HISTORY & PROFESSION OF THE AGRAWAL COMMUNITY
In those ancient times, Agrayan was one of the numerous states or janapadas. The Mahabharata and the Buddhist and the Jain literature are the chief sources of information about them. The state comprised Fatehpur, Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Nawalgarh, portions of Rajasthan in the west, Mahendranagar and the Hissar districts of Haryana in the south, some areas of Punjab in the north and the territory as far as Agra in the east. Agroha, which is now in ruins and forms part of the Hissar district of Haryana, was its capital.
Maharaja Agrasen is said to have lived up to the age of 193 and ruled for more than a hundred years. He reigned supreme and compassionate till he left his kingdom to attain moksha. In the latter part of his life he nominated his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took up the Vanaprasth Ashram.
The Agroha republic was renowned for its bravery and prosperity. However over the time it could not stand the foreign invasions of Huns, Greeks and Yavanas, who invaded the north India disintegrating various kingdoms in Punjab. The neighboring kings were envious of Agroha because of its prosperity, thus they frequently attacked it. Because of these aggressions, Agroha faced numerous plights. In due course, the strength of Agroha was sapped. Agroha was devastated during Shahabuddin Ghori’s invasion in 1194. A huge fire engulfed the city causing the citizens to flee. The disintegrated Agroha led to the migration of the residents of Agroha to other parts of the country viz Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Malwa, however they derived a common name Aggarwals i.e. AGROHA-WALE.
The surname Agrawal was derived by taking 'Agra' from Agrasena and 'wal' ('wal' originally being 'bal' was taken from the word Baalak meaning child). The word Agrawal effectively means ‘Son of Agrasena’. Many Agrawals have adopted their Gotra name as their surname. However ‘Agarwal’ and ‘Gupta’ are more common surnames adopted by several Agarwal families. As per Maharaja Agrasen's guidance, the Aggarwals are in the forefront of social service.
The Agrawals, who belong to the large Vaishya community, are found in almost every part of the country. They are also known as “Banias” because of their occupation. The term “Vaishya” is very comprehensive and covers several business communities such as Agrawal, Maheshwari, Khandelwal, Oswal, Jaiswal, Poswal, Dasse and Mahajan. Of these, the Agrawal is by far the largest community.
By and large, being businessmen and traders, the Agrawals enjoy a fair share of representation in several other professions as well. If the community has produced numerous renowned businessmen and industrialists like the Dalmias, Modis, Singhanias, Mittals and Bajajs, it has also produced a number of distinguished jurists, educationists, scientists, engineers, politicians, doctors, philosophers, poets and scholars.