East Singhbhum district पूर्वी सिंहभूम जिला
Location of East Singhbhum district in Jharkhand
State	Jharkhand, India
Administrative division	Kolhan division
Headquarters	Jamshedpur
Area	3,533 km2 (1,364 sq mi)
Population	1,978,671 (2001)
Population density	560 /km2 (1,500 /sq mi)
Literacy	69.42 %
Sex ratio	931
Lok Sabha constituencies	Jamshedpur
Assembly seats	6
Official website

East Singhbhum (Hindi: पूर्वी सिंहभूम) is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. It was created on 16 January 1990. The literal meaning of Singhbhum is land of lions. More than 50% of the district is covered by dense forests and mountains, where wild animals once roamed freely. The district is currently a part of the Red Corridor.^[1]

Geography[link]

The district is bounded on the east by Midnapore district, on the north by Purulia district, both of West Bengal, on the west by West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand state, and on the south by Mayurbhanj district of Orissa.

Economy[link]

East Singhbhum district has a leading position in respect of mining and other industrial activities in Jharkhand state. Jamshedpur, a leading industrial city of India, is the district headquarters.

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named East Singhbhum one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).^[2] It is one of the 21 districts in Jharkhand currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).^[2]

Divisions[link]

The district comprises two sub-divisions: Dhalbhum and Ghatshila. Dhalbhum sub-division is divided into 4 blocks: Golmuri cum Jugsalai, Potka, Patamda and Dhalbhumgarh. Ghatshila sub-division is divided into 5 blocks: Ghatshila, Musabani, Dumaria, Baharagora and Chakulia.

There are six Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Baharagora, Ghatsila, Potka, Jugsalai, Jamshedpur East and Jamshedpur West. All of these are part of Jamshedpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Culture[link]

Along with Hindi, Bengali and Oriya are the major languages spoken here. Sourav Roy,^[3] a popular Hindi poet belongs to this place. The most prominent festivals of the place are Durga Puja, Basant Panchami, Makar Sankranti and Diwali.

One tourist attraction is Chitreshwar temple situated in Chitreshwar village in Baharagora Block 12 km from Baharagora. The temple is said to be one of the largest natural Shiva linga. Lots of devotees of Shiva come daily. Chitreshwar temple is believed to be have the largest Shiva linga after ligaraja shiva linga in Bhubneshwar. It has another temple called Bhuteshwar which is in Baharagora Block.

Demographics[link]

According to the 2011 census East Singhbhum district has a population of 2,291,032,^[4] roughly equal to the nation of Latvia^[5] or the US state of New Mexico.^[6] This gives it a ranking of 199th in India (out of a total of 640).^[4] The district has a population density of 648 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,680 /sq mi) .^[4] Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 15.53 %.^[4] Purbi Singhbhum has a sex ratio of 949 females for every 1000 males,^[4] and a literacy rate of 76.13 %.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• East Singhbhum district administration website

	Seraikela Kharsawan district		Purulia district, West Bengal
			West Midnapore district, West Bengal
		East Singhbhum district    East
		Mayurbhanj district, Orissa

Singhbhum was sometime a large district in the present-day Indian state of Bihar. Chaibasa was the district headquarters of the erstwhile Singhbhum district. Earlier this area was a part of Orissa's Gajapati Empire. In the 19th Century this area became a part of the Chota Nagpur Division of Bengal Presidency in British India.

That district has in recent decades been divided into three smaller districts, being East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Saraikela Kharsawan. All the three are currently part of Jharkhand state of India. The major Indian languages spoken in this region are Oriya, Bengali, Kurmali, Hindi and other tribal languages.

The name[link]

The literal meaning of Singhbhum or Singhbhumi is Land of lions: Singh in Oriya means lion and Bhum or Bhumi indicates land. This appears to be apt as more than 50% area of the district is covered by dense forests and mountains, where wild animals once roamed freely. However, the lion is not found in these forests any more.

Singhbhum is known for its iron ore deposits and it provides for the iron ore requirements of the IISCO steel plants located at Hirapur, Kulti and Burnpur.

This article related to a location in Jharkhand is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Coordinates: 22°30′N 85°30′E / 22.5°N 85.5°E / 22.5; 85.5

Maharaja Agrasena was a legendary Indian king of Agroha in India, a city of traders, from whom the Agrawal community claims descent.^[1] 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.

