Harikela

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

Ancient Political Divisions
Part of a series on the
History of Bengal

History

Yiling in the seventh century mentions kingdom of Ali-ki-lo or Harikela. 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. Siddique, Yousuf (July–December 2008). "The Diffusion of Islam in Bengal and the Articulation of a New Order" (PDF). Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan. 45 (2): 1–55.

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.


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