53-639: Agrasen , most commonly known as Maharaja (literally, great king ) Agrasen , was a legendary Indian king of Agroha , a city of traders in the district of Hisar , Haryana . He is a descendant of the Hindu deity, Shri Ramchandra 's elder son, Kush . He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in Northern India named Agroha , and is known for his compassion in refusing sacrificial slaughter of animals in yajnas . Goddess Mahalakshmi bestowed prosperity for him and his descendants. The Agrawals ,
106-508: A 13th year to be spent incognito, and if the cover is blown during the 13th year, another cycle of 13 years would ensue. Obeying their uncle's orders, the Pandavas played the round and again lost to Shakuni's cheating. However, this time, their patience had been nearly pushed to its edge. During the 12 years of exile in the forest, they prepared for war. Arjuna performed penance and won the entire gamut of celestial weapons (Divyastras) as boons from
159-483: A bet and lost again. Duryodhana now played another trick and told Yudhishthira that he still had his wife Draupadi to place as a bet and if Yudhishthira won, he would return everything to the Pandavas. Yudhishthira fell for the ruse and bet Draupadi, losing her too. At this point, Duryodhana ordered that Draupadi, who was now a slave to him, be brought to the court. None of the Pandavas fought for their wife's honour. Duryodhana's younger brother Dushasana dragged Draupadi to
212-467: A boon: “Establish a new kingdom and, while following the principles of Kshatriya dharma , nurture and protect your kingdom and subjects! Your kingdom will always be filled with wealth and abundance.” Goddess Lakshmi is the kuldevi of (many) Agrawals . Per Bharatendu Harishchandra, the Agarwals are organized into seventeen and a half gotras ( exogamous clans), which came into being from seventeen and
265-551: A community of traditional traders from northern India, regard Maharaja Agrasen as their forefather and a historical figure who established the foundations of their community in the Kingdom of Agroha . In fact, the term Agrawal means "descendants of Agrasen" or "people of Agroha ". The occasion of his birth anniversary called Agrasen Jayanti is celebrated in the Indian states of Haryana , Punjab , Rajasthan , and Uttar Pradesh where it
318-524: A drought in Pratapnagar. The famine in Agrasen's kingdom forced him to go to war against Indra, but sage Narada brokered peace. Maharaja Agrasen went to the city of Kāshi and performed intense tapasya (austerity) for the welfare of his subjects. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva advised him to perform tapasya for Goddess Lakshmi . Goddess Lakshmi, pleased with his selfless austerities, granted him
371-546: A grave turn when Dhritarashtra had to relent to the will of the masses and rightfully appointed his nephew Yudhishthira as crown prince. This went against the personal ambitions of both father and son (Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana) and drove Duryodhana into such a rage that he enthusiastically agreed to an evil ploy by Shakuni to murder Yudhishthira. Shakuni commissioned the construction of a palace in Varnavart, secretly built by incorporating flammable materials like oil, ghee etc. into
424-486: A half gotras. In 1983, The Akhil Bhartiya Aggarwal Sammelan, a major organization of Agrawals (also Baranwals ), ratified a list of Agarwal gotras. To avoid classification of any particular gotra as "half", the Sammelan provides a list of following 18 gotras: The list does not include several existing clans such as Kotrivala, Pasari, Mudgal, Tibreval, and Singhla. Agroha Mound Agroha , locally known as Ther ,
477-515: A half sacrifices performed by Agrasen. The last sacrifice is considered "half" because it was abandoned after Agrasen expressed remorse for the violent animal sacrifices. Bharatendu also mentions that Agrasen had 17 queens and a junior queen, but does not mention any connection between these queens and the formation of the gotras. Neither does he explain how sacrifices led to the formation of the gotras. Historically, due to regional differences there has been no single unanimous list of these seventeen and
530-598: A raised chair near Krishna's head and Arjuna sat near Krishna's feet closing his hands. When Krishna woke up, he saw Arjuna first and asked him about the purpose of his visit. Then he found Duryodhana sitting next to him, and asked him the same question. Krishna was then told that war was going to be held and Arjuna and Duryodhana had come to him seeking his military help. To this Krishna replied that he had seen Arjuna first and so he would give him priority, and asked what he needed. He gave Arjuna two options – either his army of 100,000 soldiers or Krishna himself who shall not fight in
