Tribes in Ancient India c50.59

c50.59

King Bimbisāra annexed Aṅga to his kingdom. Aṅga was a small kingdom to the east, corresponding to the modern district of Bhagalpur and probably including Monghyr.¹ The Jātaka stories contain several references to Aṅga, both as an independent kingdom and as a vassal of Magadha. It is stated in one Jātaka story that at one time the king of Benares conquered Aṅga and Magadha,² and in another that the Magadhan kingdom once came under the suzerainty of Aṅga.³ The Campeyya Jātaka records a fight between the two neighbouring countries of Aṅga and Magadha. The river Campā flowed between Aṅga and Magadha, and a Nāga king named Campeyya used to live in that river. From time to time Aṅga and Magadha were engaged in battle. Once the Magadhan king was defeated and pursued by the army of Aṅga, but he escaped by jumping into the river Campā. Again, with the help of the Nāga king, he defeated the king of Aṅga, recovered his lost kingdom, and conquered Aṅga as well. He became intimately associated with the Aṅga king and used to make offerings to him on the bank of the river Campā every year with great pomp.⁴