Maharaja Aggarsain Sewa Sangh (Regd.) | About Maharaja Aggarsain Ji

About Maharaja Aggarsain Ji

Maharaja Aggarsain was a legendary Indian king (Maharaja) of Agroha, a city of traders. The Aggrawal and Rajvanshi communities claim descendents from him. He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in North India named Agroha, and is known for his compassion in refusing to slaughter animals in yajnas.

EARLY LIFE

Various legends about Agroha and Agrasena are found among the Agrawals. Noted Hindi author Bharatendu Harishchandra wrote Agarwalon ki Utpatti (The origin of Agrawals) in 1871, based on an account in the Mahalaksmi Vrat Katha manuscript. According to this account, 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. He was the eldest son of the King Ballabh of Pratapnagar. Agrasena fathered 18 children, from whom the Agrawal gotras came into being.

Agrasena attended the swayamvara of Madhavi, the daughter of the King Nagaraj. However, Indra, the God of Heaven and also the Lord of storms and rainfall, wanted to marry Madhavi, but she chose Agrasena as her husband. A furious Indra decided to take revenge by making sure that Pratapnagar did not receive any rain. As a result, a famine struck Agrasen's kingdom, who then decided to wage a war against Indra. Sage Narada was approached by Indra, who mediated peace between Agrasena and Indra. According to Vachanakosha of Bulakhichand (1680 AD), Agar Rishi married a naga-kanya and had 18 children. A similar account is given in 1885 Bombay Presidency Gazetteer, Rishi Agrasena married 17 naga-kanyas.

PENANCE

Later, Agrasena started a severe tapasya (penance) to propitiate Lord Shiva in the city of Kashi. Shiva was pleased with the penance and advised him to propitiate Goddess Mahalakshmi. Agrasena again started meditating on Mahalakshmi, who appeared before him and blessed him. She urged Agrasena (who was a Kshatriya) to 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.

AGROHA

AGARWAL GOTRA's

Agrasena divided his kingdom among his 18 children, resulting in eighteen Agrawal gotras. Often, the number of gotras is stated to be seventeen. Some sources attributed the half gotra to the illegitimate offspring. Another version suggests that Agrasena proceeded to conduct 18 mahayagnas ("Great yagnas"). During one such yagna, Agrasena noticed that a horse that had been brought to be sacrificed was trying hard to get away from the sacrificial altar. Seeing this Maharaj Agrasena was filled with compassion for the animal. The idea of ahimsa (non-violence) grabbed his mind. Therefore, he put a brake to his eighteenth yagna, announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in name of yagnas. Thus, the eighteenth yagna wasn't completed and Agrasena had performed seventeen and a half yagnas. The gods appeared before him and blessed him with seventeen and a half gotras.

In the later part of his life, Agrasena nominated his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took up the Vanaprastha ashram. According to the 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. 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.

It is believed that King Agrasen married Madhavi, daughter of King Kumud of Nagaloka (Snake Kingdom). Thus Agrawals are the progeny of Madhavi and that is why they worship Nagas (snakes) and consider them to be their maternal uncles. Following are the seventeen and a half gotras of Agrawals: Garga, Goila, Gavala, Batsila, Kasila, Simghala, Mamgala, Kuchhala, Tingala, Airana, Tairana, Thingala, Tittala, Mittala, Tundala, Tayala, Gobhila and Goina (considered as half gotra).

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. Agroha was the capital of the kingdom.

Agrawals are basically a commercial community or Vaishyas. They are one of the most respectable and enterprising of mercantile tribes. Two of Emperor Akbar's famous ministers are said to have been Agrawals, viz, Todarmal, who introduced an assessment of land, and Madhushah, who introduced 'Madhushahi' pice.

