Heritage

Nepala’s geography gave it an unusual character. The Kathmandu Valley lies within the central Himalayan hill country, separated from the Gangetic plain by successive ranges but connected to it by routes descending towards the Terai and the river systems of northern Bihar. To the north rise still higher ranges leading towards the Tibetan plateau.

The geographical references to the Kiratas are unusually broad. They appear in accounts of expeditions towards more than one direction, suggesting that Kirata communities were distributed across a considerable portion of the Himalayan arc rather than confined to a single valley.

Kamarupa, by contrast, appears securely as a political name in historical inscriptions from around the fourth century CE. Banglapedia notes that the Mahabharata mentions Pragjyotisha but not Kamarupa and identifies the Allahabad Pillar inscription of Samudragupta as one of the earliest firm historical references to Kamarupa as a northeastern frontier kingdom.

This landscape is fundamentally shaped by the Brahmaputra and its many tributaries. Broad floodplains, river islands, wetlands, forests and surrounding hills created an environment very different from the drier plains of the upper Ganga-Yamuna region. Communication naturally followed the great river and the corridors formed between the valley and the surrounding mountains.

The sixth-century Brihat Samhita, for example, refers to Samatata and Vanga separately. In broad geographical terms, Vanga was associated more strongly with the central and southern Bengal delta, while Samatata became identified particularly with the eastern or trans-Meghna delta.

Tamralipta appears prominently during Bhimasena’s eastern campaign in the Sabha Parva. Before Yudhishthira could perform the Rajasuya sacrifice, his brothers were sent in different directions to establish his political supremacy and obtain tribute from surrounding rulers. Bhima was entrusted with the conquest of the east.

The Adi Parva preserves one of the most important genealogical traditions for the ancient east. In the account of the sage Dirghatamas and Queen Sudeshna, five sons are named Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Pundra and Suhma, and the text explains that five countries subsequently came to bear their names.

The Mahabharata possesses an extraordinarily detailed knowledge of eastern India. Bhima’s eastern campaign moves through Videha, Magadha, Pundra, Vanga, Suhma and coastal territories, while the Kurukshetra narratives repeatedly mention warriors from Anga, Vanga, Pundra, Kalinga and Tamralipta. The epic also preserves the legendary genealogy in which Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Pundra and Suhma become the names of five great eastern countries.