583-501: A slave girl has no rights. The elders and warriors in the audience were shocked but did not intervene. As Dushasana began to disrobe her, she prayed to Krishna to protect her honour. Krishna, using his divine powers, protected her by providing her garments with an unending length. Dushasana, shocked and tired, gave up on disrobing Draupadi. Finally, as the blind king Dhritarashtra realized that this humiliation could prompt Draupadi to curse his sons, he intervened, apologizing to Draupadi for
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#1733092723380636-437: A son: When Dhritarashtra heard that the five brothers were alive, he invited them back to the kingdom. However, in their absence, Duryodhana had succeeded in being made the crown prince. Upon the return of the Pandavas, the issue of returning Yudhishthira's crown to him was raised. Dhritarashtra led the subsequent discussions into ambiguity and agreed to a partition of the kingdom "to do justice to both crown princes". He retained
689-666: Is Prakrit . Many seals have also been found. They are inscribed with words like Pitradutt , " Sadhu Vridhasya", "Shamkar Malasya", "Madrsya", etc. Besides the numerous stone sculptures, iron and copper implements and beads of semi-precious stones have also been found. Babb, Lawrence A (2004). Alchemies of Violence: Myths of Identity and the Life of Trade in Western India . Sage. ISBN 978-0-7619-3223-9 . List of films , Chandrawal , Jagat Jakhar ) Pandava The Pandavas ( Sanskrit : पाण्डव, IAST : Pāṇḍava)
742-494: Is a group name referring to the five legendary brothers, Yudhishtira , Bhima , Arjuna , Nakula and Sahadeva , who are central figures of the Hindu epic Mahabharata . They are acknowledged as the sons of Pandu , the King of Kuru , but were fathered by different Devas (gods) due to Pandu's cursed inability to naturally conceive children. In the epic, the Pandavas married Draupadi ,
795-508: Is an archaeological site located in Agroha , in the Hisar district of India . The mounds are located about 1.5 km from the town of Agroha , 20 km from Hisar city and 190 km from New Delhi in Hisar district of Haryana , India . It lies on National Highway 9 (old NH-10). The excavations first started in the year 1888–89 under C.J. Rogers. It restarted in the year 1978-79 by
848-503: Is derived from Pandu ( Sanskrit : पाण्डु , IAST : Pāṇḍu ) and means "descendants of Pandu". Other epithets given to the Pandavas are: The Pandava brothers had a group marriage to Draupadi . In the Section 268 of Vana Parva of the epic, Draupadi describes the Pandavas to Jayadratha after he abducted her forcefully and the Pandavas pursuit them. According to the Adi Parva of
901-556: Is recognized as a public or a gazetted holiday. The Government of India in 1976 commemorated the 5100th birth anniversary of Maharaja Agrasen by issuing a postage stamp depicting him, and so did Maldives in 2016 as a tribute to the contributions of the Agrawal community, a prominent business group in India, in the growing trade relationship between the Maldives and India. The eastern wing of
954-578: The Agrawal caste"). He stated that he had found this copy in the personal library of Bharatendu Harishchandra. Agrasen was a Kshatriya king of the Sūryavaṃśi dynasty who adopted the Vanika dharma for the benefit of his people. He was the ruler of Khandavprasth , Ballabhgarh , and Agr Janapada (present-day Delhi , Ballabhgarh , and Agra ). According to Bharatendu Harishchandra's account, Maharaja Agrasen
1007-487: The Archaeological Department of Haryana under the supervision of J.S. Khatri and Acharya. The Agrawal community believes that the archaeological findings are related to their legendary founder— Maharaja Agrasena , whose capital is said to have been at Agroha. Agrawal organizations such as Akhil Bharatiya Agrawal Sammelan and Agroha Vikas Trust have supported archaeological research at the site. According to
1060-645: The Fast for Goddess Mahalakshmi"), he documented Agrasen's story. He stated that Sri Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha was contained in the Bhavishya Purana , which exists in several recensions. However, some researchers were unsuccessful in tracing this text. In 1976, the Agrawal historian Satyaketu Vidyalankar published a copy of the Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha in his Agrwal Jati Ka Prachin Itihas ("Ancient History of
1113-529: The Gods. They spent the 13th year in Agyaata Vaasa masquerading as peasants in the service of the royal family of Virata , the king of Matsya . Upon completion of the terms of the last bet, the Pandavas returned and demanded that their kingdom be rightfully returned to them. Duryodhana refused to yield Indraprastha. For the sake of peace and to avert a disastrous war, Krishna proposed that if Hastinapura agrees to give