Gotra

No.	GOTRA	LORD OF GOTRA	SAGE	VED & BRANCH
1	Garg	Pushpadev	Garg	Madhuri(Yaj.)
2	Goyal	Gendumal	Gobhil	Madhuri(Yaj.)
3	Goyan	Godhar	Gautam	Madhuri(Yaj.)
4	Bansal	Virbhan	Vatsa	Kauttham(Sam)
5	Kansal	Manipal	Kaushik	Madhuri(Yaj.)
6	Singhal	Sindhupati	Shandilya	Kauttham(Sam)
7	Mangal	Amritsen	Mandavya	Sakalya(Yaj)
8	Jindal	Jaitrasangh	Jaimini	Madhuri(Yaj.)
9	Tingal	Tambolkarna	Tandya	Madhuri(Yaj.)
10	Aeron	Indramal	Aaurva	Madhuri(Yaj.)
11	Dharan	Dhavandev	Ghaumya	Madhuri(Yaj.)
12	Madhukul	Madhavsen	Mudgal	Sakalya(Yaj)
13	Bindal	Vrinddev	Vashista	Madhuri(Yaj.)
14	Mittal	Mantrapati	Maitreya	Madhuri(Yaj.)
15	Tayal	Tarachand	Taitireya	Aausthambh(Kri)
16	Bhandal	Vasudev	Bhardwaj	Madhuri(Yaj.)
17	Kuchchal	Karanchand	Kashyap	Kauttham(Sam)
18	Nangal	Narsev	Nagendra	Kauttham(Sam)

Agroha Dham

Agrasena then traveled all over India with his queen to select a place for a new kingdom. At one point during his travels, he 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. Agroha is situated near present day Hisar in Haryana. Presently Agroha is developing as agrawal's holy station, Big Temple of Agrasen Maharaj & Vaishnav Devi.

Under the leadership of Agrasena, 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 a unique example of socialism. AGROHA is located some 20km North-West of the Hissar city in Haryana. This is some 190 km from Delhi (India), when approached via Rohtak-Hissar.

This was some 5000 years back the prosperous and illustrious kingdom of Maharaja Agrasen. The remains of ancient AGROHA city are some 1-1.5 km away from the present AGROHA village. The excavation of the ancient AGROHA city started in the year 1888-89, under C.T.Rogers. It was at that time that people came to know about this great kingdom.

The redevelopment process at Agroha after the excavation was slow. Sh. Bholaram Dalmia of Bhiwani Distt. and Sh. Sanwalram built a Gau Shala in 1914 at Agroha. Then in 1939 Sh. Ramji Das Bojoria from Calcutta had Shiv Mandir and a rest house built. All these activities were more at individualistic level.

It was only in 1976 that a need for a concerted group effort was felt at the convention of All India Aggarwal Representatives. This realisation led to the establishment of AGROHA VIKAS TRUST in 1976, under Sh.Shri Krishna Modi and Sh Rameshwar Das Gupta.Their efforts were supplemented by Late Master Laxmi Narain Gupta who donated 27 acres of land to Agroha Vikas Trust.The development work at Agroha was carried on under the able supervision of Late Sh Tilak Raj Aggarwal.

Since then all the development process at AGROHA is planned and implemented by AGROHA VIKAS TRUST.The developments at Agoha received a major boost from 1985 when Sh. Subhash Goel joined in as the President of Agroha Vikas Trust. He replanned Agroha Dham with special emphasis on the Temple Complex and the Shakti Sarovar. Functionally Agroha Dham has been planned to represent the historical tenets of India- As a centre of learning, philosphy and spirituality, Vridh Ashram (Old Age Home), Health Centre, Research Centre.

The total area under the trust for the development of Agroha Dham is 27 acres. The developments have taken place in the form of a Temple complex dedicated to goddess Mahalaxmi and Saraswati , this also hosts the memorial temple of Maharaj Agrasen. The beauty of the place is exemplified by the Shakti Sarovar and well maintained lawns.

Opposite the Trust compound is the Agrasen Medical College and Research Centre.The medical college is one of the most prestigious education centre for medical studies.It is gearing up to become one of the biggest medical research centre under the supervision of Sh. O. P. Jindal. Less than a Kilometre away from the trust compound is the ancient Temple of Sheela Mata which has become a major tourist attraction.

Some more developments are under way at Agroha viz: Maharaj Agrasen Agroha House Building Coop Society, Hissa: which is spread over an area of 25 acres covering 300 plots .Besides this there is a Grain Market under development. This is a controlled area to be developed in a planned manner.