History of Agarwal - The Great Baniya

Maharaja Agrasena (also Agrasen) (अग्रसेन) was a legendary Indian king of Agroha, a city of traders, from whom the Agrawal and Agrahari clans trace 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 slaughter animals in yajnas.

Early Life

Various legends about Agroha and Agrasena are found among the Agrawals. Noted Hindi author Bharatendu Harishchandra (himself an Agrawal) 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 (Janam Bhoomi)

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 M & 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 (29.20 N 75.38 E) (Hindi: अग्रोहा) is an ancient town in Haryana, believed to be the birthplace of the Agrawal and Agrahari communities. Ancient structures, pot-shards, coins and seals have been found in archaeological excavations. Agroha was the capital of legendary Emperor Agrasen.

It is close to Hisar and Hansi on NH 10. During the last 20 years Agroha Vikas Trust has done a lot of development of this Holy town. Now a very fine facility with modern lodging and boarding is available.

A number of temples have been constructed in the Complex. A Medical and Engineering college is also present at Agroha.

Agrawal gotras

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[6]. Another version suggests that Agrasena proceeded to conduct 18 mahayajnas ("Great yajnas"). During one such yajna, 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 yajna, announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in name of yajnas. Thus, the eighteenth yajna wasn't completed and Agrasena had performed seventeen and a half yajnas. 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.

Agrawal Society in modern India

The Agarwals population was 2,718,390, according to the 1911 census of India. In 1936, Chowdhary Chhotu Ram, a minister in the Punjab Government made a law which cancelled all the debts of the villagers. Many Agrawal traders were ruined and migrated to Delhi in search of a living. They settled in colonies like Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar and Model Basti. Their trade took place around the walled city areas of Chandni Chowk, Khari Baoli, Dariba Kalan, Nai Sarak, Naya Bazaar, Sadar Bazaar and Chowri Bazaar.

During modern times, many Agrawals were involved in the Indian Independence struggle like Lala Lajpat Rai. They also established major business houses like Dalmia - Sahu Jain, Birla, Poddar, Bajaj, Singhania, Goenkas of RPG Group, Lala Shri Ram of Delhi Cloth Mills etc. Bharatendu Harishchandra, a major literary figure, was also an Agrawal. The father of modern Lahore, Sir Ganga Ram was also an Agrawal.

Many of India's current notable businesspeople belong to the Agrawal community. These include Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal steel, Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee TV, Sunil Mittal of Bharti Telecom, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, Naveen Jindal of Jindal Group, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources and Indu Jain of The Times Group.