Indraprastha

The city of Indraprastha ("City of Indra"; Pali: Indraprasta, Sanskrit: इन्‍द्रप्रस्‍थ (इन्द्रप्रस्थ) or Indraprastha) was the capital of the kingdom led by the Pandavas in the Mahabharata epic.

History

Indraprastha is referenced in the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit Indian text compiled over a period of 800 years from around 400BCE. Primarily a story, it does nonetheless describe events that may in fact have happened. The Mahabharata records Indraprastha as being home to the Pandavas, whose wars with the Kauravas it describes. The location of Indraprastha is uncertain but Purana Qila in present-day New Delhi is frequently cited and has been noted as such in texts as old as the 14th-century CE. Purana Qila is certainly an ancient settlement but archaeological studies performed at there since the 1950s^{[lower-alpha 1]} have failed to reveal structures and artefacts that would confirm the architectural grandeur and rich lives in the period that the Mahabharata describes. The historian Upinder Singh notes that despite academic debate, "Ultimately, there is no way of conclusively proving or disproving whether the Pandavas or Kauravas ever lived ...".^[2]

D. C. Sircar, an epigraphist, believes Indraprastha was a significant city in the Mauryan period, based on analysis of a stone carving found in the Delhi area at Srinivaspuri which records the reign of the Mauryan empreror Ashoka. Singh has cast doubt on this interpretation because the inscription does not actually refer to Indraprastha and although "... a place of importance must certainly have been located in the vicinity of the rock edit, exactly which one it was and what it was known as, is uncertain." Similarly, remains, such as an iron pillar, that have been associated with Ashoka are not indubitably so: their composition is atypical and the inscriptions are vague.^[2]

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Citations

v t e Mahabharata Books (parvas) Adi Parva Sabha Parva Vana Parva Virata Parva Udyoga Parva Bhisma Parva Drona Parva Karna Parva Shalya Parva Sauptika Parva Stri Parva Shanti Parva Anushasana Parva Ashvamedhika Parva Ashramavasika Parva Mausala Parva Mahaprasthanika Parva Svargarohana Parva Harivamsa Parva Kuru Kingdom Shantanu Ganga Bhishma Satyavati Chitrāngada Vichitravirya Ambika Ambalika Vidura Dhritarashtra Gandhari Shakuni Pandu Kunti Madri Yudhisthira Bhima Arjuna Nakula Sahadeva Duryodhana Dushasana Yuyutsu Dushala Draupadi Hidimbi Ghatotkacha Ahilawati Subhadra Uttarā Ulupi Chitrāngadā Abhimanyu Iravan Babruvahana Barbarika Upapandavas Parikshit Janamejaya Other characters Amba Ashwatthama Balarama Bhagadatta Brihannala Chitrasena Dhrishtadyumna Drona Drupada Durvasa Ekalavya Hidimba Jarasandha Jayadratha Karna Kichaka Kindama Kripa Krishna Kritavarma Mayasura Sanjaya Satyaki Shalya Shikhandi Shishupala Sudeshna Uttara Kumara Virata Vyasa Other Mahabharata and the Indian caste system Avatars Pandava Kaurava Hastinapur Indraprastha Kingdoms Kurukshetra War Bhagavad Gita Category