Agroha, locally known as ''Ther'', is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

located in Agroha, in the Hisar district of

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Location

The mounds are located about 1.5 km from the town of Agroha, 20 km from Hisar city and 190 km from

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

in Hisar district of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

. It lies on

National Highway 9 Route 9, or Highway 9, may refer to: International * European route E09 * European route E009 Albania * SH-9 Road in Albania. Argentina * National Route 9 Australia New South Wales * A9 (Sydney) South Australia * ** Port River Expr ...

(old NH-10).

Rediscovery and excavation

The excavations first started in the year 1888-89 under C.T. Rogers. It restarted in the year 1978-79 by Archaeological Department of Haryana under the supervision of J.S. Khatri and Acharya.

Belief

The

Agrawal Agrawal (anglicised as Agarwal, Agerwal, Agrawala, Agarwala, Agarwalla, Aggarwal, Agarawal, Agarawala) is a Bania community found throughout northern, central and western India, mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Hi ...

community believes that the archaeological findings are related to their legendary founder — the king

Agrasena Agrasen was a legendary Indian king of Agroha, a city of traders. He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in North India named Agroha, and is known for his compassion in refusing to slaughter animals in ''yajnas''. On sugg ...

, whose capital is said to have been at Agroha. Agrawal organizations such as Akhil Bharatiya Agrawal Sammelan and Agroha Vikas Trust have supported archaeological research at the site.

Historical significance

According to the official website of Hisar, the excavations at Agroha belong to the period from 3rd-4th century B.C. to 13th-14th century A.D. A defense wall, shrine cells and residential houses can be observed in the mound.

Notable artifacts

Around seven thousand artifacts have been recovered during the excavations.

Coins

Silver and bronze coins belonging to different periods have been found at the site. They belong to Roman,

Kushana The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, i ...

, Yaudheya and

Gupta empire The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Go ...

. Language used is

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...

Seals

Many seals have also been found. They are inscribed with words like ''Pitradutt'', " Sadhu Vridhasya", "Shamkar Malasya", "Madrsya", etc.

Others

Besides the numerous stone sculptures, iron and copper implements and beads of semi-precious stones have also been found.

References

Bibliography

Tourist attractions in Hisar district Archaeological sites in Haryana Agroha (town) Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Buddhist sites in India {{India-geo-stub