Agrasenji Maharaj

1. Maharaj Agrasen is regarded as family God for all Agarwal community. He was born 5200 years ago around the time of Mahabharat. That was the last leg of Dwapar Yuga and beginning of Kaliyuga. He was the eldest son of Suryavamshi King Ballabh of Pratapnagar. Agrasena fathered 18 children, from whom the Agrawal gotras came into existence.

2. According to the Mahalakshmi Vrath, the age then was the last stages of Dwaapar Yug. The birth of Maharaj Agrasen took place about 5200 years ago according to the current calendar. Even when he was very young, Prince Agrasen was well known for his compassion. He never discriminated against anyone and the subjects were very pleased with him

3. The Agrawals are descendent of legendary king Agrasena of Agroha or Agreya, near Hisar in Haryana. King Agrasen who was elder bother of Shoorsen Vrishni and elder grand father of Balrama and Shrikrishna Vrishni of Mahabharata, descendant of King yayati of Khandavprastha. it was built after so many attacks faced from Jarasandh of Magadh in mahabharat period. Agrohawas called as Agreya in its original period. King agrasen made it capital of his state while his younger bother Shursen including Balram and Shri Krishan decided to stay at Dwarka due to fear from Jarasandh King of Magadh. Maharaja Agrasena was a Suryavanshi Kshatriya king, born during the last stages of Dwapar Yuga in the Mahabharat epic era, he was contemporaneous to Lord Krishna.

4. Agrasena attended the swayamvara of Madhavi, the daughter of the King Nagaraj King Kumud of Nagaloka kingdom). Princess chose Agrasen as her husband and garlanded him. He married Naagkanya Madhavi who was very beautiful. Indra, King of the Devas god of heaven and also the lord of storms and rainfall, had been smitten by the beauty of Princess Madhavi and had planned to marry her but she chose Agrasena as her husband. A furious Indra decided to take revenge by making sure that Pratapnagar did not receive any rain.

5. As a result, a famine struck Agrasen's kingdom, Emperor Agrasen then waged war against Indra, his army vanquished Indra's forces and put them to flight. Maharaja Agrasen and Indra fought for several years. Brahma Ji intervened and stopped the fight. However, Indra, Aryan became very jealous and angry at Agrasen for ruining his plans and Aryans under the command of Indra did everything to destroy the kingdoms of Agravansh. The enemity between Indra Devta and his disciple devtas never ended.

6. Agrasen became concerned with maintaining a long lasting peace to end the enmity. So he went to the city of Kashi and started penance to please Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared in before him, blessed him and advised him to propitiate Shri Mahalakshmi. Agrasena again started meditating on Mahalakshmi, who was pleased with Agrasen and she appeared to blessed him. Goddess Mahalaxmi blessed Agrasen and suggested that he take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of the prosperity of his people and give up his kshatriya tradition. She asked him to establish a new kingdom, and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity and wealth.

7. With the blessings of Shri Mahalaxmi, King Agrasen along with Queen Madhavi, toured all of India to select a place for a new kingdom. At one point during his travels, they found a few tiger cubs and wolfs cubs playing together. To King Agrasena 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. The place was named Agroha which became famous and prosperous in no time. Maharaja Agrasen went to deep jungle and worshiped Mahalaxmi. Mahalaxmi was very pleased with Maharaja Agrasen. She blessed Maharaja Agrasen that Agravanshi will always lead in the society and that his kingdom will never face any economic difficulties. Maharaja Agrsen returned back to Agroha and established and worshiped Mahalaxmi as the KULDEVI of Agroha.

8. Maharaja Agrasena was a peaceful king and did not like violence, once while performing a yagna, the Rajguru asked Maharaja Agrasena to sacrifice a goat in order for the ceremony to be successfully completed. Agrasena did not wish to kill the innocent animal and refused to the killing of the animal. The Rajguru advised that since he was a Kshatriya king, it was his duty to perform the ritual and if he does not wish to proceed, he should give up Kshatriya caste and take up Vaishya caste. According to another legend, the Hindu goddess Mahalakshmi urged Agrasena to give up the Kshatriya tradition, and take up the Vaishya tradition of business, for the sake of the prosperity of his people. She asked him to establish a new kingdom, and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity and wealth. Agrasena travelled all over India with his queen to select a place for a new kingdom, and finally established his kingdom at Agroha. He started the tradition of giving “EkRupiyaEkEent” to anyone coming to settle in his kingdom. This created equal opportunities for people with various economic background to start a new life.