Legends & Beliefs[link]

Agrasen ki Baoli in Delhi. It is believed that it was originally built by the king Agrasen^[2] during the Mahabharat epic era^[3][4][5] and rebuilt in the 14th century by the Agrawal community, who traces its origin to King Agrasen.

Agrasen was a vysya king of the Solar Dynasty who adopted Vanika dharma for the benefit of his people.^[6][7] Literally, Agrawal means the "children of Agrasena" or the "people of Agroha", a city in ancient Kuru Panchala, near Hisar in Haryana region said to be founded by Agrasena.^[8] Noted Hindi author Bharatendu Harishchandra (himself an Agrawal)^[9] wrote Agarwalon ki Utpatti (The origin of Agrawals) in 1871,^[10] based on an account in the Mahalaksmi Vrat Katha manuscript.^[11] 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.^[12] A similar account is given in 1885 Bombay Presidency Gazetteer, Rishi Agrasena married 17 naga-kanyas.^[13]

Another belief^{[citation needed]} states King Agrasen to be the elder bother of Shoorsen Vrishni and elder grand father of Balarama and Krishna Vrishni of Mahabharata, descendant of King Yayati of Khandavprastha. It was built after several attacks faced from Jarasandh of Magadh in Mahabharata period. Agrohawas called as Agreya in its original period. King Agrasen made it capital of his state, a city in ancient Kuru Panchala, while his younger bother Shoorsen including Balarama and Shri Krishna decided to stay at Dwaraka.

Penance[link]

Later, Agraseana 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

Agroha[link]

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.

Agrawal gotras[link]

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.^[14]

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: Airan, Bansal, Bindal, Bhandal, Dharan, Garg, Goyal, Goyan (considered as half gotra), Jindal, Kansal, Kuchhal, Madhukul, Mangal, Mittal, Nangal, Singhal, Tayal, Tingle.

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.

References[link]

1. ^ "http://www.agrawal-samaj.com/index1.html". http://www.agrawal-samaj.com/index1.html. 
2. ^ Mittal, J.P. (2006), History of Ancient India (4250 BC to 637 AD) page 675, ISBN 978-81-269-0616-1 (This author considers King Agrasen an actual historical figure)
3. ^ http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=14371
4. ^ http://www.aujourdhuilinde.com/actualites-inde-agrasen-ki-baoli-un-oasis-au-coeur-de-la-capitale-511.asp
5. ^ http://www.tripsguru.com/Monuments/Delhi%20Monuments.html/
6. ^ ^{a b} Singh, Kumar Suresh; B. V. Bhanu (2004). People of India. Popular Prakashan (Mumbai), Anthropological Survey of India (Kolkata). p. 46. ISBN 81-7991-100-4. OCLC 58037479. http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8179911004&id=DEAlCTxJowUC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&ots=Bvlxact-nQ&dq=agarwal+agroha&sig=3JVJpW3XF2UJXStGcgV-tWgHKlE. Retrieved 2007-04-19. 
7. ^ History of Ancient India - By J.P. Mittal
8. ^ Speeches and Writings - Har Bilas Sarda
9. ^ "Bhartendu Harish Chandra (1850-1885)". http://rrtd.nic.in/bhartenduharishchandra.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-19. 
10. ^ Bharatendu Harishchandra, Agrawalon ki Utpatti, 1871, reprinted in Hemant Sarma, Bharatendu Samgrah, Varanasi, Hindi Pracharak Samsthan, 1989.
11. ^ The text from the manuscript is given in Satyaketu Vidyalankar, Agrwal Jati Ka Prachin Itihas, Masuri, Shri Sarasvati Sada, 1976
12. ^ Kavivar Bulakhichand, Kasturchand Kasliwal, Jaipur, 1983
13. ^ Bombay Presidency Gazetteer, 1885, page 262-263
14. ^ "Agrawals". Shri Agrawal Samaj. Archived from the original on 23 April 2007. http://agrawal.aryashaadi.com/. Retrieved 2007-04-19. 

External links[link]

• Maharaja Agrasen at agrasen.com
• Introduction at agroha.com
• Detailed information at maharajaagrasen.com
• About Maharaja Agrasen, Agroha, Agroha Dham, Aggarwal Gotra at vaishsamaj.com