Vanga: The Forgotten Kingdom - I

Vanga an ancient janapada is ravaged by war waged by its hostile neighbour Suhma. The kingdom was strategically located in the triangular deltaic land between two main streams of Ganges the Bhagirathi and the Padma. The kingdom was surrounded by Suhma Radha in West Anga in North-West separated by the Ganga Pundra in North separated by Padma and Harikela in East. The Mahodadhi caress the kingdom in South and all the streams of Ganges and many other rivers of the deltaic region empties into the water-body. The islands in the southern part of the kingdom were collectively called Vangala which were also subjugated by the Chandravanshis. The people of the kingdom were mostly dependent on finest quality of white and soft cotton fabric Muslin. The fabric was hand-woven by the skilled workers of the kingdom and was also bartered with neighbouring kingdoms for ivory copper rhino horn and even raw cotton. The poor semi-skilled masses were mostly dependent on agriculture metallurgy and carpentry. The tribals of Vangala depended mostly on fishing crab hunting and honey from the deltaic region. The rich merchants of the kingdom traded muslin cloths for copper with Tamralipta capital of Radha. Young and brave boys were recruited as “Rakshak” whose primary duty was to maintain law and order of the kingdom. These brave boys were also trained and some of them were also promoted to the infantry. Vanga kingdom also had an elite Elephantry unit and it looked after the marauding War Elephants of the kingdom. The Vanga janapada was headed by a king. The king took advice of the “Samity” assembly of wise men for all his administrative functioning. The “Senapati” head of the army the “Rajvaidya” the royal ayurvedic practitioner and head of the ayurvedic practitioners of the kingdom the village heads and the Gurudev of the Royal family were part of the assembly.