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sumon:
Proto-History

Mahasthangarh is the oldest archaeological site in Bangladesh. It dates back to 700 BCE and was the ancient capital of the Pundra Kingdom.

Hindu scriptures such as the Mahabharata suggest that Bengal was divided among various tribes or kingdoms, including the Nishadas and the tribes known as the Janapadas: Vanga (south Bengal), Pundra (north Bengal), and Rarh/Suhma (West Bengal) according to their respective totems. These Hindu sources, written by Indo-Aryans in what are now Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, suggest that the peoples of Bengal were not Indo-Aryans. However, Jain scriptures identify Vanga and Anga in Bengal as Indo-Aryan. While western Bengal, as part of Magadha, formed part of Indo-Aryan civilization by the 7th century BCE, the Nanda Dynasty was the first historical state to unify all of Bengal under Indo-Aryan rule.

sumon:
we are the just few minutes ahead from the finishing touch of the 2nd round voting for the Cox's Bazar and Sundarban.

Last time of the Voting: 8 July 2009 at 7.00pm(Bangladesh Time)
 
Please do hurry....we love our country a lot.....
all of our combined effort will help us to touch another milestone.

please visit the link below and cast vote as much as you can.
http://www.new7wonders.com/nature/en/vote_on_nominees/



   

sumon:
Bengal in mythology

Not much is known about this civilization. Some deprecatory references indicate that the early people in Bengal were different in ethnicity and culture from the Vedic beyond the boundary of Aryandom and who were classed as 'Dasyus'. The Bhagavata Purana classes them as sinful people while Dharmasutra of Bodhayana prescribes expiatory rites after a journey among the Pundras and Vangas.Mahabharata speaks of Paundraka Vasudeva who was lord of the Pundrasand who allied himself with Jarasandha against Krishna.Mahabharata also speaks of Bengali kings caled Chitrasena and Sanudrasena who were defeated by Bhima, Kalidas mentions Raghu defeated a coalition of Vanga kings who were defeated by Raghu and Raghu established a victory column in the Gangetic delta.

Overseas colonization

Bengal had overseas trade relations with Java, Sumatra and Suvarnabhumi (in modern Thailand). According to Mahavamsa, Vijaya Singha, a Vanga prince, conquered Lanka (modern day Sri Lanka) in 544 BC and gave the name "Sinhala" to the country. Bengali people migrated to the Malay Archipelago and Suvarnabhumi (in modern Thailand) establishing their own colonies over there.

sumon:
Gangaridai Empire

Asia in 323BC, the Nanda Empire and Gangaridai Empire in relation to Alexander's Empire and neighbors.

Though north and west Bengal were part of the Magadhan empire southern Bengal thrived and became powerful with her overseas trades. In 326 BCE, with the invasion of Alexander the Great the region again came to prominence. The Greek and Latin historians suggested that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter attack of the mighty Gangaridai empire that were located in the Bengal region. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return. Diodorus Siculus mentions Gangaridai to be the largest and the most powerful empire in India whose king possessed an army of 20,000 horses, 200,000 infantry, 2,000 chariots and 4,000 elephants trained and equipped for war. The allied forces of Gangaridai and Prasii (Nanda Empire) were preparing a massive counter attack against the forces of Alexander on the banks of Ganges. Gangaridai according to the Greek accounts kept on flourishing at least up to the 1st century AD.

Early Middle Ages

The pre-Gupta period of Bengal is shrouded with obscurity. Before the conquest of Samudragupta Bengal was divided into two kingdoms: Pushkarana and Samatata. Chandragupta II had to defeat a confederacy of Vanga kings. Bengal became a part of the Gupta Empire

Gauda Kingdom

By the sixth century, the Gupta Empire ruling over the northern Indian subcontinent was largely broken up. Eastern Bengal became the Vanga Kingdom while the Gauda kings rose in the west with their capital at Karnasuvarna (Murshidabad). Shashanka, a vassal of the last Gupta Empire became independent and unified the smaller principalities of Bengal (Gaur, Vanga, Samatata) and vied for regional power with Harshavardhana in northern India. But this burst of Bengali power did not last beyond his death, as Bengal descended afterwards into a period marked by disunity and foreign invasion.

sumon:
The Pala Empire

      
Pala Empire under Dharmapala
      
Pala Empire under Devapala

The first independent Buddhist king of Bengal, Gopala, came to power in 750 in Gaur by election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Mahā Janapadas. Gopala founded the Buddhist Pala dynasty which lasted for four centuries (750-1120 AD), ushering in a period of relative stability and prosperity.
Somapura Mahavihara in Paharpur, Bangladesh is the greatest Buddhist Vihara in the Indian Subcontinent built by Dharmapala.

At its peak, under Dharmapala, the empire extended into much of Bihar and once more wrestled for control of the subcontinent. He conquered Bhoja (Berar), Matsya (Jaipur), Madra (Central Punjab), Kuru (Thaneswar), Yadu (Mathura and Dwaraka), Avanti (Malwa), Yavana (Muslims of Sindh/Multan), Gandhara (Kabol valley), Kambojja and Kira (Kangra).

Devapala, successor of Dharmapala, expanded his empire farther up to Assam and Utkala in the east, Kamboja (modern day Afghanistan) in the north-west and Deccan in the south. According to Pala copperplate inscription He exterminated the Utkalas, conquered the Pragjyotisha (Assam), shattered the pride of the Huna, and humbled the lords of Gurjara, Pratiharas and the Dravidas.
Buddha and Bodhisattvas, 11th century, Pala Empire.

The Pala Empire can be considered as the golden era of Bengal. Never had the Bengali people reached such height of power and glory and never had they influenced the outside world to that extent. Palas were responsible for the introduction of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet, Bhutan and Myanmar. The pre-dominant Pala sculptures and the proto-Bangla scripts of the Sailendra Empire (Malaya, Java, Sumatra) of the late 8th century attest that the Sailendra dynasty was connected to Bengal.

The death of Devapala ended the period of ascendancy of the Pala Empire and several independent dynasties and kingdoms emerged during this time, including the Khadgas, Devas, the Chandras, and Varmanas.

Mahipala I rejuvenated the reign of the Palas. He recovered north Bengal from the Kambojas and survived the invasions of Rajendra Chola and the Chalukyas. Mahipala I did not join the Hindu confederacy against Mahmud of Ghazni.

After Mahipala I the Pala dynasty again saw its decline until Ramapala, the last great ruler of the dynasty, managed to retrieve the position of the dynasty to some extent. He crushed the Varendra rebellion and extended his empire farther to Kamarupa, Orissa and Northern India.

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