Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c10.26

c10.26

¹ The Arab merchant Sulaiman (851 A.D.) refers to the powerful kingdom of Rahma which has been identified with the kingdom of the Pālas and the identification of Rahma, Rahmi and Ruhmi of the Arabs with Rāmu, a few miles east of Cox's Bazar, has been upheld (*I.H.Q.*, *op. cit.*, pp. 232-34). Apart from the fact that there is absolutely no proof of Pāla occupation of Ramu, it seems unconvincing that the Bihar-Bengal empire of the Pālas (even if it included Rāmu), with the emperors often residing at *jayaskandhāvāras* in Bihar, would be named after Rāmu which probably formed a part of Arakan. That the said theory is unjustifiable is proved by Ibn al Fakih (902 A.D.) who says, "In India lies a realm called Rahma bordering on the sea. *Its ruler is a woman*. It is ravaged by the plague and any man who comes from elsewhere in India and enters the country (Rahma) dies there. Yet many come by reason of great profits to be made." (Harvey, *Hist. Burma*, p. 10). In 902 A.D., the Pāla empire is definitely known to have been under Nārāyaṇapāla (c. 857-911 A.D.) and not under a woman. Rahma may be the kingdom of Thaton called Ramañña-desa (Lower Burma). Marco Polo who placed Bangala 'tolerably close to India' and under the rule of the king of Mien (Burma), and Fakir Muhammad who placed Bangāl to the east of Bhāṭi apparently made some confusion. The Bengali ballad called *Māṇikcandra-rājār Gān*, which says *Bhāṭi haite āila Vāngāl lambā lambā dāṛi*, 'the Vāngāls (people of Vāngāla proper) with their long beards came from Bhāṭi (the southern country)', proves that the people of East Bengal, who were responsible for the original composition of the ballad, knew Vāngāla to be identical with Bhāṭi (see C. C. Banerji, *Caṇḍīmaṅgala-bodhinī*, II, p. 765). Mukundarāma (16th century) in his *Caṇḍīmaṅgala* (C.U. ed., p. 655) speaks of the Vāngāls as good sailors. As the Chittagong people are reputed sailors, it may be suggested that Mukundarāma identifies the land of the Vāngāls with Chittagong. But Mukundarāma was a man of West Bengal and to the people of his part of the country, the inhabitants of any District of East Bengal are Vāngāls even today. Moreover, the passages in question are certainly interpolated in the *Caṇḍīmaṅgala*. The *Māṇikcandra-rājār Gān*, an East Bengal production, is therefore more important in this connection. There in we see that the people of Bhāṭi were known even to the people of East Bengal as Vāngāls, *i.e.* inhabitants of Vāngāla.