page_title: Vanga Kingdom
section_title: References in the Mahabharata
hierarchical_section_title: Vanga Kingdom / References in the Mahabharata
caption_attribution_description: English: Kantanji's Temple in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. Photograph taken by: Saiful Aziz Shamsir.
context_page_description: Vanga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division on the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent. The kingdom is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region. It was located in southern Bengal, with the core region including present-day southern West Bengal and southwestern Bangladesh. 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 capital of ancient vanga kingdom could not identified.but after the rule of gupta empire, ancient Bengal was divided into two independent state. they're the gauda kingdom and vanga kingdom and archaeologist think that, kotalipara of Bangladesh is the capital of independent 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 the two major Sanskrit epics of India. The other epic, the Ramayana, mentions the kingdom as an ally of Ayodhya.
context_section_description: 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 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.
caption: Terracotta elephant and tiger, Kantajew Temple, Bangladesh
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