Editing Bengal (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Names of Bengal}}
The name of ''Bengal'' is derived from the ancient kingdom of [[Vanga Kingdom|Vanga]] (pronounced Bôngô),<ref>{{cite book |last=Rahman |first=Urmi |date=2014 |title=Bangladesh – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HelAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |publisher=Kuperard |pages=26– |isbn=978-1-85733-696-2}}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Vanga |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Vanga |access-date=7 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730062030/https://www.britannica.com/place/Vanga |archive-date=30 July 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> the earliest records of which date back to the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' epic in the [[first millennium BCE]].<ref name="britannica" /> The reference to 'Vangalam' is present in an inscription in the [[Brihadisvara Temple]] at [[Thanjavur]], which is one of the oldest references to Bengal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Nitish K. |author-link=Nitish Sengupta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC |title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |date=2011 |publisher=Penguin Books India |page=10 |isbn=978-0-14-341678-4|quote=Also, we have the reference to 'Vangalam' in an inscription in the Vrihadeshwara temple at Tanjore in south India as one among the countries overrun by the Cholas. This is perhaps the earliest reference to Bengal as such.}}</ref> The term ''Vangaladesa'' is used to describe the region in 11th-century South Indian records.<ref>{{cite book |last=Keay |first=John |author-link=John Keay |year=2000 |title=India: A History |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |page=220 |isbn=978-0-87113-800-2 |quote=In C1020 ... launched Rajendra's great northern escapade ... peoples he defeated have been tentatively identified ... 'Vangala-desa where the rain water never stopped' sounds like a fair description of Bengal in the monsoon.}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last1=Allan |first1=J. |last2=Haig |first2=T. Wolseley |last3=Dodwell |first3=H. H. |year=1934 |editor-last=Dodwell |editor-first=H. H. |editor-link=H. H. Dodwell |title=The Cambridge Shorter History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA145 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=145}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra Nath |year=1999 |orig-year=First published 1988 |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA281 |publisher=New Age International |page=281 |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0}}</ref> The modern term ''Bangla'' is prominent from the 14th century, which saw the establishment of the [[Sultanate of Bengal]], whose first ruler [[Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah]] was known as the ''[[Shah]] of Bangala''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hasan |first=Perween |author-link=Perween Hasan |date=2007 |title=Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Uunyz4qFZwEC&pg=PA13 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |pages=13– |isbn=978-1-84511-381-0}}</ref> The [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] referred to the region as ''Bengala'' in the [[Age of Discovery]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lach |first1=Donald F. |author1-link=Donald F. Lach |last2=Kley |first2=Edwin J. Van |date=1998 |title=Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 3: Southeast Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4t8S7BfgeIC&pg=PA1124 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=1124– |isbn=978-0-226-46768-9}}</ref>