kolkata for all these years since independence the journey of west bengal has been a downward slide from bengal to waste bengal it is time we dropped the west and reposition the province to the old glory of vanga as mentioned in the national anthem or let it be simply bengal that once represented the intellectual and cultural acumen that once made the country proud in foreign shores vanga is synonymous with banga because the alphabets v and b are interchangeable in sanskrit banga in its etymological sense means vanga or vanka marshy land it denotes the entire stretch of lower bengal when the sea receded and the landmass became fit for human habitation the other parts of bengal namely gauda paundra radha rurh tamralipta and karnasuvarna are much older vangala finds its earliest reference in the goharwa copper plate of the kalachuri king lakshmanaraja rajendra chola has also mentioned the kingdom as vangala or vangaladesam all these bear out that vangala of bangala is a later version that has been there since the 10th century ad if not earlier the identities of older parts of bengal namely paundra radha tamralipta gauda and karnasuvarna were lost in the 13th century ad as the entire region including the lower and newer part comprising the present west bengal and bangladesh came to be known as bengal the reason for vanga changing to bangala has its roots in abul fazls ainiakbari where fazl says the original name of bengal was beng its former rulers raised mounds measuring ten yards in height and twenty yards in width throughout the province that are called al from this suffix the new name bengal evolved and gained currency this apart there are numerous vedic references of vanga for instance vanga finds a reference in the aiteraya aranyaka vayasi vangavagadhas cerapadak however this land was beyond the reach of the vedic aryans which is why there is no mention of vanga in the four vedas namely rig atharva sama and yajur vedas there is a clear reference of vanga in the very first chapter of baudhayana smriti panini the celebrated sanskrit grammarian has mentioned vanga in his ashtadhyayi written sometime in 300 bc patanjali paninis commentator however excluded vanga from aryabharta even the puranas make a mention of vanga brahma brahmanda vayu matsya and other puranas mention vanga with anga and kalinga the bhagavat purana refers to anga vanga kalingadyay suhma pundra in its ninth book our great epics such as the ramanayana and the mahabharata make copious references to this marshy land arjuna visited vanga during his pilgrimage adi 2149 bhimsena attacked the king of vanga during his hurricane campaign the king of vanga called on yudhishthira with presents sabha 5218 karna conquered the people of suhma hooghly anga and vanga vama 2548 the low castes of vanga attacked the sacrificial horse led by arjuna that killed all the agitators asvamedha 82 29 some of the puranas and the mahabharata would have us