Indraprastha

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The city of Indraprastha (City of Indra) (Sanskrit: इन्‍द्रप्रस्‍थ), a major northern city in ancient India that was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata epic. It was located upon the banks of the river Yamuna and close to the modern national capital of Delhi.

Ancient Indian (Bharata) cities and Places(Title and location names are in English.)

When Yudhisthira, the eldest of the five Pandava brothers was given the kingdom of Khandavaprastha, a region northwest to the city of Hastinapura, a land cursed with barren and arid soils, diseased and dangerous forests and famine. However Lord Krishna summoned Indra, the king of the Devas to help Yudhisthira, who in turn summoned the Deva architect Vishwakarman.

Performing sacred ceremonies to bless the land, Vishwakarman built a glorious new city, which became the capital. Millions of people flocked to this new city, and soon prosperity and health spread across Khandavaprastha, thanks to the perfectly pious rule of Yudhisthira and his brothers. After the Kurukshetra War, Yudhisthira, now king of Hastinapura retained control of his city.

Indraprastha is said to be 5,000 years old. Legend suggests that Indraprastha once stood where Purana Qila is today. A village called Indrapat existed in Delhi until the beginning of the 20th century; the village was levelled and the British city of New Delhi was made upon it. The excavations of the ancient mound of Indraprastha, capital of the Pandavas, located within Purana Qila revealed evidence of continuous habitation of the site for almost 2,500 years^{[citation needed]}.

Since much of the historical record of ancient India is blurred, it is not known what happened after the Mahabharata epic. Indraprastha remained a major city for many centuries, from the time of the Mauryan Empire to the Gupta Empire in India, but became less significant with the rise of cities like Pataliputra, southeast of the river plains, which was the source of India's two most powerful empires. Indraprastha was probably sacked by Hun invaders after the fall of the Gupta empire.

Hindu monarch Raja Dhilu is said to have founded the ancient city of Delhi close to Indraprastha.^[1] Although this cannot be said for certain as there are theories around the etymology of Delhi that suggest Persian influences. [1]

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[edit] See also

• Hindu mythology

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