Hastinapura: A throne that led to the war of Kurukshetra

Muskaan Gupta

Hastinapura: A throne that led to the war of Kurukshetra

Located on the banks of the holy river Ganga, a city in the district of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh has been popular widely across the subcontinent for its central role in Vyas’ Mahabharata. Acting as the center stage where the main drama of the great epic marked with betrayal, love, truth, lies, egotism, devotion, and salvation and intertwined with divinity, evolved and manifested, the city of Hastinapur is one among the many cities of the country rich with tales from ancient mythologies.

(Yudhisthira arrives in Hastinapur at the end of the Kurukshetra War; Source-Wikipedia)

The seat of the infamous Dyut Sabha where Yagyaseni was molested. Hastinapur, the city which witnessed the historic bitter rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas and a place where the great line of the Kurus rose to glory before falling to shame and near extinction. It is the epicenter of the great epic of 'Mahabharata', is a city well-known throughout the Indian subcontinent for being the center of politics and a rivalry that resulted in the deadliest of the wars mentioned in the ancient epics.

The city finds its mention in the Mahabharata, the Ramayana as well as several Jain texts. According to legend, the city was named after King Hasti. The term ‘Hastinapur’ as per its Sanskrit translation means ‘the city of Elephants’, deriving from the two root words Hastina (elephant) and pura (city).

The key references to the city are found in the epic of Mahabharata as it was the main narrative center of the book. In the text, Hastinapura is depicted as the capital of the Kurus, a descendant lineage of the mighty Puru. It is around the ruling family of the Kuruvansha or the Kurus that the epic revolves. Till the present day, the city bears testimony to the fact of it being the center of this mighty saga, as depicted by several places within it which are named after the central characters of the story- such as Karna temple, Karna Ghat, and Draupadi Ghat among many others.

According to popular folklore and legends, once Sāmba, the son of Jāmbavatī and Krishna, kidnapped Duryodhana’s daughter Lakṣmaṇā from her svayaṁvara. In a natural response, the Kauravas assembled their forces to capture Sāmba. After a brief struggle between the two, the Kauravas managed to defeat him and brought both him and Lakṣmaṇā back to Hastināpura. Along with a number of Brahmanas and Yadava elders, Lord Balarama left for Hastinapura in an effort to settle the dispute between the Kuru and Yadu dynasties. The Kauravas showed their respect for Balarama with rituals and offerings, but when he demanded that they release Sāmba, they became enraged and rebuked him.

Lord Balarama came to the conclusion that the only effective method for dealing with people like the Kauravas who are driven insane by false prestige is through brutal punishment. In order to purge the earth of all Kurus, he took his divine plow and started dragging Hastinapura towards the Ganga. The terrified Kauravas brought Sāmba and Lakṣmaṇā before Lord Balarama as soon as they realized their city was in danger of collapsing into the river. They then started to praise him while pleading with him to pardon them for their ignorance. Accepting the union of the two, Duryodhana presented various wedding gifts to his daughter and new son-in-law. He extended his greetings to the Yādavas and requested Lord Balarama to return to Dvārakā with Sāmba and Lakṣmaṇā.

Apart from the Mahabharata which is replete with stories centering around Hastinapura, the first reference to the city in Puranas comes when it is depicted as the capital of the kingdom of emperor Bharata. There is also evidence of several temples being built here in the Mauryan times, during the reign of King Samprati (also known as Samrat Samprati), a grandson of Asoka the Great.

Located on the banks of an old Ganges ravine, Hastinapura is considered to be a holy place for not just the Hindus, but also Jains. It is thought to have been the birthplace of three Jain Tirthankaras. There are several Jain temples in the town like Shri Digamber, Jain Mandir, Jambudweep, Kailash Parvat, and Shwetambar Jain Temples. Besides, there also exist numerous ancient Hindu temples in the area, including Pandeshwar Temple and Karna Temple.

During the Mughal times, Hastinapur was listed as a pargana under Delhi sarkar in the Ain-i-Akbari, producing a revenue of 4,466,904 dams for the imperial treasury and supplying a force of three hundred infantry and ten cavalry. According to the author Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, it is 'an ancient Hindu settlement' on the Ganges.

Later, Hastinapur was ruled by the Gurjar King Raja Nain Singh Nagar during the British rule in India. He is said to have built many Hindu temples in and around the city of Hastinapura. Archaeologically speaking, the early remains of the region belong to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture which was a Bronze Age culture of Ganga Yamuna doab.

To assuage the relative dates of the Painted Grey ware culture, excavations were carried out at the current city of Hastinapur. These were primarily carried out by the renowned archaeologist B.B Lal in the 1950s. Lal, the then Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India, during his study and exploration, discovered several correlations between the material remains that he unearthed at Hastinapur and the text of the Mahabharata. He then worked extensively in this direction and historicized some of the traditions mentioned in the Mahabharata.

Today, Hastinapur is like another city on the subcontinent that has rich mythological history and symbolism. It is the place where several cultural events and religious festivals and celebrations are held annually, for example, the Das Lakshana, Kartik Mela, Holi Mela, and Durga Puja. The city is promoted enthusiastically by the state tourism department, which attempts to capitalize on the cultural, mythological, spiritual, and historical significance of the ancient city.

Thus shrouded in mystery and mythology, the city of Hastinapur still continues to amaze both historians, scholars, and common people alike, many of whom constantly try to find a connection between the great city of Hastinapura mentioned in the epics and in the present-day small township located in western Uttar Pradesh.