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#17330927233801166-417: The Pandavas only five villages named Indraprastha ( Delhi ), Swarnprastha ( Sonipat ), Panprastha ( Panipat ), Vyaghrprastha ( Baghpat ) and Tilprastha ( Tilpat ) if these five villages given they would be satisfied and would make no more demands. Duryodhana vehemently refused, commenting that he would not part even with land as much as the point of a needle. Thus the stage was set for the great war, for which
1219-493: The Pandavas were: A few years later after the birth of the Pandavas, Pandu died after trying to have a union with Madri and the latter immolated herself out of remorse. Kunti brought the Pandavas back to Hastinapura , the capital of Kuru, and they were raised together with their cousins, the Kauravas , who were the hundred sons of Dhritrashtra. The Pandavas were guided and taught by Bheeshma , Vidura and Kripa . Duryodhana ,
1272-576: The Pandavas would hand the kingdom to the Kauravas and go into exile for 13 years. After this time the Kauravas refused to return the kingdom. As a result, the Pandavas waged a civil war against their extended family, and this conflict was known as the Kurukshetra War . With the help of the god Krishna , the Pandavas eventually won the war with the death of the Kauravas, albeit at great cost. The word Pandava ( Sanskrit : पाण्डवा , IAST : Pāṇḍavā )
1325-547: The Pandavas' success and prosperity. Eventually Shakuni sired yet another plot and got Duryodhana to invite the Pandavas over to his court for a game of dice (gambling). Shakuni was a master at gambling and owned a pair of dice which magically did his bidding. Owing to this, bet after bet, Yudhishthira lost all of his wealth, and eventually his kingdom, in the game. He was then enticed by Duryodhana and Shakuni to place his brothers as bets. Yudhishthira fell for it and put his brothers at stake, losing them too. He then placed himself as
1378-591: The age of 15, Agrasen fought in the Mahabharata war alongside the Pandavas . Lord Krishna proclaimed that Agrasen would be a yug purush, or "man of the age," and an avatar in the Kali Yuga . He was married to Madhavi, the daughter of the serpent king Nagaraja Kumud, with whom Indra was also smitten. When she chose Agrasen as her husband, Indra , the lord of thunderstorms and rain could not bear her loss and created
1431-510: The battlefield. This earned them so much merit and credit that it wiped out all their debts. Yudhisthira demanded to know where his brothers and his wife were. He was then taken to hell. Yama explained that they were experiencing the reactions of their actions but it was temporary. Once the debt had been repaid, they would join them in Swarga. Yudhisthira loyally met his brothers, but the sight and sound of gore and blood horrified him. Though initially he
1484-451: The behaviour of his sons, and turned the winnings of the dice game back over to the Pandava brothers, releasing them from the bondage of slavery. Incensed at the loss of all that he had won, Duryodhana threatened suicide and coerced his father into inviting the Pandavas for one last round of gambling, the terms of which were that the loser would be condemned to 12 years of exile into forests and
1537-510: The condition was violated, the brother, who entered the room, had to go on a pilgrimage for 12 years. Arjuna was the only one to violate this condition. Each Pandava had a son with Draupadi and they were collectively referred to as Upapandavas ; their names were Prativindhya (fathered by Yudhishthira), Sutasoma (fathered by Bhima), Shrutakarma (fathered by Arjuna), Shatanika (fathered by Nakula), and Shrutasena (fathered by Sahadeva). Besides Draupadi, each Pandava had their own wife with whom they
1590-430: The developed Hastinapura for himself and Duryodhana and gave the barren, arid and hostile lands of Khandavaprastha to the Pandavas. The Pandavas successfully developed their land and built a great and lavish city, which was considered comparable to the heavens, and thus came to be known as Indraprastha . Reeling under the loss of half the lands of his future kingdom, Duryodhana's jealousy and rage were further fuelled by
1643-400: The eldest Pandava, Yudhisthira , reached the door of Svarga Loka (heaven), carried on Indra's chariot. On reaching Heaven, he did not find either his virtuous brothers or his wife Draupadi. Instead, he finds Karna sitting on a divine throne. He wanted an explanation from Yama, the lord of death. Yama explained that the Kauravas had been allowed into heaven because they died as warriors on
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1696-469: The eldest of the Kauravas, refused to accept the Pandavas as his cousins. This usually led to much tension between the cousins. Insecure and jealous, Duryodhana harbored an intense hatred for the five brothers throughout his childhood and youth and following the advice of his maternal uncle Shakuni , often plotted to get rid of them to clear his path to the lordship of the Kuru Dynasty . This plotting took
