Anga was a kingdom that flourished on the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 6th century BCE until taken over by Magadha in the same century. Counted among the "sixteen great nations" (solas Mahajanapadas) in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Anga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti’s list of ancient janapadas. Anga was spread over a large area and consisted of the following districts of Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal states of modern India. Angika is the language spoken in Anga Desh. Angika is a dialectal variant of Maithili language .
The body of Manmadha(Cupid) was burnt as he made Lord Shiva angry. Since his body parts (Angas)were burnt on that area. So that area was called as Anga Desh
Based on Mahabharata evidence, the kingdom of the Angas roughly corresponded to the districts of Bhagalpur, Banka, Purnia, Munger, Katihar and Jamui in Bihar and districts of Deoghar, Godda, and Sahebganj in Jharkhand; later extended to include parts of Bengal. The River Champa (modern Chandan) formed the boundaries between the Magadha in the west and Anga in the east. Anga was bounded by river Koshi on the north. According to the Mahabharata, Duryodhana had named Karna the King of Anga.
Sabhaparava of Mahabharata mentions Anga and Vanga as forming one country. The Katha-Sarit-Sagara also attests that Vitankapur, a city of Anga was situated on the shores of the sea. Thus the boundaries of Anga may have extended to the sea in the east.
The capital of Anga was Champa (Campā). According to Mahabharata and Harivamsa, Champa was formerly known as Malini . Champa was located on the right bank of river Ganges near its junction with river Champa. It was a very flourishing city and is referred to as one of six principal cities of ancient India (Digha Nikaya). In the Jataka stories, the city of Champa is also referred to as Kala-Champa. Maha-Janaka Jataka states that the city was located about sixty-yojanas (one yojana = 16.4 km) from Mithila (Here Mithila reflects the Mithilapuri i.e. the Capital of Videha kingdome which was later known as Janakpur & the term Videha as a kingdome was replaced by Mithila). Bhagalpur in Bihar, usually identified as the site of Champa, still has two villages called Champa-nagara and Champa-pura.
Champa was noted for its wealth and commerce. It was also a great center of trade and commerce and its merchants regularly sailed to distant Suvarnabhumi for trading purposes. During his pilgrimage there in the end of the 4th century, the Chinese monk Faxan noted the numerous Buddhist temples that still existed in the city, transliterated Chanpo in Chinese (瞻波 pinyin: Zhānbō; Wade–Giles: Chanpo). The kingdom of Anga by then had long ceased to exist; it had been known as Yāngjiā (鴦伽) in Chinese.
The later kingdom of Champa (in present-day Vietnam) was thought to have originated from this east Indian Champa, although anthropological evidence indicates they are from Borneo on the other side Indochinese Peninsula.
Other important cities of Anga are said to be Assapura and Bhadrika.
Ramayana narrates the origin of name Anga as the place where Kamadeva was burnt to death by Siva and where his body parts(angas) are scattered.
The earliest mention occurs in the Atharava Veda where they find mention along with the Magadhas, Gandharis and the Mujavatas, all apparently as a despised people.
Puranic texts place the janapadas of the Angas, Kalingas, Vangas, Pundras (or Pundra Kingdom - now some part of Eastern Bihar, West Bengal and Bangladesh), Vidarbhas, and Vindhya-vasis in the Purva-Dakshina division.
The Puranas also list several early kings of Anga. The Mahagovinda Suttanta refers to king Dhatarattha of Anga. Jain texts refer to Dhadhivahana, as a ruler of the Angas. Puranas and Harivamsa represent him as the son and immediate successor of Anga, the eponymous founder of the kingdom. Jain traditions place him at the beginning of sixth century BCE.
Between the Vatsas and the realm of Anga, lived the Magadhas, who initially were comparatively a weak people. A great struggle went on between the Angas and its eastern neighbors. The Vidhura Pandita Jataka describes Rajagriha (the Magadhan Capital) as the city of Anga and Mahabharata also refers to a sacrifice performed by the king of Anga at Mount Vishnupada (at Gaya). This indicates that Anga had initially succeeded in annexing the Magadhas, and thus its borders extended to the kingdom of Matsya country.
This success of Angas did not last long. About the middle of 6th century BC, Bimbisara, the crown prince of Magadha had killed Brahmadatta, the last independent king of Anga and seized Champa. Bimbisara made it as his head-quarters and ruled over it as his father's Viceroy. Thenceforth, Anga became an integral part of growing Magadha empire (1996).
0 comments:
Post a Comment