Bangladesh location map-Rajshahi Division

Kaivartas of the Varendras circa 640-730 CE

Varendra ( bn, বরেন্দ্র), also known as Barind ( bn, বারিন্দ, link=no), was a region of North Bengal, now mostly in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

and a little portion in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

. It formed part of the Pundravardhana or Pundra Kingdom region currently part of Rangpur and Rajshahi Divisions of Bangladesh and included the districts of Bogra, Rajshahi,

Pabna Pabna ( bn, পাবনা) is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about . Etymology * According to the his ...

and Dinajpur of Bangladesh and West Dinajpur of India. According to Cunningham, the boundary of Varendra was the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

and the Mahananda on the west, the

Karatoya Karatoya River (also spelt Korotoa River) is a small stream in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. Etymology The name of the river is formed of two Sanskrit words ''kar'' (hand) and ''toa'' (water). Course The Karatoya, known as Phuljhur rises i ...

on the east, the Padma River on the south and the land between Cooch Behar and the

Terai , image =Terai nepal.jpg , image_size = , image_alt = , caption =Aerial view of Terai plains near Biratnagar, Nepal , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , biogeographic_realm = Indomalayan realm , global200 = Terai-Duar savanna ...

on the north.

Literature and inscriptions

According to

R. C. Majumdar Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (known as R. C. Majumdar; 4 December 1888 – 11 February 1980) was a historian and professor of Indian history. Majumdar is a noted historian of modern India. He was a former Sheriff of Kolkata. Early life and educatio ...

, 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 Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

Acharya In Indian religions and society, an ''acharya'' (Sanskrit: आचार्य, IAST: ; Pali: ''ācariya'') is a preceptor and expert instructor in matters such as religion, or any other subject. An acharya is a highly learned person with a ti ...

Bhadrabahu, regarded to be the preceptor of

Chandragupta Maurya Chandragupta Maurya (350-295 BCE) was a ruler in Ancient India who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 320 BCE to 298 BCE. The Maurya kingdom expanded to become an emp ...

, is said to have been born in Brahmin family of Pundravardhana (or , the region north of the

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; According to HC Raychoudhuri the Gupta dyansty originated from the Varendri region. According to the Khalimpur copper plate inscription, the first Pala Emperor Gopala was the son of a warrior named Vapyata. The ''Ramacharitam'' attests that Varendra (North Bengal) was the fatherland (''Janakabhu'') of the Palas.

Ancient empires and rulers originated from Varendra region

* Mauryan Empire *

Gupta Empire The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Go ...

* Pala Empire *Empire of Raja Ganesha * Kalapahad * Baro-Bhuyan (Bhati Rulers) * Diwan Mohanlal

Modern day prime ministers, president and chief ministers originated from Varendra region

* Mohammad Ali Bogra *

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military Officer (armed forces), officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from Presidency of Ziaur Rahman, 1977 to 1981. He was Assassinat ...

* Hussein Muhammad Ershad *

Khaleda Zia Khaleda Zia (; born Khaleda Khanam Putul in 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006. She was the first female prime minister of B ...

Notable Varendra Brahmins

* Raja Ganesha, a Hindu ruler of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

* Rani Bhabani, a Hindu

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

of Natore *

Gautam Sanyal Gautam Sanyal is an Indian career civil servant who currently serves as Principal Secretary to Government of West Bengal, since June 2015. In June 2016, he was re-appointed as Principal Secretary and his tenure co-terminus with that of Chief M ...

, Indian civil servant *

Surajit Chandra Lahiri Surajit Chandra Lahiri was an Indian Judge and former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Career Lahiri passed M.A. LL.B. and practiced in the Calcutta High Court. He became judge of the High Court and was also appointed Chief Justice of t ...

, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court * Nalinaksha Sanyal,

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

n politician, economist and freedom fighter. * Narayan Sanyal, writer of modern

Bengali literature Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...

as well as a civil engineer. * Pahari Sanyal, Indian actor and singer * Sachindra Nath Sanyal, an

Indian revolutionary The Revolutionary movement for Indian Independence was the part of the Indian independence movement comprising the actions of violent underground revolutionary factions. Groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into t ...

and a founder of the

Hindustan Republican Association Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), previously known as the Hindustan Republican Army and Hindustan Republican Association (HRA), was an Indian revolutionary organisation founded by Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Sachindr ...

* Sanjeev Sanyal, Indian economist and author. * Jaya Bachchan (originally Bhaduri), Indian film actress, politician and a

member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

* Amar Nath Bhaduri, Indian molecular enzymologist and chemical biologist * Abhijit Bhaduri, Indian author, columnist and management consultant * Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, Indian historian, writer and Indologist * Sisir Bhaduri, Indian stage actor and theatre founder *

Shibdas Bhaduri Shibdas Bhaduri (1887–1932) was an Indian professional footballer who captained Mohun Bagan in the historic 1911 IFA Shield final, where they defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment with a score of 2–1 to become the first Indian team to win the ...

n professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

* Anirban Lahiri,

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

, an Indian singer, composer. * Jhumpa Lahiri, American author * Mahua Moitra, Indian politician and a

Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

* Shantanu Moitra, Indian score composer, musician and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

* Rupankar Bagchi, Bengali singer-songwriter and playback singer. *

Jatindramohan Bagchi Jatindramohan Bagchi (27 November 1878 — 1 February 1948) ( bn, যতীন্দ্রমোহন বাগচি) was a Bengali poet and editor.

, Bengali poet and editor. *

Subroto Bagchi Subroto Bagchi (born 31 May 1959) is an Indian entrepreneur and business leader. He is the co-founder of Mindtree, an Indian technology MNC. He has autobiographed his life story in his book ''Go Kiss the World''. Early life and education Bagch ...

, Indian entrepreneur and business leader * Tanishk Bagchi, Indian music producer, composer and singer. * Biman Bagchi, Indian National Science Chair Professor

Modern usage

* Varendra Research Society * Varendra Research Museum *

Varendra rebellion The Varendra rebellion (also known as the Kaivarta revolt) was the revolt against King Mahipala II led by Kaivarta chieftain Divya (Divvoka), a feudal lord of Northern Bengal. The Kaivartas were able to capture Varendra by this rebellion. The ...

* Varendra University *

Varendra tract Barind Tract (alternately called the Varendra Tract in English and Borendro Bhumi in Bengali) is the largest Pleistocene era physiographic unit in the Bengal Basin. It covers most of Dinajpur, Rangpur, Pabna, Rajshahi, Bogra, and Joypurhat distri ...

References

{{reflist Ancient divisions in Bengal