Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c10.17

c10.17

As said above, the Tirumalai inscription refers to Govindacandra as the lord of Vaṅgāla-deśa. The inscriptions of the Candra dynasty of East Bengal, to which Govindacandra belonged, however say that Trailokyacandra, the first king of the family, became lord of Candra-dvīpa and flourished as the mainstay of the fortune (*i.e.* as a feudatory) of the king of Harikela (=Vaṅga according to Hemacandra’s *Abhidhānacintāmaṇi*).³ Thus the Candra kingdom is called Candra-dvīpa according to one evidence and Vaṅgāla-deśa according to another. Candra-dvīpa and Vaṅgāla-deśa thus appear to be more or less identical. As Candra-dvīpa is no other than the celebrated Bāklā-Candra-dvīp (*i.e.* parts of the Buckergunge District and the adjoining region), the Buckergunge area was apparently included in Vaṅgāla-deśa.