Mahabharata , the great epic of India mentions Haryana as Bahudhhanyaka , 'land of plentiful grains' and Bahudhana , 'land of immense riches'. Several places mentioned in Mahabharata correspond to modern day cities in Haryana: Prithudaka ( Pehowa ), Tilprastha ( Tilput ), Panprastha ( Panipat ) and Sonprastha ( Sonipat ). Gurgaon refers to the village of the Guru Dronacharya . The great battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas took place near the city of Kurukshetra . Krishna preached the Bhagvad Gita to the reluctant Arjuna there. .For eighteen days following that, armies from all over India battled in the plains of Kurukshetra to decide who sits on the throne of Hastinapura . Maharaja Agrasen is said to have established a flourishing city of merchants at Agroha near modern Hisar . Legend has it that anyone wishing to settle in the city was given a brick and a rupee by each of the city's lakh residents. Thus, they would have enough bricks to build a house and enough money to start a business of their own.


The broad sweep of the story of the Mahabharata chronicles the consolidation of Aryan / Vedic culture in India. On a lower level, it is the story of the conflict between two families for control of Hastinapur, a city in Ancient India. It is also contains numerous sub-plots, which are independent stories in their own right.

The impact of the Mahabharata on India and Hinduism cannot be stressed enough. Having been molded by Indian culture, it has in turn molded the further development of Indian culture. Thousands of later writers would draw freely from the story and sub-stories of the Mahabharata. The epic has inspired numerous later works, leaving a huge imprint on Indian literature, religion, folklore and philosophy.

At once grand and encyclopedic, the Mahabharata summarizes itself as: " What can be found here, may be found elsewhere; what cannot be found here, will not be found elsewhere. "