Editing West Bengal (section)

=== Ancient and classical period ===
[[File:Sasanka Deva king of Gauda circa 600-630.jpg|thumb|alt=A coin of the King Shashanka showing the obverse and reverse sides |Coin of the King [[Shashanka]], who created the first separate political entity in [[Bengal]], called the [[Gauda kingdom]]]]
[[Stone Age]] tools dating back 20,000 years have been excavated in the state, showing human occupation 8,000 years earlier than scholars had thought.<ref>{{cite news |title=History of Bengal just got a lot older |first=Sebanti |last=Sarkar |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080328/jsp/frontpage/story_9067406.jsp |newspaper=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|The Telegraph]] |location=Calcutta, India |date=28 March 2008 |access-date = 13 September 2010 |quote=Humans walked on Bengal's soil 20,000 years ago, archaeologists have found out, pushing the state's pre-history back by some 8,000 years. |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110912042911/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080328/jsp/frontpage/story_9067406.jsp |archive-date = 12 September 2011}}</ref> According to the Indian epic ''[[Mahabharata]]'' the region was part of the Vanga kingdom.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sen |first=S. N. |title=Ancient Indian History And Civilization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC |year=1999 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0 |pages=273–274 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101213233/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC |archive-date = 1 January 2016}}</ref> Several [[Vedic]] realms were present in the Bengal region, including [[Vanga]], [[Rarh region|Rarh]], [[Pundravardhana]] and the [[Suhma kingdom]]. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is a mention by the [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greeks]] around 100{{nbsp}}BCE of a land named [[Gangaridai]] located at the mouths of the [[Ganges]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Dilip K. |last=Chakrabarti |year=2001 |title=Archaeological Geography of the Ganga Plain: The Lower and the Middle Ganga |pages=154–155 |publisher=Permanent Black |location=Delhi |isbn=978-81-7824-016-9}}</ref> Bengal had overseas trade relations with [[Suvarnabhumi]] (Burma, Lower Thailand, the Lower [[Malay Peninsula]] and [[Sumatra]]).<ref>{{cite book |title=Foreign trade and commerce in ancient India |last=Prasad |first=Prakash Chandra |year=2003 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-7017-053-2 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFW3sXnzEQ4C&q=ancient+history+of+bengal+trade&pg=PA231 |access-date=21 October 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202001159/https://books.google.com/books?id=mFW3sXnzEQ4C&q=ancient+history+of+bengal+trade&pg=PA231 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Sri Lankan chronicle ''[[Mahavamsa]],'' [[Prince Vijaya]] ({{circa|543|505 BCE}}), a Vanga kingdom prince, conquered [[Lanka]] (modern-day Sri Lanka) and named the country [[Sinhala kingdom]].<ref>{{cite book |first2=Mabel |last2=Haynes Bode |last1=Geiger |first1=Wilhelm |author-link=Wilhelm Geiger |title=Mahavamsa: Great Chronicle of Ceylon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nX2af3kcregC&q=wilhelm+geiger |year=2003 |orig-date=1908 |publisher=[[Asian Educational Services]] |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-81-206-0218-2 |chapter=Chapter VI: The Coming of Vijaya |chapter-url=http://lakdiva.org/mahavamsa/chap006.html |pages=51–54 |access-date=21 October 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202001207/https://books.google.com/books?id=nX2af3kcregC&q=wilhelm+geiger |url-status=live}}</ref>

The kingdom of [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] was formed in the 7th{{nbsp}}century BCE, consisting of the regions now comprising [[Bihar]] and Bengal. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of the lives of [[Mahavira]], the principal figure of [[Jainism]] and [[Gautama Buddha]], founder of [[Buddhism]]. It consisted of several [[janapada]]s, or kingdoms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Settlement_in_Bengal |title=Settlement in Bengal (Early Period) |last=Sultana |first=Sabiha |access-date = 12 June 2015 |work=[[Banglapedia]] |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150614193503/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Settlement_in_Bengal |archive-date = 14 June 2015}}</ref> Under [[Ashoka]], the [[Maurya Empire]] of Magadha in the 3rd{{nbsp}}century BCE extended over nearly all of [[South Asia]], including [[Afghanistan]] and parts of [[Balochistan]]. From the 3rd to the 6th{{nbsp}}centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Mookerji |first=Radhakumud |title=The Gupta Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYXDB2gIYbwC |year=1959 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=978-81-208-0440-1 |pages=11, 113}}</ref>

