of	Bangladesh India

Part of a series on the
History of Bengal
Ancient Kingdoms Pundravardhana Vanga Suhma Rarha Samatata Anga Harikela Pragjyotisha
Classical Dynasties Gangaridai Bhulua Nandas Mauryans Shungas Guptas Varmanas Gaudas Kamarupa Jaintia Gour Laur Mallabhum Bhadras Khadgas Palas Kamboja Palas Senas Chandras Devas Pratapgarh Taraf
Islamic Bengal Delhi Sultanate Khalji dynasty Mamluk dynasty Tughlaq dynasty House of Balban City states: Sonargaon Lakhnauti Satgaon Bengal Sultanate: Ilyas Shahi dynasty House of Ganesha Hussain Shahi dynasty Karrani dynasty Sur Empire Twelve Bhuyan Confederacy Kingdom of Mrauk U Jaintia Kingdom Pratapgarh Kingdom Koch dynasty Kingdom of Tripura Kingdom of Bhurshut Mughal Empire: Bengal Subah Burdwan Raj Rajshahi Raj Nadia Raj Bettiah Raj Nawabs of Bengal Zamindars Maratha expeditions in Bengal
Colonial Bengal Portuguese Chittagong Dutch Bengal French Bengal Danish Bengal Austrian Bengal British Bengal Battle of Plassey Bengal famine of 1770 Santal Revolt Chuar rebellion Indian Mutiny of 1857 Bihar famine of 1873–74 Partition of Bengal (1905) Eastern Bengal and Assam Bengali Renaissance Bengal famine of 1943 Direct Action Day Radcliffe Line Partition of Bengal (1947)
Post-partition era East Bengal/East Pakistan(1947–1971) East Bengali refugees History of East Pakistan 1964 East Pakistan riots Bengali language movement Bangladesh Liberation War
Modern period West Bengal 1947–present Bangladesh 1971–present
Related Architecture of Bengal History of Bengali literature Bangamata History of the taka Muslin trade in Bengal List of governors of Bengal Presidency Prime Minister of Bengal Maritime history of Bengal
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Vaṅga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division within the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent.^[1] The kingdom is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region.^[2] It was located in eastern and 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 centre 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 was divided into two independent kingdoms – Gauda and Vanga.^[3] Kotalipara, an ancient fortified city of independent Vanga kingdom, present-day in Gopalganj district of Dhaka division, emerged as the centre of administration of Vanga kings after Gupta period.^[4]

Vanga was probably the centre of the Gangaridai Empire mentioned by numerous Greco-Roman writers.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 the two major Sanskrit epics of India. The other epic, the Ramayana, mentions the kingdom as an ally of Ayodhya. For the presence of continuous archeological proof from Pre-Mauryan to Pala-Sena period Chandraketugarh is considered as a major city of Vanga kingdom.^[5] According to ancient Jain texts, Tamralipta was the capital of Vanga kingdom.^[6]