For a long period, Bengal was not part of Vedic culture. However,
North Bengal was a part of the Aryan acculturation during the
Mauryan era, as depicted in the Mahasthan inscription. By the end of the 3rd century C.E., the region came under the rule of the Magadha Empire under Samudragupta and remained within this empire until the mid-6th century C.E. According to contemporary historians, Brahmanism was found to have gained prominence in Bengal as early as the fourth century C.E. The later Gupta kings of Magadha promoted the growth of Brahmanism in the region while also showing support for Jainism and Buddhism. Multiple land-grants to Brahmins have been observed since the
Gupta Era. The Dhanaidaha copper-plate inscription, dated to 433 C.E., is the earliest of them and records a grantee Brahmin named Varahasvamin During the Gupta period, many Brahmins arrived in Bengal from various parts of India. Archaeologists found three copper plate grants in the district of Faridpur in East Bengal, with the first two attributed to Dharmaditya and the last to Gopacandra. Among the recipients of these grants were Brahmins, implying the existence of Brahmins at that time. After the Hun invasion in the fifth century, Bengal had been ruled by several independent rulers. Most of these independent kings between the middle of the sixth and seventh centuries were Hindu Brahmanists. Shashanka, a king of Gauda at the beginning of the seventh century, notably stood out as being opposed to Buddhism. Evidence indicates Brahmanism's continuous growth in Bengal during the reign of these autonomous kings. According to Sengupta, multiple accounts of this legend exist, and historians generally consider this to be nothing more than myth or folklore lacking historical authenticity. Identical stories of migration of
Orissan Brahmins exist under the legendary king of
Yayati Kesari. According to Sayantani Pal,
D.C Sircar opines that, the desideration of Bengali Brahmins to gain more prestige by connecting themselves with the Brahmins from the west, 'could have contributed' to the establishment of the system of '
kulinism'. Referring to the linkages between class and caste in Bengal, Bandyopadhyay mentions that the Brahmins, along with the other two upper castes, refrained from physical labour but controlled land, and as such represented "the three traditional higher castes of Bengal". ==Clans==