Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c8.s3.8

c8.s3.8

The country of Vaṅga is described as extending from the sea as far as the Brahmaputra. The sea is no doubt the Bay of Bengal in the south and Brahmaputra, the northern boundary, seems to indicate that portion of the river which bifurcates from the Jumna. Vaṅga therefore included the eastern part of the Sundarbans in the south and half of the Mymensingh District in the north. The verse seems to exclude the region to the east of the Brahmaputra and the Meghnā (cf. v. 37) and agrees with medieval epigraphic evidence which places the heart of Vaṅga in the Vikramapura-bhāga comprising the Munshiganj and Madaripur Subdivisions of the Dacca and Faridpur Districts of East Pakistan. The original habitat of the Vaṅga people has been discussed in a separate chapter (Ch. XI) below.