Suhma was an eastern kingdom located in regions now occupied by West Bengal, India and Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. This kingdom was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

 along with its neighbouring kingdom Prasuhma, which was in the present day Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...

. The founders of five eastern kingdoms, which included: Angas

Anga Kingdom

Anga was a kingdom ruled by non-Vedic rulers. Anga king Lomapada was a friend of Kosala king Dasaratha. Kosala Princess Santha, elder to Raghava Rama, lived as the daughter of Lomapada, since he was childless. Duryodhana established Karna as the ruler of Angas. It is believed that there were many...

, Vangas

Vanga Kingdom

Vanga orBengal was a kingdom located in the eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent, comprising part of West Bengal, India and present-day modern Bangladesh. It was a seafaring nation of Ancient India.- References in Mahabharata :...

, Kalingas

Kalinga Kingdom

Kalinga forms the sea shore of Orissa and Andhra region of Andhra pradesh state in India. Kuru king Duryodhana's wife was from Kalinga. Kalingas sided with Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War...

, Pundras

Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Purnia . A Pundra king challenged Vasudeva Krishna by imitating his attributes. He called himself Paundraka Vasudeva. He was later killed by Vasudeva Krishna in a battle...

 and Suhmas shared a common ancestry.

Military expeditions to Suhma

Pandu

Pandu

In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...

 (the father of Pandavas) after defeating the Magadhas

Magadha Kingdom

Magadha was a kingdom ruled by non-Vedic kings. Jarasandha was the greatest among them during epic times. His capital was Rajagriha or Rajgir a modern hill resort in Bihar. Jarasandha's continuous assault on the Yadava kingdom of Surasena resulted in their withdrawal from central India to western...

 and the Videhas

Videha Kingdom

In the Ramayana, Videha was the kingdom of the royal sage Seeradhwaja Janaka, the father of Sita, Raghava Rama's wife. Rama's brothers married Sita's sisters, so the Videha Kingdom was closely allied to the Kosala Kingdom. Mithila was the capital of Videha, now identified with Janakpur, a town in...

 of Mithila

Mithila

Mithila was a city in Ancient India, the capital of the Videha Kingdom. The name Mithila is also commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom itself, as well as to the modern-day territories that fall within the ancient boundaries of Videha...

, led his army against Kasi, Suhma, and Pundra

Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Purnia . A Pundra king challenged Vasudeva Krishna by imitating his attributes. He called himself Paundraka Vasudeva. He was later killed by Vasudeva Krishna in a battle...

, as well as by the strength and prowess of his arms spread the fame of the Kurus

Kuru Kingdom

Kuru was the name of an ancient kingdom in Vedic India, and later a republican Mahajanapada state. The kingdom was located in the area of modern Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh in India. They formed the first political center of the of the Vedic India, with its capital at Hastinapur. It...

.

Arjuna

Arjuna

Arjuna in Indian mythology is the greatest warrior on earth and is one of the Pandavas, the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. Arjuna, whose name means 'bright', 'shining', 'white' or 'silver' Arjuna (Devanagari: अर्जुन, Thai: อรชุน, Orachun, Tamil: Arjunan, Indonesian and Javanese: Harjuna,...

, that bull amongst the son of Pandu

Pandu

In the Mahābhārata epic, King Pandu is the son of Ambalika and Rishi Ved Vyasa. He is more popularly known as the father of the Pandavas and ruled Hastinapur.-Birth:...

, at the head of all his troops, fiercely attacked the regions called Suhma and Sumala during his military campaign to collect tribute to Yudhisthira

Yudhisthira

In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, Yudhisthira , the eldest son of King Pandu and Queen Kunti, was king of Indraprastha and later of Hastinapura. He was the leader of the Pandava side in the Kurukshetra War...

's Rajasuya

Rajasuya

Rajasuya was a sacrifice, described in detail in the Mahabharata, performed by the ancient kings of India who considered themselves powerful enough to be an emperor...

.

Bhima

Bhima

In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...

 vanquished in battle the Suhmas and the Prasuhmas. The Pandava

Pandava

In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu , by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making...

 Bhima

Bhima

In the Mahābhārata, Bhima is one of the central characters of Mahabharata and the second of the Pandava brothers...

 subjugated in battle those strong and brave heroes of fierce prowess. The heroic and mighty Vasudeva, the king of Pundra

Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Purnia . A Pundra king challenged Vasudeva Krishna by imitating his attributes. He called himself Paundraka Vasudeva. He was later killed by Vasudeva Krishna in a battle...

 and king Mahaujah who reigned in Kausika-Kachchha, and then attacked the king of Vanga

Vanga Kingdom

Vanga orBengal was a kingdom located in the eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent, comprising part of West Bengal, India and present-day modern Bangladesh. It was a seafaring nation of Ancient India.- References in Mahabharata :...

. Having vanquished Samudrasena and king Chandrasena and Tamralipta, and also the king of the Karvatas and the ruler of the Suhmas, as also the kings that dwelt on the sea-shore, that bull among the Bharatas then conquered all Mleccha

Mleccha

Mleccha , also spelt as Mlechchha, people of foreign extraction in ancient India. Mleccha was used by the Aryans much as the ancient Greeks used barbaros, originally to indicate the uncouth and incomprehensible speech of foreigners and then extended to their unfamiliar behaviour...

 tribes. Karna also subjugated the Pundras

Pundra Kingdom

Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Purnia . A Pundra king challenged Vasudeva Krishna by imitating his attributes. He called himself Paundraka Vasudeva. He was later killed by Vasudeva Krishna in a battle...

and Suhmas.