History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c74.t2.319

v5.c74.t2.319

The Mahābhārata frequently speaks of the high sanctifying virtues of Kurukṣetra. It appears that the territory to the south of Sarasvatī and to the north of Dṛṣadvatī was included in Kurukṣetra and ¹⁵⁴⁵ that those who resided therein were as if residents of paradise. Kurukṣetra appears to be called Brahmāvarta in Vanaparva 86.6. According to the Vāmanapurāṇa, Kurujāṅgala is ¹⁵⁴⁶ the country between the Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī, while Manu (II. 17, 18) defines Brahmāvarta as the country created by God between the two divine rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī, states that Brahmarṣideśa which is slightly less (in holiness) than Brahmāvarta comprises Kurukṣetra, the countries of Matsya, Pañcāla and Śūrasena. From these passages it is clear that Brahmāvarta is the holiest country in Āryāvarta and that Kurukṣetra was almost like it; we have seen that in the times of the Brāhmaṇas the most sacred Sarasvatī flowed through Kurukṣetra and that the place where Sarasvatī disappeared in the desert was called Vinaśana and was itself a very holy place. Originally the land called Kurukṣetra is said to have been the *Vedi* (sacrificial altar) ¹⁵⁴⁷ of Brahmā, then it came to be called Samantapañcaka (or syamanta-in some passages) when Paraśurāma made five pools of the blood of kṣatriyas in revenge for his father's murder, which were subsequently turned into holy pools of water by the blessings of his pitṛs and lastly it came to be called Kurukṣetra when king Kuru, son of Saṁvaraṇa ¹⁵⁴⁸, ploughed the land with a golden plough for seven *krośas* all round. Kurukṣetra is so called after king Kuru. Kuru is said to have asked of Indra the boon that the territory he ploughed might be 'Dharmakṣetra' (domain of righteousness) and that those who may bathe or die there may reap a rich harvest of merit¹⁵⁴⁹. The war between Kurus and Pāṇḍavas was fought there. It is spoken of as 'Dharmakṣetra' in the opening verse of the Bhagavad-gītā. Kurujāṅgala is said to be a very fit country for śrāddha in Vāyu (77. 93) and Kūrma II. 20. 33 and 37. 36-37. In the 7th century the Chinese traveller Hiouen Thsang speaks of the country, the capital of which was Sthānviśvara (modern Thanesar which is the heart of Kurukṣetra) as the 'land of religious merit' (Beal's B. R. W. W. vol. I p. 184).