Main Article Content
Abstract
North Bengal is a modern-day lexis(See Ananda Gopal Ghosh’ s Uttarbanga Namer Sandhane ). The term North Bengal is used both in India and Bangladesh to denotes northern part of West Bengal and north- western part of Bangladesh as well. The name and size of present Northern Bengal was not similar in ancient and early medieval period. Presently the Bangladeshi North Bengal comprises Rangpur and Rajshahi division. By and large, it is the region lying west of Jamuna river and north of Padma river. The North Bengal of West Bengal includes the districts of Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda. Generally the Ganga river divides West Bengal into South and North Bengal. But in ancient and early medieval period parts of Rangpur, Alipurduar, Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri were not included in Bengal, rather they were the part of Kamrup and kamata. Similarly Darjeeling was included into the kingdom of Sikkim.