Anga

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Anga

The earliest reference to Angas occurs in the Atharava Veda

Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism, and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda".According to tradition, the Atharvaveda was mainly composed by two groups of rishis known as the Atharvanas and the Angirasa, hence its oldest name is ....
(V.22.14) where they find mention along with the Magadhas, Gandharis

Gandhara

Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River....
and the Mujavatas, all apparently as a despised people.

The Jain Prajnapana ranks the Angas and the Vangas in the first group of Aryan
Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword. As the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states at the beginning of its definition, "[it] is one of the ironies of history that Aryan, a word nowadays referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of Nazi Germany, originally referred to a people who looked vastly di...
peoples.

According to Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts

Buddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial and pseudo-canon...
like the Anguttara Nikaya
Anguttara Nikaya

The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
, Anga was one of the sixteen great nations (solas Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas

Mahajanapadas literally "Great Kingdoms" . Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had evolved and flourished in the northern/north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent prior to the rise of Buddhism in India....
) which had flourished in central and north-west India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
in the 6th century BC.

Anga also finds mention in the Jain Bhagvati-Sutras list of ancient Janapadas.

The Puranic texts like the Garuda Purana, Vishnu-Dharmottara, and the Markendeya Purana divide the ancient Janpada horizon into nine divisions and place the Janapadas of the Angas, Kalingas, Vangas, Pundras or Pundra Kingdom
Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal , Bangladesh and Purnia : now in Bihar. The bhats of the Pundir Rajputs, state that, having had their origins in Telangana, the Pundirs are descendants of the great Pundra dynasty....
(now some part of Eastern Bihar
Bihar

Bihar is a States and territories of India in East India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size 38,202 square mile and 3rd largest by population....
i.e.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Anga'

Start a new discussion about 'Anga'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

The earliest reference to Angas occurs in the Atharava Veda
Atharvaveda

The Atharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism, and one of the four Vedas, often called the "fourth Veda".According to tradition, the Atharvaveda was mainly composed by two groups of rishis known as the Atharvanas and the Angirasa, hence its oldest name is ....
(V.22.14) where they find mention along with the Magadhas, Gandharis
Gandhara

Gandhara is the name of an ancient kingdom , located in northern Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan. Gandhara was located mainly in the vale of Peshawar, the Potohar plateau and on the Kabul River....
and the Mujavatas, all apparently as a despised people.

The Jain Prajnapana ranks the Angas and the Vangas in the first group of Aryan
Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword. As the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language states at the beginning of its definition, "[it] is one of the ironies of history that Aryan, a word nowadays referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of Nazi Germany, originally referred to a people who looked vastly di...
peoples.

According to Buddhist texts
Buddhist texts

Buddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial and pseudo-canon...
like the Anguttara Nikaya
Anguttara Nikaya

The Anguttara Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
, Anga was one of the sixteen great nations (solas Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas

Mahajanapadas literally "Great Kingdoms" . Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had evolved and flourished in the northern/north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent prior to the rise of Buddhism in India....
) which had flourished in central and north-west India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
in the 6th century BC.

Anga also finds mention in the Jain Bhagvati-Sutras list of ancient Janapadas.

The Puranic texts like the Garuda Purana, Vishnu-Dharmottara, and the Markendeya Purana divide the ancient Janpada horizon into nine divisions and place the Janapadas of the Angas, Kalingas, Vangas, Pundras or Pundra Kingdom
Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal , Bangladesh and Purnia : now in Bihar. The bhats of the Pundir Rajputs, state that, having had their origins in Telangana, the Pundirs are descendants of the great Pundra dynasty....
(now some part of Eastern Bihar
Bihar

Bihar is a States and territories of India in East India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size 38,202 square mile and 3rd largest by population....
i.e. Purnea, West Bengal
West Bengal

West Bengal is a States and territories of India in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal....
and Bangladesh
Bangladesh

, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south....
), Vidarbhas, and Vindhya-vasis in the Purva-Dakshina division. (Garuda 55.12; V.D. I.9.4; Markendeya P. 56.16-18).

Based on Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
evidence, the kingdom
Monarchy

A monarchy is a form of government in which supreme power is absolutely or nominally lodged in an individual, who is the head of state, often for Life tenure or until abdication, and "is wholly set apart from all other members of the state." The person who heads a monarchy is called a monarch....
of the Angas roughly corresponded to the region of Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur

Bhagalpur is a city and municipal corporation in the Bihar States and territories of India of Eastern India. Bhagalpur is one of the oldest districts of Bihar located in the Southern region....
, Banka
Banka

Banka may refer to:* Banka, Bihar, a town in Bihar, India* Banka District, Bihar, India* Bank?, Azerbaijan*Banka, Cameroon* the Banka Gold Mining Project operated by Mwana Africa plc, in Ghana...
and Monghyr in Bihar
Bihar

Bihar is a States and territories of India in East India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size 38,202 square mile and 3rd largest by population....
and parts of Bengal
Bengal

Bengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent sovereign nation of the Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India, although some regions of the previous kingdoms of Bengal are now part of the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Oris...
; later extended to include most of Bengal
Bengal

Bengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast of South Asia. Today it is mainly divided between the independent sovereign nation of the Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal in India, although some regions of the previous kingdoms of Bengal are now part of the neighboring Indian states of Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Oris...
. The River Champa (modern Chandan) formed the boundaries between the Magadha
Magadha

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas or Kingdoms of Ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges; its first capital was Rajagaha then Pataliputra ....
in the west and Anga in the east. Anga was bounded by river Koshi
Koshi River

The Kosi River, called Koshi in Nepal , is a transboundary river between Nepal and India, and is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges....
on the north. According to the Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
, Duryodhana
Duryodhana

In the Hindu Indian epic poetry the Mahabharata, Duryodhana is the eldest son of the blind king Dhritarashtra by Queen Gandhari , the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, and the chief antagonist of the Pandavas....
had named Karna
Karna

Karna is one of the central characters of the Mahabharata. He was born to Kunti, much before her marriage with Pandu. He is described a close friend of Duryodhana....
the King of Anga.