1749-494: The epic of Mahabharata is known most of all. Krishna, being a well-wisher of the Pandavas, helped them in various ways during the time of their ordeals. When the Kurukshetra war was going to be held, both Arjuna on behalf of the Pandavas, and Duryodhana on behalf of the Kauravas, went to Krishna to seek help. Duryodhana reached first and Arjuna was just behind him. They entered Krishna's room and found him sleeping. Duryodhana sat on
1802-543: The epic, Pandu was crowned as the king of the Kuru Kingdom despite being younger than his elder brother Dhritrashtra , who was denied the throne for being blind. He married Kunti , a princess of the Yadu clan, and Madri , the princess of Madra Kingdom. Once he was hunting in a forest when he shot a copulating pair of deer. However, they turn out to be a sage named Kindama and his wife, who had used their divine powers to take
1855-527: The five brothers survived. After having won the war, Yudhishthira was crowned the king. At the end of the war, only 10 survived the war on both sides, namely Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Kritverma on the Kaurava side and the five Pandavas, Krishna and Saatyakee on the Pandava side. The Pandavas ruled Hastinapura for 36 years and established a righteous kingdom. Shortly after Krishna left the Earth, they all decided that
1908-410: The five of them. Even when uttered erroneously, their mother's word was supreme for the Pandavas, and they agreed to share the princess, who was subsequently married to all five brothers. To prevent jealousy among the brothers and identify the paternity of Draupadi's children, the Pandavas followed a condition in which one brother was given a year with her and others were forbidden to enter her chamber. If
1961-487: The form of the animals. Enraged, Kindama berated the king for having killed him before he had finished the act of mating and before dying, he cursed Pandu that he would die the moment he touched his wife intending to make love. After the event Pandu voluntarily renounced royal life as penance, leaving the Kingdom under Dhritarashtra. Kunti and Madri accompanied Pandu and together they lived in a forest. Before her marriage, Kunti
2014-618: The incarnation of previous Indra 's. After the Duration, the lifespan of Indra, is completed Krishna assures Pandavas of offering them Moksha for their Devotion and purity. Harivamsa Purana (8th century CE) narrates the Jain version of their story. In the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand , there has been a long tradition of villagers performing the Pandav Lila , a ritual re-enactment of episodes from
2067-512: The modern day Agroha Dham temple is dedicated to Maharaja Agrasen, serving as a significant cultural and heritage center for the Agrawal community. Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885), a renowned Agrawal author and poet regarded as the father of Hindi literature and theatre , compiled the legend of Maharaja Agrasen in his 1871 essay Agarwalon ki Utpatti ("Origins of Agrawals and Agrahari"). Drawing from tradition and ancient texts, particularly Sri Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha ("The Story of
2120-570: The official website of Hisar , the excavations at Agroha belong to the period from the 3rd-4th century B.C. to the 13th-14th century A.D. A wall for defense, shrine cells and residential houses can be observed in the mound. Around seven thousand artefacts were recovered during the excavations. Silver and bronze coins belonging to different periods have been found at the site. The coins hoard includes four Indo-Greek coins, one punch-marked coin, and fifty-one coins of Agrodaka. They belong to Roman , Kushana , Yaudheya and Gupta Empire . Language used
2173-435: The princess of Panchala Kingdom who was prophesied to bring the end of the Kauravas. The Adi Parva narrates that after their flight from the palace, the five brothers lived in the forests for some time disguised as Brahmins. They heard from a group of travelling sages about a contest ( Svayamvara ) being held in the Kingdom of Panchala that offered Draupadi's hand in marriage to the winner. The Svayamvara turned out to rely on
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2226-512: The princess of Panchala , and founded the city of Indraprastha after the Kuru Kingdom was split to avoid succession disputes. After the split, the other part of the kingdom was ruled by their cousins, the Kauravas. However, the Pandavas lost their kingdom to Duryodhana (eldest and king of the Kauravas) when Yudhishtira gambled it away during a game of dice. The bet Yudhishtira agreed to was that