[[File:Asia 800ad.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A map showing the extent of the Pala Empire |The [[Pala Empire]] was an imperial power during the [[Classical India|Late Classical period]] on the [[Indian subcontinent]], which originated in the region of [[Bengal]].]]
Two kingdoms—Vanga or Samatata, and Gauda—are said in some texts to have appeared after the end of the Gupta Empire although details of their ascendancy are uncertain.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra Nath |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA275 |date=1 January 1999 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0 |page=275 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151231212731/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA275 |archive-date = 31 December 2015}}</ref> The first recorded independent king of Bengal was [[Shashanka]], who reigned in the early 7th{{nbsp}}century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shashanka |title=Shashanka |access-date = 12 June 2015 |work=[[Banglapedia]] |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150614200631/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Shashanka |archive-date = 14 June 2015}}</ref> Shashanka is often recorded in Buddhist annals as an intolerant Hindu ruler noted for his persecution of the Buddhists. He murdered [[Rajyavardhana]], the Buddhist king of [[Thanesar]], and is noted for destroying the [[Bodhi tree]] at [[Bodh Gaya|Bodhgaya]], and replacing Buddha statues with Shiva [[lingams]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Intolerance debate: How some historical brutalities are more special than others |url=http://scroll.in/article/774898/intolerance-debate-how-some-historical-brutalities-are-more-special-than-others |website=Scroll.in |access-date = 25 December 2015 |language=en-US |first=Tony |last=Joseph |date=11 December 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151225181534/http://scroll.in/article/774898/intolerance-debate-how-some-historical-brutalities-are-more-special-than-others |archive-date = 25 December 2015}}</ref> After a period of anarchy,<ref>{{cite book |last=Bagchi |first=Jhunu |title=The History and Culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D.-cir. 1200 A.D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7RKoMeAtpUC |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=978-81-7017-301-4 |year=1993 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160423230909/https://books.google.com/books?id=J7RKoMeAtpUC |archive-date = 23 April 2016}}</ref>{{rp|36}} the [[Pala Empire|Pala dynasty]] ruled the region for four hundred years beginning in the 8th{{nbsp}}century. A shorter reign of the Hindu [[Sena dynasty]] followed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Khan |first=Muhammad Mojlum |title=The Muslim Heritage of Bengal: The Lives, Thoughts and Achievements of Great Muslim Scholars, Writers and Reformers of Bangladesh and West Bengal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-2s9BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |date=21 October 2013 |publisher=Kube Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-84774-062-5 |pages=15–16|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126080958/https://books.google.com/books?id=-2s9BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|archive-date=26 January 2018}}</ref>

[[Rajendra Chola I]] of the [[Chola dynasty]] invaded some areas of Bengal between 1021 and 1023.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Nitish K. |title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA45 |publisher=[[Penguin Books India]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-14-341678-4 |page=45 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101213233/https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA45 |archive-date = 1 January 2016}}</ref>

[[Islam]] was introduced through trade with the [[Abbasid Caliphate]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Raj Kumar |date=2003 |title=Essays on Ancient India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qvnjXOCjv7EC |publisher=Discovery Publishing House |page=199 |isbn=978-81-7141-682-0}}</ref> Following the [[Ghurid Empire|Ghurid]] conquests led by [[Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji]] and the establishment of the [[Delhi Sultanate]], it spread across the entire Bengal region. [[Mosque]]s, [[madrasa]]s and [[khanqah]]s were built throughout these stages. During the Islamic [[Bengal Sultanate]], founded in 1352, Bengal was a major world [[trading nation]] and was often referred by the Europeans as the richest country with which to trade.<ref>Nanda, J. N (2005). {{cite book |year=2005 |title=Bengal: the unique state |publisher=Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. |isbn=978-81-8069-149-2 |quote=Bengal [...] was rich in the production and export of grain, salt, fruit, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments besides the output of its handlooms in silk and cotton. Europe referred to Bengal as the richest country to trade with.}}</ref> Later, in 1576, it was absorbed into the [[Mughal Empire]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Banu |first=U. A. B. Razia Akter |title=Islam in Bangladesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyzqATEDPSgC |date=January 1992 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-09497-0 |pages=2, 17 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140101175100/http://books.google.com/books?id=XyzqATEDPSgC |archive-date = 1 January 2014}}</ref>