Varendra (), also known as Barind (), was an ancient and historical territory of North Bengal, now mostly in Bangladesh and a little portion in the Indian state of West Bengal and Bihar.
It formed part of the Pundravardhana or Pundra Kingdom region currently part of the Rajshahi and Rangpur Division of Bangladesh and included the districts of Bogra, Rajshahi, Pabna and Dinajpur of Bangladesh and West Dinajpur and Malda district of West Bengal, India. According to Cunningham, the boundary of Varendra was the Ganges River and the Kosi River river on the west, the Karatoya River on the east, the Padma River on the south and the land between Cooch Behar and included the Terai
Literature and inscriptions
According to R. C. Majumdar, the term Varendra-mandala occurs in the
Ramacharitam, which places it between the Ganges and Karatoya rivers. He writes, "Its inclusion with Pundravardhana is proved by the Silimpur, Tarpandighi and Madhainagar inscriptions. The
Tabaquat-i-nasiri mentions Barind as the wing of the territory of Lakhnawati on the eastern side of Ganges".
History
Historical evidence attests significant presence of Brahmins in Bengal during the
Maurya period. The
Jain Acharya Bhadrabahu, regarded to be the preceptor of
Sthulabhadra, is said to have been born in the Brahmin family of
Pundravardhana (or , the region north of the
Ganges and west of Brahmaputra in Bengal, later known as Vārendra).
Such evidences suggest or Vārendra and regions west of Bhagirathi (called Radha in ancient age) to be seats of Brahmins from ancient times.
Modern usage
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Varendra Research Society
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Varendra Research Museum
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Varendra rebellion
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Varendra University
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Varendra tract
See also
