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.[citation needed]
The Agrawals, 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.[1] In fact, the term Agrawal means "descendants of Agrasen" or "people of Agroha".
Postage stamp issued by the Maldives in 2016 on Maharaja Agrasen's birth anniversary.[2]
The occasion of his birth anniversary called Agrasen Jayanti is celebrated in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh where it is recognized as a public or a gazetted holiday.[3][4][5][6] The Government of India in 1976 commemorated the 5100th birth anniversary of Maharaja Agrasen by issuing a postage stamp depicting him, [7][8] 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.[2] The eastern wing of the modern day Agroha Dhamtemple is dedicated to Maharaja Agrasen, serving as a significant cultural and heritage center for the Agrawal community.[9]
Agrasen ki Baoli in Delhi. The current structure was built in the 14th century by the Agrawal community, which traces its origin to King Agrasen.[10] It is believed that the original structure was built by the king Agrasen[11] during the Mahabharat epic era.
Bharatendu Harishchandra (1850-1885), a renowned Agrawal author and poet, compiled the legend of Maharaja Agrasen in his 1871 essay Agarwalon ki Utpatti ("Origins of Agrawals and Agrahari"). Bhartendu is not clear about his sources, stating that he compiled the legend from "tradition" and "ancient writings", naming one of these texts as Sri Mahalakshmi Vrat Ki Katha ("The Story of the Fast for Goddess Mahalakshmi"). He claimed to have found this text in a "later" part of the Bhavishya Purana, which exists in several recensions. However, subsequent researchers were unsuccessful in tracing this text in any published version of the "Bhavishya Purana.[12] 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 the Agrawal caste"). He states that he had found this copy in the personal library of Bharatendu Harishchandra; academic Lawrence Babb notes that this copy does not contain any clue about its origin.[12]
According to Bharatendu Harishchandra's account, Maharaja Agrasen was born on 15th September 3082 BC, or in 4250 BC on the first day of AshvinShukla 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.[13] Maharaja Agrasen was a 34th-generation descendant of the lineage of Lord Rama's elder son, Kush. At 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.
Marriage to Madhavi
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 a drought in Pratapnagar. The famine in Agrasen's kingdom forced him to go to war against Indra, but sage Narada brokered peace.[13]
Agrasen's Austerities
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 a boon: “Establish a new kingdom and, while following the principles of Kshatriyadharma, 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.[15]
Per Bharatendu Harishchandra, the Agarwals are organized into seventeen and a half gotras (exogamous clans), which came into being from seventeen and 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.[16]
Historically, due to regional differences there has been no single unanimous list of these seventeen and a half gotras. In 1983, The Akhil Bhartiya Aggarwal Sammelan, a major organization of Agrawals (also Baranwals), ratified a list of Agarwal gotras.[17] To avoid classification of any particular gotra as "half", the Sammelan provides a list of following 18 gotras:[18]
Garg
Goyal
Kucchal (Agrahari)
Kansal
Bindal
Dharan
Singhal
Jindal
Mittal
Tingal
Tayal
Bansal
Bhandal
Nangal
Mangal
Airan
Madhukul
Goyan
The list does not include several existing clans such as Kotrivala, Pasari, Mudgal, Tibreval, and Singhla.[19]
^Mittal, J.P. (2006), History of Ancient India (4250 BC to 637 AD) page 675, ISBN978-81-269-0616-1 (This author considers King Agrasen an actual historical figure)
^Babb 2004, p. 193:"...a few ostensible clan names appeared (Koṭrīvālā, Pasārī , Mudgal, Ṭibṛevāl, Singhlā) that do not appear on the official list of 18."
