Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c10.45

c10.45

To sum up the discussion, the Candra kings of South-East Bengal are sometimes represented as lords of Candra-dvīpa (Bāklā-Candradvīp in the Buckergunge region) and sometimes as lords of Vaṅgāla-deśa. This fact points to the location of Vaṅgāla in its original geographical sense in the coastal region of Southern Bengal. The connotation of the name began to expand with the expansion of the Candra kingdom of Vaṅgāla over wide areas of South-East Bengal. The name was popularised in the sense first of East Bengal, and then in that of the whole of Bengal, by the Muslims. The location of Vaṅgāla proper in the Buckergunge region near the Bay of Bengal, that is to say, in the southern part of the ancient Vaṅga country, seems to be supported by Abul Fazl’s identification of Vaṅga and Vaṅgāla and his derivation of the latter name from Vaṅga+āl (Sanskrit āli) on the grounds that ‘its former rulers raised mounds measuring ten yards in height and twenty in breadth throughout the province, which were called āl.’ Although the derivation may be wrong and Vaṅgāla may have sprung from Vaṅga+the Prakrit suffix āla in the sense of a notable district belonging to Vaṅga,¹ we have seen that the interesting mention of the earthen mounds, primarily meant for keeping off the encroachment of sea-water from the corn-fields, refers to a condition prevailing in the Buckergunge region of the coastal area of Bengal even to-day. The name Vaṅgāla is very rarely found in records earlier than the rise of the Candras in the tenth century A.D. The mention of the name in the Goharwa inscription of Karṇa (1041-71 A.D.) in the description of the exploits of his predecessor Lakṣmaṇarāja proves its importance in the eleventh century. Of course Lakṣmaṇarāja, who is represented in the Goharwa inscription as having defeated the Vaṅgāla country or people, ruled about the middle of the tenth century when the Candra power had already been established in Vaṅgāla.²