The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s1.61

c5.s1.61

Anga—The country about Bhagalpur including Monghyr. It was one of the sixteen political divisions of India (Aṅguttara I., 4; Vinaya Texts, ii, 146; Govinda Sutta in Dīgha-nikāya, xix, 36). Its capital was Champā or Champāpurī. The western limit of its northern boundary at one time was the junction of the Ganges and the Sarajū. It was the kingdom of Romapāda of the Rāmāyaṇa and Karṇa of the Mahābhārata. It is said in the Rāmāyaṇa that Madana, the god of love, was burnt to ashes by Mahādeva at this place, and hence the country is called Aṅga, Madana being thenceforth called Anaṅga (Bālakāṇḍa, Canto 23, vs. 13, 14). See Kāma-āśrama. According to Sir George Birdwood, Aṅga included also the districts of Birbhum and Murshidabad. According to some authorities, it also included the Santal Parganas. It was annexed to Magadha by Bimbisāra in the sixth century B.C. (Spence Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, p. 166). His son Kunika or Ajātaśatru became its viceroy, his head-quarters being at Champā. Mahana, the maternal grandfather of Kumaradevi, wife of king Govindachandra of Kanouj (1114-1154), was king Rāmapāla's viceroy in Aṅga (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1908), the country having come under the sway of Gopāla, the founder of the Pāla dynasty, in the eighth century A.D. The celebrated places of antiquity and interest, in the province of ancient Aṅga are:—Ṛiṣyaśṛiṅga-āśrama at Ṛiṣikund, four miles to the south-west of Bariarpur, one of the stations of the East India Railway; the Karṇagad or the fort of Karṇa, four miles from Bhagalpur; Champâ or Champâpurî, the ancient capital of Aṅga and the birth-place of Vâsupujya, the twelfth Tîrthaṅkara of the Jainas; Jâhṇu-âśrama at Sultanganj; Modâgiri or Monghyr; the Buddhist caves at Pâtharghâṭâ (ancient Śilâ-saṅgama or Vikramaśilâ-saṅghârâma) in the Kahalgaon sub-division, referred to by Hiuen Tsiang and by Chora Kavi in the *Chora-pañchâśikâ*; and the Mandara Hill at Bansi, thirty-two miles to the south of Bhagalpur (see Champâ-purî and Sumha). The name of Aṅga first appears in the *Atharva-saṃhitâ* (Kâṇḍa V, Anuvâka 14). For the history of Aṅga, see my "Notes on Ancient Aṅga or the District of Bhagalpur" in *JASB.*, 1914, p. 317.