The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.2

v1.c16.2

The connection of the peoples of the alluvial plains of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, with those living lower down in the deltaic regions, which form the greater part of modern Bengal and Bihar, has always been of a more or less intimate character. As early as the later Vedic literature we find the *Prācyas*, 'the dwellers in the east' differentiated from the westerners, who lived in the upper valley of the Ganges and the Jumna. It is not known exactly which tribes were included in this term. It is likely that the Kāśis, Kosalas, Videhas, Magadhas and other eastern tribes known at that time to the Aryans are meant. But the fact that the *Satapatha Brāhmaṇa* refers to their mode of making tombs and disapproves of that custom makes it possible that there were cultural, if not also ethnic, differences between the peoples of the upper and lower Ganges valley. The epic story which makes Aṅga, Vaṅga, Kaliṅga, Puṇḍra, and Sumha the *kṣetraja* sons of the *asura* Bali by his wife Sudeṣṇā through the agency of the Brahman sage Dīrghatamas, seems to indicate at least the popular belief that these peoples formed a compact ethnic group. The physical measurements of the peoples of a large portion of Bengal and Bihar convinced Risley that they were mainly Dravido-Mongolian, with a strain of Indo-Aryan blood, which is more prominent in the west and in the higher groups. In the western half of Bihar the Aryo-Dravidian features predominated, while in the east of Bengal the Mongolian type was more common. This theory has been criticised. But the opponents admit that 'the people of the lower Ganges valley belong to a different Aryan stock from those who composed the Vedic hymns.' Whatever may be the ethnic and cultural affinity of the peoples of Bengal and Bihar, it is certain that the political relationship between them was sufficiently intimate. Thus when we enquire into the history of the different political and geographical divisions of this region, such as Magadha, Videha, Aṅga, Vaṅga, Samataṭa, Puṇḍra, Gauḍa, Rādha Sumha, etc., we find that from the beginning of imperialism in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C., excepting periods of political disintegration, they have been generally under the administration of one government. The absorption of Aṅga by Magadha in the reign of Bimbisāra was the first important step in the development which culminated in the establishment of the Nandas as rulers of the Prasii and the Gangaridae. Perhaps earlier still is the epic tradition of the unification of these tracts under Jarāsandha of Magadha and Karṇa of Aṅga. The Mauryas certainly ruled over these regions; and the recent discovery of the Damodarpur plates makes it clear that the Guptas did the same up to the beginning of the 6th century A.D. Again the Pālas of our period, though known to their contemporaries as kings of Vaṅga (*Vaṅgapati*), issued most of their earlier inscriptions from Bihar. It will thus be not improper to group together in one chapter the accounts of the dynasties that ruled over the lower valleys of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra.¹