Aṅga Deśa is an ancient kingdom of eastern Bhārata. It lay east of the central Gaṅgā plain, in the region that matches present-day eastern Bihar and the neighbouring parts of Bengal, and also parts of Jharkhand. Its capital was Campā, on the Gaṅgā. It was one of the great territories (mahājanapadas) of ancient Bhārata, east of Magadha, in what the tradition calls the eastern edge of Āryāvarta.

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Aṅga is the kingdom of King Romapāda, and the land to which Ṛshyaśṛṅga was brought to end a drought. The Mahābhārata tells the same account in its Vana Parva. The Rāmāyaṇa also gives the origin of the name.

Origin of the name

Viśvāmitra told Rāma and Lakshmaṇa how Aṅga Deśa got its name. They were passing through the region on their way to Mithilā. The name comes from the burning of Kāmadeva by Bhagavān Śiva. Kāmadeva, the deva of desire, tried to disturb the tapas (austerity) of Bhagavān Śiva by shooting his flower arrow. Bhagavān Śiva’s third eye opened and burned Kāmadeva to ash. The aṅgas (limbs, parts of the body) of Kāmadeva fell in this region and made it holy. So it is called Aṅga Deśa, the land of the aṅgas.

Romapāda’s kingdom in the Rāmāyaṇa

In the time of the Rāmāyaṇa, King Romapāda ruled Aṅga Deśa. He was a close friend of Daśaratha, and Daśaratha gave him his daughter Śāntā in adoption. Romapāda’s pāpa (sin) against a brāhmaṇa brought a drought on the kingdom that lasted twelve years. The ṛshis advised that only the presence of Ṛshyaśṛṅga could end it. The whole episode of drawing the ṛshi out of his forest and bringing him to the kingdom took place in Aṅga Deśa. The moment Ṛshyaśṛṅga’s feet touched the soil of Aṅga, rain fell.

Aṅga in the Mahābhārata

In the Vana Parva (Chapters 110–113), the king of Aṅga is again Romapāda. Under a śāpa (a curse) or an offence that is not named, no rain fell in his kingdom at all. The ṛshis told him that only the presence of Ṛshyaśṛṅga, the forest ṛshi of perfect purity and the son of Vibhāṇḍaka, would bring rain to Aṅga.

Romapāda sent a courtesan to draw Ṛshyaśṛṅga out of the forest. This needed careful planning, because his father Vibhāṇḍaka would never have allowed it. The moment Ṛshyaśṛṅga set foot on the soil of Aṅga, rain fell. Romapāda gave him Śāntā in marriage and honoured him as his son-in-law.

Ṛshyaśṛṅga later performed the putrakāmeshṭi yajña (the fire rite for sons) for Daśaratha in Ayodhyā. It brought the birth of Rāma and his brothers. Through this, Aṅga is linked to the beginning of the main events of the Rāmāyaṇa.

Karṇa, king of Aṅga

In the Mahābhārata, Duryodhana later gave Aṅga to Karṇa, and Karṇa became its king. The war narrative mentions this, and it began in the Ādi Parva.

Holy associations of Aṅga Deśa

Aṅga Deśa carries several layers of holiness in the Rāmāyaṇa:

It is the land named for the burning of Kāmadeva, where the deva of desire was turned to ash.
It is the land where the purity of Ṛshyaśṛṅga ended a twelve-year drought.
It is the land where Śāntā, the daughter of Daśaratha, lived as a princess.
It is the land whose bond with Ṛshyaśṛṅga made the putrakāmeshṭi yajña in Ayodhyā possible, and with it the births of Rāma and his brothers.

Sources

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 9–12 and 23 (Chapters 9–11 for the drought and Ṛshyaśṛṅga; Chapter 23 for the origin of the name)
Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 110–113
Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva (Duryodhana gives Aṅga to Karṇa)