Question

Kalinga was the ancient name of Bengal.
A. True
B.False

Answer 1

Hint: -The Kalinga war was fought between the great emperor Ashoka and Mahapadmanbha.
-It was an important kingdom because it controlled the trade routes with South-East Asia.
-Ashoka the Mauryan king, wanted to capture it, Therefore he led his huge Army to Kalinga in 262 B.C.

Complete answer: Kalinga is a historical region of India. It is found in the region between the Mahanadi and Godavari Rivers as the Eastern Coastal Region which is now known as Odisha and not Bengal. As we know Kalinga is the ancient name of coastal Odisha, Ashoka fought a war to annex Kalinga. The local people residing here spoke either Odia or Telugu. Apart from the Mauryan Dynasty, other local dynasty's kings were given the title of ‘Kalingadhipati’. The two last dynasties that ruled over the ‘ Kalinga ‘ were the ‘Gajapati Dynasty’ and Suryavansh of Nandapur.
OPTION A: The given statement is incorrect, it isn’t true because the Ancient Name of Bengal was ‘Banga’. Therefore, Option A is an incorrect option.
OPTION B: As explained above, the statement is false. Therefore, Option B is an incorrect option.
Hence, Option B, False is the correct option.

Note: -Capital of Kalinga in Ancient Times was originally located at Kalinganagara (modernly known as Mukhalingam) and was later transferred to Kataka (Modernly known as Cuttack).
-There was a huge loss of man and material in the Kalinga war as in this war 1,50,000 soldiers from the side of Kalinga were taken as prisoners and many others died.
-This terrible war made Ashoka accept Buddhism.