Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

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Sec. III]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
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Vanga
Vanga also finds mention in other Jajna?, Brāhmaṇical, and Buddhist works and several epigraphic records along with Anga, Magadha and other Janapadas.
In the Jaina Pannāvanā Sutta the people of Vanga are placed in the first rank of the Aryans along with those of Magadha, Anga and others.
The earlist appearance of Vanga is found in the Aitareya Aranyaki® as well as in the Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra where the Vangas are branded as impure people along with the Pundras, Kalingas and others.
According to the collective evidences furnished by the Sakti Sangama Tantra”, the commentator of Vatsyāyana KāmaSutra", the Pannāvaņā Sulta, the Mahābhārata', the Raghuvarsa and Dašakūnāra carita", Vanga, in the wider sense, was the vast territory extending from the eastern bank of Lauhitya upto Kapisa (Kāśāi river in Midnapore, West Bengal), while in the limited sense, it was the land including Vikrama pur (East Bengal) and its adjoining regions lying to the eastern bank of the Brahmaputra comprising Eastern Bengal, “Vanga Lohityāt Pūrvena".
1 Pannavana Sutta, 1, 37, 55a. ? Aitareya Āranyaka, II, 1, 1, 1, Pāṇini's Aștādhyāyi (4,170);
Mbh. XII ; Rāmā. Book II, etc. 9 Anguttara Nikaya, III, pp. 57 ff. • Meharauli Iron pillar Inscription of king Candra, C.I.I. Vol.
III. pp. 141 ff; l'irumalai los. of Rājendra Cola, Goharwa
plate of Lakşmikarņa, E. I. XI. 112, etc. 6 Pannavunā šutta, 1, 37. & Aitareya Āranyaka, II, 1, 1, 1. Cf Keith, Aitareya Aranyaka
600; Bauhāyına Dharma Sutra, (1, 1, 14). Sakti Sangang Tantra (Ratnakarath samārabhya Brahmaputrāotagah Sive Vaðgadese sayā proktah sarvasiddhi pradarsakah); sce Yoginītantra 2. 2. 119, Vide, H. G. A.
p. 268. 8 Yasodhara-Varga Lohityāt pūrvena.
Mahābhārata (Vangurāja...). Sabhāparvan, Ch. XXX. 23-5. 10 Raghuvam sa (Vangānutkhāya tarasá), Canto IV. 35-6. 11 I. H. Q. Vol. VII. No. 3, p. 533,
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