Vaṅga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division within the Ganges Delta in the Indian subcontinent. The kingdom is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region. It was located in eastern and southern Bengal. Vanga features prominently in the epics and tales of ancient India as well as in the history of Sri Lanka.
Vanga was probably the centre of the Gangaridai Empire mentioned by numerous Greco-Roman writers. The exact capital of ancient Vanga kingdom could not be identified.
Tamralipta or Tamralipti (Pali: Tāmaliti) was an ancient port city, located on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It was the capital of ancient Suhma and Vanga kingdom in Bengal. The Tamluk town in present-day Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, is generally identified as the site of Tamralipti.
It was located near the Rupnarayan river. It gets its name from the Sanskrit term "Tāmra", or copper, which was mined nearby at Ghatsila in the Singbhum region of the Chota Nagpur Plateau and traded through this port. During the Gupta dynasty, Tamralipta was the main emporium, serving as a point of departure for trade with Ceylon, Java, and China, as well as the west. It was linked by roads with the major cities of ancient India of that time, i.e., Rajagriha, Shravasti, Pataliputra, Varanasi, Champa, Kaushambi, and Taxila.
West Bengal is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal. It had a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2023 is 99,723,000. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with the Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority.
The area's early history featured a succession of Indian empires, internal squabbling, and a tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism for dominance. Ancient Bengal was the site of several major Janapadas, while the earliest cities date back to the Vedic period. The region was part of several ancient pan−Indian empires, including the Vangas, Mauryans, and the Guptas. The citadel of Gauḍa served as the capital of the Gauda kingdom, the Pala Empire, and the Sena Empire. Islam was introduced through trade with the Abbasid Caliphate, but following the Ghurid conquests led by Bakhtiyar Khalji and the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, the Muslim faith spread across the entire Bengal region. During the Bengal Sultanate, the territory was a major trading nation in the world, and was often referred by the Europeans as the "richest country to trade with". It was absorbed into the Mughal Empire in 1576. Simultaneously, some parts of the region were ruled by several Hindu states, and Baro-Bhuyan landlords, and part of it was briefly overrun by the Suri Empire. Following the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in the early 1700s, the proto-industrialised Mughal Bengal became a semi-independent state under the Nawabs of Bengal, and showed signs of the first Industrial Revolution. The region was later annexed into the Bengal Presidency by the British East India Company after the Battle of Buxar in 1764. From 1772 to 1911, Calcutta was the capital of all of East India Company's territories and then the capital of the entirety of India after the establishment of the Viceroyalty. From 1912 to India's Independence in 1947, it was the capital of the Bengal Province.
Kalinga is a kingdom described in the legendary Indian text Mahabharata. They were a warrior clan who settled in and around the historical Kalinga region, present-day Odisha and northern parts of Andhra Pradesh. According to some scholars, the Kalinga janapada originally comprised the area covered by the Puri and Ganjam districts. Janapada state in ancient India. Bhāratīya Vidyā Prakāśana. p. 78.
Kalinga clan warriors sided with Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War due to matrimonial and harmony alliances between both kingdoms of Kalinga & Kuru existing even before the Great War of Mahabharata was to happen. Kalinga is the founders of five eastern kingdoms, which included: Angas (east, central Bihar), Vangas (southern West Bengal and Bangladesh), Udra (Odisha, East Madhya Pradesh and South Jharkhand), Pundras (western Bangladesh and West Bengal, India), Suhmas (north-western Bangladesh and West Bengal) shared common ancestry. Two capitals (Dantapura and Rajapura) of Kalinga were mentioned in Mahabharata. It is likely that there were many Kalinga kings, ruling different territories of Kalinga, with many migrated outside to form new kingdom.
Kosala is the kingdom of Rama mentioned in the Ramayana. Ayodhya was its capital and is now located in Uttar Pradesh. Rama's sons Lava and Kusha inherited parts of this kingdom. Lava ruled from the city called Shravasti, and Kusa from the city called Kushavati. A colony of Kosala kings existed in Madhya Pradesh. It was called Dakshina Kosala. Rama's mother Kausalya was from this kingdom. Rama extended his influence up to the island-kingdom of Lanka situated in the Indian Ocean. He had friendly relations with the southern kingdom of Kishkindha.
Rama's brother Bharata, colonized the Gandhara kingdom and founded the city of Takshasila and his descendants named as Gaud kshatriya. Gandhara lied close to Kekeya Kingdom, the native kingdom of Bharata's mother, Kaikeyi. Rama's second brother Lakshmana founded the city of Lakshmanapura near river Ganges which is now known as Lucknow and his descendants named as Pratihara. He colonized the Vanga kingdom and founded the city of Chandrakanta there. Rama's youngest brother Satrughna destroyed the forest of a demon named Madhu and founded the city of Mathura which later became the capital of the Surasena Kingdom.