Harikela

Ancient Political Divisions

Harikela was a kingdom in ancient Bengal encompassing much of the eastern regions of the Indian Subcontinent. There are numerous references to the kingdom in historical texts as well as archeological artifacts including silver coinage.

History

The kingdom was ruled by the Chandra dynasty during the 10th century CE. They were overthrown by the Varman dynasty, who were in turn overthrown by the Deva dynasty. In the 17th century the Mughal Empire absorbed and brought Harikela under the province of Bengal.^[1]

Geography

For a time its capital was near Chittagong before being moved to Munshiganj by the Candras.^[2] Arab traders recognised Harikela (known as Harkand in Arabic) as the coastal regions of Bengal (near Chittagong) in the early period and included Sylhet^[3] in the later period reaching as far as the ancient Sundarbans.^[4]

Notes

1. Ray, Niharranjan (1994). History of the Bengali People. Calcutta: Orient Longman Ltd. p. 84.
2. "Coinage survey for Myanmar". anythinganywhere.com.
3. Chakrabarti, Dilip K. (2001). Ancient Bengal: A Study of the Archaeological Sources. Dhaka: University Press Ltd. p. 25.
4. http://www.pu.edu.pk/departments/doh_journal/Current%20Issues/Yousuf%20Siddique.pdf

References

• Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1943). The History of Bengal. Dacca: B.R. Publishing. pp. 16–18, 134–135. ISBN 81-7646-237-3.
• Singh, Nagendra Kr. (2003). Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh. Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd. ISBN 81-261-1390-1.

External links

• Rashid, M Harunar (2012). "Harikela". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.