Anga was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The members of the Aá¹ ga tribe were called the ÃÂá¹ geyas.
Counted among the "sixteen great nations" in Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya, Aá¹ ga also finds mention in the Jain Vyakhyaprajnapti's list of ancient janapadas.
Annga proper was located between the Champa river to the west and the Rajmahal hills to the east. However, at times, its territories did extend to the sea in the south, or included Magadha in the west.
The capital of Anga, named CampÃÂ, was located at the confluence of the Champa and Ganga rivers, and corresponds to the modern-day area of Champapuri and Champanagar in Bhagalpur the eastern part of the Indian state of Bihar. According to the s, Champa was also called Kala-Champa, while Puranic texts claim its ancient name was Malini.
The other important cities within the Anga kingdom included (Sanskrit: ) and (Sanskrit: ).
According to the Mahabharata (I.104.53âÂÂ54) and Puranic literature, Aá¹ ga was named after Prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom, and the son of Vali, who had no sons. So, he requested the sage, Dirghatamas, to bless him with sons. The sage is said to have begotten five sons through his wife, the queen Sudesna. The princes were named Aá¹ ga, Vaá¹ ga, Kaliá¹ ga, Sumha and Pundra.
The Ramayana (1.23.14) narrates the origin of name Aá¹ ga as the place where Kamadeva was burnt to death by Siva and where his body parts (aá¹ gas) are scattered.
Aá¹ ga was first mentioned in the , where it was connected to the GÃÂndhÃÂrës, Mà «javats, and MÃÂgadhës. The founder of Aá¹ ga might have been the king Aá¹ ga Vairocana, who is mentioned in the as a ruler who had been consecrated by the Aryan ritual of .
Vedic literature such as the nevertheless listed the ÃÂá¹ geyas with peoples described as being of "mixed origin."
Aá¹ ga was a powerful kingdom at the time of the , which mentions the "world conquest" of one of the ÃÂá¹ geya kings. The ÃÂá¹ geya capital of Campàitself was counted until the time of the Buddha's death among the six most prominent cities of northern India, along with RÃÂjagaha, SÃÂvatthë, SÃÂketa, KosÃÂmbë, and VÃÂrÃÂá¹Âasë.
During the Iron Age, Aá¹ ga expanded to include Vaá¹ ga within its borders, with the capital city of Campàbeing a wealthy commercial centre from where traders sailed to Suvará¹Âabhà «mi. According to the , the ÃÂá¹ geya city of Viá¹Âaá¹ kapura was located on the shores of the sea.
During the 6th century BCE, the king of Aá¹ ga was DadhivÃÂhana, who was married to the Licchavika princess PadmÃÂvatë, who was herself the daughter of the consul of the Licchavika republic, Ceá¹Âaka. Ceá¹Âaka's sister Trisalàwas the mother 24th Jain Tërthaá¹ kara, MahÃÂvëra, thus making Ceá¹Âaka his uncle and PadmÃÂvatë his cousin; Ceá¹Âaka himself had become an adept of the teachings of MahÃÂvëra and made the Licchavika capital of VesÃÂlë a bastion of Jainism, and the marriages of his daughters contributed to the spreading of Jainism across northern India. The daughter of DadhivÃÂhana and PadmÃÂvatë, Candanàor CandrabÃÂlÃÂ, became the first woman convert to Jainism shortly after MahÃÂvëra attained .
Under DadhivÃÂhana's rule, Aá¹ ga had conquered its western neighbour, the state of Magadha, hence why the described the MÃÂgadhë capital of RÃÂjagaha as a city of Aá¹ ga. This conquest brought Aá¹ ga in direct contact with Magadha's western neighbour Vatsa, whose king à ÂatÃÂnëka attacked the ÃÂá¹ geya capital of Campàout of fear of DadhivÃÂhana's expansionism. DadhivÃÂhana instead sought friendly relations with Vatsa, and he gave his daughter in marriage to à ÂatÃÂnëka's son, Udayana. After à ÂatÃÂnëka's death from dysentery at the same time as a campaign against Vatsa was being carried out by the king Pradyota of Avanti, the latter became the overlord of Vatsa, and Udayana lived as a captive at the court of Pradyota, in Ujjenë.
During Udayana's captivity, the state of Kaliá¹ ga attacked Aá¹ ga and took DadhivÃÂhana captive. It was once Pradyota had restored Udayana to his throne, after the latter's marriage to his daughter VÃÂsavadattÃÂ, that Udayana was able to defeat Kaliá¹ ga and restore DadhivÃÂhana on the ÃÂá¹ geya throne, and DadhivÃÂhana's daughter Priyadarà Âikàwas married to Udayana; according to the later play , which itself rests on historical records, the ÃÂá¹ geya chamberlain took brought her into the refuge of the forest-king Vindhyaketu, from where she was captured by Udayana's army and, given the name ÃÂraá¹Âyikà("she who is from the forest") after being assumed to be Vindhyaketu's daughter, was brought to Vatsa to become servant of VÃÂsavadattÃÂ, and later married Udayana after the ÃÂá¹ geya chamberlain recognised her as once Udayana had defeated Kaliá¹ ga.
Aá¹ ga's prosperity ended when, in the middle of the 6th century BCE, the MÃÂgadhë crown prince BimbisÃÂra à Âreá¹Âika avenged his father's defeat against Aá¹ ga by defeating and killing the ÃÂá¹ geya king Brahmadatta, after which Aá¹ ga became part of the MÃÂgadhë empire, and Campàbecame the seat of a MÃÂgadhë viceroy.
During his pilgrimage there in the end of the 4th century, the Chinese monk Faxian noted the numerous Buddhist temples that still existed in CampÃÂ, transliterated in Chinese (ç»波 ). The kingdom of Aá¹ ga by then had long ceased to exist; it had been known as YÃÂngjià(鴦伽) in Chinese.
In the 11thâÂÂ12th century, Anga region was under the control of Varman dynasty. Belava copperplate of Bhojavarman mentions that Jatavarman under the leadership of his father Vajravarman conquered Anga and established the rule of his family.