Sabhaparava of Mahabharata (II.44.9) mentions Anga
Anga

The earliest reference to 'Angas' occurs in the Atharvaveda where they find mention along with the Magadhan , Gandhara and the Mujavatas, all apparently as a despised people....
and Vanga
Vanga Kingdom

Vanga was a kingdom located in the eastern part of the Indian sub-continent and comprised of modern West Bengal and what is now Bangladesh. It was a seafaring nation of ancient India....
as forming one country. The Katha-Sarit-Sagara also attests that Vitankapur, a city of Anga was situated on the shores of the sea. Thus the boundaries of Anga may have extended to the sea in the east.

The capital of Anga was Champa. According to Mahabharata and Harivamsa
Harivamsa

The Harivamsha is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shloka, mostly in metre. The text is also known as . This text is believed as a khila to the Mahabharata and traditionally ascribed to Vyasa....
, Champa was formerly known as Malini. Champa was located on the right bank of river Ganga near its junction with river Champa. It was a very flourishing city and is referred to as one of six principal cities of ancient India (Digha Nikaya
Digha Nikaya

The Digha Nikaya is a Buddhism scripture, the first of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism....
). In the Jataka
Jataka

The Jataka Tales also known in other languages refer to a voluminous body of folklore-like literature native to India concerning the previous births of the Gotama Buddha....
stories, the city of Champa is also referred to as Kala-Champa. Maha-Janaka Jataka states that the city was located about sixty yojanas (one yojana = 16.4 km) from Mithila
Mithila

File:EpicIndiaCities.jpgMithila was a city in Ancient India, the capital of the Videha Kingdom. The name Mithila is also commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha....
. The relics of actual site of ancient Champa are stated to still exist near Bhagalpur
Bhagalpur

Bhagalpur is a city and municipal corporation in the Bihar States and territories of India of Eastern India. Bhagalpur is one of the oldest districts of Bihar located in the Southern region....
in Bihar
Bihar

Bihar is a States and territories of India in East India. Bihar is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size 38,202 square mile and 3rd largest by population....
in the names of two villages called Champanagara and Champapura.

Champa was noted for its wealth and commerce. It was also a great center of trade and commerce and its merchants regularly sailed to distant Suvarnabhumi for trading purposes. The ancient name of region and kingdom of Champa of central Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
(Lin-yi in Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
records) apparently has its origin in this east Indian Champa.

Other important cities of Anga are said to be Assapura and Bhadrika.

Mahabharata
Mahabharata

The is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetrys of History of India, the other being the '. The epic is part of the Hindu itihasa , and forms an important part of Hindu mythology....
(I.104.53-54) and Puranic literature (Matsya Purana: 48.19) attest that the name Anga had originated eponymously from the name of Prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom. Matsya Purana
Matsya Purana

The Matsya Purana is the first and the oldest of all the Puranas and Hindu scriptures and texts. It is primarily the story of the first Avatar of Lord Vishnu, in the form of a fish or Matsya....
describes the father of this eponymous hero as the chief among the demons (Danavarshabhah).

Bodhayana Dharma Sutra groups the Angas with people of mixed origin and Mahbharata brands an Anga prince (not Karana of the Mahabharata) as a mlechcha and barbarian.

The Puranas list several early kings of Anga. The Mahagovinda Suttanta refers to king Dhatarattha of Anga. Jain texts refer to Dhadhivahana, as a ruler of the Angas. Puranas and Harivamsa represent him as the son and immediate successor of Anga, the eponymous founder of the kingdom. Jain traditions place him at the beginning of sixth century BCE.

Between the Vatsas and the realm of Anga, lived the Magadhas, who initially were comparatively a weak people. A great struggle went on between the Angas and its eastern neighbors. The Vidhura Pandita Jataka describes Rajagriha (the Magadhan Capital) as the city of Anga and Mahabharata also refers to a sacrifice performed by the king of Anga at Mount Vishnupada (at Gaya
Gaya, India

Gaya[] is a city in Bihar, India, and it is also the headquarters of Gaya District.Gaya is 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital city of Bihar....
). This indicates that Anga had initially succeeded in annexing the Magadhas, and thus its borders extended to the kingdom of Matsya
Matsya

Matsya was the first Avatar of Vishnu in Hindu mythology.According to the Matsya Purana, the king of pre-ancient Dravida and a devotee of Lord Vishnu, Satyavrata who later becomes known as Manu was washing his hands in a river when a little fish swam into his hands and pleaded with him to save its life....
country.

This success of Angas did not last long. About the middle of 6th century BC, Bimbisara
Bimbisara

Bimbisara, was a king of the Magadha empire from 543 BC to his death and belonged to the Hariyanka dynasty....
, the crown prince of Magadha had killed Brahmadatta, the last independent king of Anga and seized Champa. Bimbisara made it as his head-quarters and ruled over it as his father's Viceroy. Thenceforth, Anga became an integral part of growing Magadha empire (PHAI, 1996).

See also

Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas

Mahajanapadas literally "Great Kingdoms" . Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had evolved and flourished in the northern/north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent prior to the rise of Buddhism in India....