Waithali kingdom
Waithali kingdom ဝေသာလီ | |||||||||||||||
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| 370 AD–818 AD | |||||||||||||||
Arakan coins from Vesali period showing the Shrivatsa symbol | |||||||||||||||
| Status | Kingdom (part of Chandra dynasty) | ||||||||||||||
| Capital | Waithali | ||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Possibly Magadhi Prakrit, Sanskrit | ||||||||||||||
| Religion | Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism | ||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Founding of dynasty | 370 AD | ||||||||||||||
• End of kingdom | 818 AD | ||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | Myanmar, Bangladesh | ||||||||||||||
The Waithali kingdom (Rakhine: ဝေသာလီ ; Magadhi Prakrit: Vesali) was an ancient kingdom that flourished in the Arakan region of present-day Rakhine State, Myanmar, and Chittagong Division of Bangladesh from approximately 2nd century BC to 7th century AD. Established as a successor to the Dhanyawadi kingdom, Waithali is also one of the most Bengalized Arakanese kingdom bridging South and Southeast Asia through trade and religious exchange.
Following the decline of Dhanyawadi, Rakhine's power center shifted to Vesali, ushering in an early Golden Age for the region. During this period, Vesali's influence extended across the Kaladan and Lemro River valleys and reached as far as Chittagong, in present-day Bangladesh. According to the western section of King Ananda Sanda’s stone inscription at Shaitthaung Temple, it indicates that the kingdom existed during the 9th and 10th centuries AD. Waithali was the capital of this kingdom.