Munger Or Maudagalyagiri

The territory included within the district of Munger once formed part of the Madhya Desha or Midland of the first Aryan settlers. It has been identified with Modagiri, a place mentioned in the Mahabharata, which was the capital of a kingdom in Eastern India near Vanga and Tamralipta. It was also known as Maudagalyagiri after Maudgalya, a disciple of Buddha, who converted a rich merchant of this place into Buddhism.

 

 At the dawn of history, the present site of the town was apparently comprised within the kingdom of Anga, the capital of which was at Champa near Bhagalpur. Anga was the country to the east of Magadha and west of the chieftains who dwelt in the Rajmahal hills. A portion of the west of the present district was included within the limits of the kingdom of Magadha. Anga comprised the old districts of Bhagalpur and Munger and also extended northwards up the river Kaushiki and included the western portion of the district of Purnea. 

 

The area lying north of the river Ganges was known as Anguttarap. Kashyapa Vibhandaka had his hermitage on the river Kaushiki. His son Rishyasringa was beguiled by the courtesans of Anga into a boat and brought down the river to the capital - Modagiri and Kaushiki Kachcha- that had rulers who are distinguished from Karna, whose realm (Anga) clearly lay between the Magadhans and the Parvatavasins.

 

 The Anga dominion at one time included Magadha and the Shanti-parva of the epic Mahabharata refers to an Anga King who sacrificed at Mount Vishnupada. In the epic period Modagiri finds mention as a separate State. The success of Anga did not last long and about middle of the sixth century B.C. Bimbisara of Magadha is said to have killed Brahmadatta, the last independent ruler of ancient Anga. Henceforth Anga becomes an integral part of the growing empire of Magadh.