9. Maharaja Agrasen conducted AshwamedhYagna. As part of this, he conducted 18 yagnas, one for each of his 18 sons. Agrasena divided his kingdom among his 18 children, resulting in eighteen Agrawal gotras. daughter of thus Agrawals are the progeny of Madhavi and that is why they worship Nagas (snakes) and consider them to be their maternal uncles.

10. In the later part of his life, King Agrasena approved the succession of his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took Vanaprastha ashram. 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 a rupee and a 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.

11. The kingdom of Agrasen flourished and extended from the Himalayas, Punjab, the valley of Yamuna, and the Mewar region. Agra continued to be a prominent place being the capital of the southern part of the kingdom. The other important regions were Gurgaon (ancient Gaudagrama), the goddess mother of this place is revered by Agrawals; Meerut, Rohtak, Hansi, Panipat, Karnal, and Kotkangra. The famous temple of Mahamaya, the Kuladevi of Agrawals is located at Kotknagra. Mandi, Vilaspur, Garhwal, Narnaul were all the parts of the kingdom.

12. Agroha was the capital of the kingdom. Agroha was a prosperous city and 100,000 traders lived in the city during its heydays. An insolvent community man as well as an immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each inhabitant of the city. Thus, he would have a 100,000 bricks to build a house for himself and Rs. 100,000 to start a business.

End Of Agroha

1. 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. A huge fire engulfed the city causing the citizens to flee and disperse into various areas of India. Today, these people are known as AGGARWALS. Gradually, the city of Agroha declined and was finally destroyed in a huge fire. The residents of Agroha i.e. the Agrawals moved out of Agroha and spread in other parts of India. Devtas under their Chieftain Indra played major role in destruction of Agroha kingdom.

2. They are one of the most respectable and enterprising of mercantile community. Two of Emperor Akbar’s famous ministers were Agrawals, viz, Todarmal, who introduced an assessment of land, and Madhushah, who introduced ‘Madhushahi’ pice.

3. Earlyhistory. The town of Agroha flourished through Maurya, Kushana, Yaudheya, and Tomara period. Agrawal merchant Nattal Sahu and the first Agrawal poet Vibudh Shridhar lived during the rule of Tomar Anangapal of Yoginipur.

4. Muslimperiod: Agroha survived when Hansi was conquered by Turks in the 10th century, but was overrun by Ghori. In 1354, Feroze Shah founded Hisar near Agroha, and Hisar became a main center of the Agrawals. A Bhattaraka institution based in Hisar had branches in Gwalior and Delhi. During the rule of the Sultans, some of the Agrawals were able to obtain permission to build temples etc. In early 15th century Agrawals flourished under the Tomars of Gwalior. Many of them became very wealthy and supported carving of idols, and composition of literature. During the Mughal rule, a few Agrawals were able to secure influential positions in the Mughal court. In 1712, Lala Ratan Chand, originator of Rajvanshi section, was executed because of his involvement in the power struggle.

5. British period : Late during the Mughal rule, and during the British East India Company administration, the Agrawals migration to Bihar and Calcutta began, who became the major component of the Marwaris.

6. During the British rule, Agrawals became involved in Swadeshi movements and established major houses like Dalmia-Jain, Bajaj, Singhania etc.

7. Bharatendu Harishchandra was responsible for establishing Hindi as India's national language, and wrote the first history of the Aggarwal community.

8. Gotras :
   The names associated with these original Clans/Gotras (and variations thereof) are the surnames of the Agarwal community today. There are about 18 Gotras which are also called as 18 sons of Maharaja Agrasen. These Gotras are as under :-
    

1. Garg

2. Goyal

3. Goyan

4. Bansal

5. Kansal

6. Singhal

7. Mangal

8. Jindal

9. Tingal

10. Eairan

11. Dhaaran

12. Madhukul

13. Bindal

14. Mittal

15. Tayal

16. Bhandal

17. Naagal

18. Kuchsal

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