Agrasen
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Agrasen (Maharaja Agrasen, Emperor Agrasen, Devanagari: महाराजा अग्रसेन) was the ancient Indian king of Agroha, a city of traders, from whom the Agrawal clan traces its origin. He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in North India, and is known for his compassion in refusing to slaugher animals in yajnas. The story of Agrasen is described in the Mahalakshmi Vrat Katha.
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[edit] Early life
Agrasen was born in the last stages of the Dwapar Yuga. He was the eldest son of King Ballabh of Pratapnagar, belonging to the Suryavansha, the lineage of the sun. He attended the swayamvara of Princess Madhavi, daughter of King Nagaraj. Princess Madhavi chose Agrasen as her husband over several princes from all over India, including Indra. Indra had been smitten by the beauty of Madhavi, and therefore became jealous of Agrasen. Being the god of rain, he stopped rainfall over Pratapnagar. A terrible famine struck Pratapnagar. King Agrasen declared war over Indra and defeated his army. Sage Narada then mediated peace between them.
[edit] Penance
Agrasen performed a severe tapasya (penance) to propitiate Lord Shiva in the city of Kashi. Shiva was pleased, but advised him to meditate on Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Agrasen continued his penance, and the goddess finally appeared before him, blessed him and his descendants and advised him to take the vaisya tradition. Thus Agrasen gave up his kshatriya tradition and became a trader.
[edit] Agroha
King Agrasen then set out to travel all over India to look for a suitable site to establish his new kingdom. At one place, he found a few tiger cubs and wolf cubs playing together. This indicated to Agrasen and Madhavi that this was a veerbhoomi or the land of the braves. They decided to establish their capital city at that place. Thus Agroha came into being, about 51 years before the Mahabharata war, near present day Hisar in Haryana. Under the leadership of Agrasen, Agroha became very prosperous. Legend has it that a hundred thousand traders lived in the city at its heyday. An immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each of the inhabitants 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. This is the uniqe example of socialism.
[edit] Ahimsa
King Agrasen performed a lot of yajnas for the prosperity of his kingdom. During one of these yajnas, he observed how a horse was shying away from the sacrificial altar. He was filled with compassion for that animal and ordered an end to animal sacrifices in his kingdom from that day. He proceded to conduct eighteen mahayajnas (grand sacrifices), and divided his kingdom among his eighteen children. From these eighteen children started the eighteen gotras of the Agrawals. After the declining city of Agroha was destroyed by fire, the Agrawals scattered all over India and continued the trader tradition.
[edit] References
- Do the Asian B-families need a strategic potion? in General Management Review
- Maharaja Agrasen at agrasen.com
- Introduction at agroha.com
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