2279-455: The royal court, pulling her by her hair, insulting her dignity and asserting that she, like the Pandava brothers, was now their servant. This caused immense anguish to all the great warriors seated in the court, but each of them, namely, Bheeshma (grandsire of the clan), Dronacharya (teacher/ guru of Kauravas and Pandavas) and Kripacharya except Vidura remained silent. Duryodhana then ordered Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi before everyone, as
2332-399: The skills of archery , and Arjuna, who was a peerless archer, entered the competition and won. When the brothers took Draupadi to introduce her to their mother, they jokingly announced to Kunti that they had arrived with excellent alms. Kunti was busy with some work and replied without turning to look at Draupadi (who the alms referred to) ordering the brothers to share the alms equally amongst
2385-510: The structure, most notably the lacquer known as lac . This palace was known as Lakshagraha . Duryodhana then successfully lobbied Dhritarashtra to send Yudhishthira to represent the royal household in Varnavarta during the celebrations of Shiva Mahotsava. The plan was to set the palace on fire during the night while Yudhishthira would likely be asleep. Yudhishthira left for Varnavrata, accompanied by his four brothers and their mother Kunti. The plan
2438-463: The time had come for them to renounce the world, as the age of Kali Yuga had started. So the five Pandavas and Draupadi left to the path of liberation. For this purpose, they all climbed Mount Kailash , which leads to the Swarga Loka . On their way, all except Yudhisthira slipped and died one by one. Yudhisthira was accompanied by a dog who was none other than God Yama himself. The first to die
2491-459: The war. To this Arjuna immediately opted for Krishna for his help and thus Duryodhana was given Krishna's army. Duryodhana was very satisfied to have received a huge army. The war was intense and lasted 18 days, over the course of which both parties worked around, bent and even broke rules of warfare. In the end, all 100 Kaurava brothers and their entire army was slain, with only three surviving on their side. The Pandavas too lost several allies but
2544-483: Was Draupadi ; she was imperfect because she loved Arjuna more than her other husbands. Then it was Sahadeva , imperfect because he was overconfident about his knowledge in science. He was followed by Nakula , imperfect because he was over-enthusiastic about his good looks. Then fell Arjuna , imperfect because he was proud of his skills—he challenged Hanuman and Shiva . Next was Bheema , imperfect because he killed his enemies brutally—thus enjoyed their sufferings. Only
2597-577: Was all illusion created by Yama himself. It was a punishment to Yudhishtira to feel sad and soak tears on seeing his beloved ones being punished. It was because Drona felt sad on hearing fake news that his son was dead. Yudhishtira told the message incompletely due to which Drona felt sad and cried in grief. Because of this, Yudhishtira had to feel sad in a similar manner. Hence Yama created this illusion. In reality, Pandavas and Draupadi reached heaven just after their deaths. Yama explained everything and Yudhishtira reached heaven with his mortal body. Pandavas were
2650-413: Was blessed with a boon by the sage Durvasa , that she could have a son by any god whom she respects without having any marital affair. After Pandu learned of this, he asked her to perform Niyoga and bear him sons using the boon. The first three of the Pandavas were the sons of Kunti, while the younger two were born to Madri after Kunti shared her mantra with her at Pandu's request. The divine fathers of
2703-488: Was born on 15th September 3082 BC , or in 4250 BC on the first day of Ashvin Shukla Paksha , in the last stages of Dvapara Yuga , or the beginning of Kali Yuga . He was the eldest son of Sūryavaṃśi Maharaja Vallabhsen and Queen Bhagwati Devi of Pratapnagar (in present-day Rajasthan ) and the elder brother of Shursen. Maharaja Agrasen was a 34th-generation descendant of the lineage of Lord Rama's elder son, Kush . At
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#17330927233802756-409: Was discovered by their paternal uncle Vidura , who was very loyal to them and an extraordinarily wise man. In addition, Yudhishthira had been forewarned about this plot by a hermit who came to him and spoke of an imminent disaster. Vidura arranged for a tunnel to be secretly built for the Pandavas to safely escape the palace as it was set afire. The Pandavas had polyandrous marriage with Draupadi ,
2809-437: Was tempted to flee, he mastered himself and remained after hearing the voices of his beloved brothers and Draupadi calling out to him, asking him to stay with them in their misery. Yudhisthira decided to remain, ordering the divine charioteer to return. He preferred to live in hell with good people than in the heaven of his enemies. Eventually, this turned out to be another illusion to test him. Yama explained to Yudhishtira that it
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