Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.14

c8.14

The Aṅgas were named after an eponymous king Aṅga.¹ According to the *Rāmāyaṇa*, Aṅga was so named because the cupid God, Madana, fled to this country to save himself from the wrath of Rudra and became *anaṅga* or bodiless by giving up his *aṅga* here—an amusing philological explanation of the origin of the name.² The Ānava kingdom, the nucleus of which was Aṅga, became divided into five kingdoms said to have been named after five sons of king Bali. Pargiter points out that the Ānavas held all East Bihar, Bengal proper and Orissa comprising the kingdoms of Aṅga, Vaṅga, Puṇḍra, Suhma and Kaliṅga.³ This statement of Pargiter is not corroborated by any other reliable evidence. The princes of Aṅga were very beautiful and their dwelling place was known as Aṅga.⁴ The Angas occupied the territory corresponding to the district of Bhagalpur and probably including Monghyr.¹