Maharaj Agrasen was born as the eldest son to the Suryavanshi King Ballabh of Pratapnagar, about 5185 years ago, during the Dwapar Yug. Since he married a Nagavanshi Princess, Agarwals worship Nagaraj and revere snakes. Agrasen started a severe penance to propitiate Lord Shiva, in the city of Kashi.Pleased with the penance of Agrasen, Lord Shiva appeared and advised him
to propitiate Shri Mahalakshmi. Maharaj Agrasen again started meditating on Shri Mahalakshmi, who appeared before him. Goddess Mahalakshmi then blessed Agrasen and suggested that he take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of prosperity of his people. She then asked him to found a new kingdom and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity. So he gave up his Kshatriya tradition. With the blessings of Sri Mahalakhmi, King Agrasen started out with the Queen to travel all over India and select a place for a new kingdom. During his travels, at one place he found a few tiger cubs and wolf cubs playing togethar. To King Agrasen 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 named Agroha. Agroha became prosperous as agriculture and trade flourished. Maharaj Agrasen was moved to see a horse trying to run away from the sacrificial altar during one of his yagnas. He proclaimed that there shall be no violence against animals and banned killing of animals in his kingdom. He then divided his kingdom among his 18 children and established the 18 gotras named after the Gurus of each of his children. He reigned supreme and compassionate till he attained moksha. As the years rolled by, the subjects, known as Aggarwals, of the Kingdom dispersed into various areas far and wide. Agroha / Agra Republic was established around 51 years before the war of Mahabarat.According to writers of "Bhavishya Puran; Ke Agravansh" "Vanishanukirtnam" and "Uru Charitam" Maharaja Agrasen ruled some 5000 years back over Agroha around the time of Mahabharat. This belief is testified by the mention of the republican state of Agrayan in a couplet shloka of the great epic Mahabharata.
