HISTORY & PRINCIPLES OF MAHARAJA AGRASEN
Maharaja Agrasen was born as the eldest son to the Suryavanshi King Ballabh of Pratapnagar, about 5185 years ago, during the Dwapar Yug. Maharaja Agrasen was a Kshatriya and a Suryavanshi (lineage from the Sun, King Yayati of Khandav prastha) and was the elder brother of Shursen Vrishni and elder grandfather of Shri Balrama and Shri Krishna Vrishni born during the last stages of the Dwapar Yuga.
The young prince Agrasen was an icon of non-violence, messenger of peace and well known for his compassion. He never discriminated against anyone and his subjects were happy and contented.
Hindu mythology says that the King of the Devas, Indra wanted to marry Queen Madhavi, the wife of Agrasen and waged a long war. Eventually Narada negotiated peace between them. Agrasen was moved by the suffering of his subjects during the war.
Maharaja Agrasen started a severe penance to propitiate Lord Shiva, in the city of Kashi. Pleased with the penance of Maharaja Agrasen, Lord Shiva appeared and advised him to propitiate Maa Mahalaxmi. Maharaja Agrasen again started meditating for the blessings of Maa Mahalaxmi, who appeared before him.Goddess Mahalakshmi then blessed Maharaja Agrasen and suggested that he give up his Kshatriya tradition and take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of prosperity of his people. She then asked him to found a new kingdom and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity. So he gave up his Kshatriya tradition.
With the blessings of Maa Mahalaxmi, Maharaja Agrasen started out with the Queen to travel all over India and select a place for a new kingdom. During his travels, at one place he found a few tiger cubs and wolf cubs playing together. To Maharaja Agrasen and Queen Madhavi, this was an auspicious indication that the area was Veerabhoomi (land of the brave) and they decided to found their new kingdom at that location and named it as AGROHA or Agreya near Hissar. Agroha was called as Agreya in its original period. King Agrasen made it the capital of his state, a city in ancient Kuru Panchala. Agroha became prosperous as agriculture and trade flourished.
Due to continuous attacks made by Jarasandh, Great King of Magadh, who was father in law of Kansa, the famous King of Mathura, against Shri Balram, Shri Krishna and their relatives. At the time Maharaja Agrasen established and ruled Agreya, Maharaja Shursen and Shri Krishna and Shri Balram migrated to Dwarka in Gujarat.
Archaeological evidences tell us that Agroha town was established earlier than 3rd century BC. Kushan and Yaudheya coins, bricks with designs of human heads with typical hair styles, terracotta seals and sculptures are among the finds discovered. Ancient structures, pot-shards, coins and seals have been found in archaeological excavations.
PRINCIPLES OF MAHARAJA AGRASEN:
Simple and practical principles were laid down for the equality, love & affection among people of the domain. He was the first ruler who established socialism in his regime.
According to legend, Agroha was a prosperous city and a hundred thousand traders lived in the city during its heyday. An insolvent community man as well as an immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given “One Rupee & One Brick” by each inhabitant of the city. Thus, he would have a hundred thousand bricks to build a house for himself, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a new business. Therefore, no one was unemployed in his regime and everyone was having their own homes. There could be no other better practical principle of socialism of humanity than this. These principles became practical in his kingdom, as give and take was the formula in the life of every ordinary resident. Neither the receiver felt shamed nor the donator felt proud.
Feelings of social welfare and brotherhood were the fundamentals of the principle. There was no place for corruption or selfishness in the kingdom. The development of the kingdom and life of people were completely based on agriculture, trade & dairy.
His belief in non-violence did not mean non-resistance to oppression, rather he promoted self defense. According to him, self protection and national defense were not the task of only kshatriyas - the warrior caste, rather it was the duty of each citizen to protect and safeguard their motherland.
Maharaja Agrasen established Agroha as a republican state. Maharaja Agrasen proceeded to conduct 18 Maha Yagnas. He divided his kingdom among his 18 children in 18 state units and established the 18 Gotras after the Guru's of each of his children. These same 18 Gotras are like the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad-Gita; although they differ, they are still related to each other to form the whole.
During the course of the 18th Yagna, he adopted the ideal of non-violence wherein he realised the futility of animal sacrifices. The Yagna was being performed for the establishment of the 18th Gotra. He proclaimed "Instead of targeting a crane with an arrow, I wish to see it flying; Instead of eating away a nightingale, I wish to hear it singing". And with this proclamation he banned all animal sacrifices. Thus, the eighteenth yajna was never completed and Maharaja Agrasena had only completed only seventeen and a half yagnas. According the sage Garga blessed him with seventeen and a half gotras.
Accordingly Agroha was broken up in 18 state units as per the Gotra. All the residents of that particular state unit became identified by that Gotra. It was maintained by Maharaja Agrasen that a nuptial alliance could not take place in the same Gotra and restricted people of the same Gotra from inter-marrying, a custom which prevails even today. This rule enunciated by Maharaja Agrasen promoted harmony and brotherhood among all the 18 Gotra represented by state units. This facilitated promotion of unity and nationalism among the state units.
As the years rolled by, the subjects, known as Aggarwals, of the Kingdom dispersed into various areas far and wide, carrying their identity of their Gotra with them and spread out all over Bharat. Today, these people are known as Aggarwals, Guptas or Banias. Banias are mostly Vaishnavite Hindus. The majority are devout Sanatan Dharmis, but some are also members the Arya Samaj, Dev Samaj, Radhaswami, Namdhari and Nirankari sects of Sikhism.
The 18 Gotras instituted by Maharaja Agrasen were as follows:
Aren |
Bansal |
Bhandal |
Bindal |
Dharan |
Garg |
Goel |
Goen |
Jindal |
Kansal |
Kuchhal |
Mangal |
Mittal |
Mridkul |
Nagal |
Singhal |
Tayal |
Tingal |
The residents of these 18 states were known as Yodhya and Agraya. Some of the writings on the coins that have been excavated from the site of ancient Agroha read as 'Yodhyanam Bahu Dhanya Kanam','Yodhya Ganasya Jaya', 'Yodhyanam Jaimantra Shalinam'.