Agnivansha

rdf:langString Agnivansha

rdf:langString One day, Agastya, Gautama, Vashistha, Vishwamitra and other great sages started a major sacrificial ceremony on Arbuda . Demons interrupted the ceremony by polluting it with flesh, blood, bones and urine. To get rid of these demons, Vashistha performed a homa ritual. This led to the appearance of a hero named Pratihara , who Vashistha placed on the road leading to the palace. After this, another hero named Chalukka appeared from the hollowed palm of Brahma. Finally, a third hero appeared, who sage named Pavara . However, these three heroes were not able to stop the demons. Vashistha then dug up a new fire pit, and made yet another offering to the fire, to conjure a new hero. This four-armed hero held a sword, a shield, a bow, and an arrow. Vashistha named him Chahavana, performed his coronation with Vedic hymns, and then ordered him to fight the demons. The sage also asked the goddess Ashapura to help the hero. Chahuhvana killed the demon Yantraketu, while the goddess killed the demon Dhumraketu. On seeing this, the other demons fled. Pleased with Chahuvana's bravery, the goddess agreed to be his family deity. Prithviraj Chauhan, the hero of Prithiviraj Raso, was born in this family.

rdf:langString On Mount Arbuda , the priest of Ikshvaku royal house once made a sacred grove. The son of Gadhi stole the wish-granting cow of Vashistha, just like Kartavirya Arjuna had once stole the cow of Jamadagni. The barkcloth on the bosom of Arundhati became soaked with tears. The earliest of the knowers of Atharva Veda then made a fire offering with mantras. A hero with a bow, a crown and golden armour emerged from the fire. He brought back Vashistha's cow. The grateful owner of the cow named this hero "Paramara" , and gave him the power to rule the entire earth. From this hero, who resembled Manu, sprang the dynasty.

rdf:langString Parashurama slaughtered Kshatriyas 21 times. The only escapees were those who disguised themselves as women, those who fled leaving behind their swords and those who fell at his feet. The absence of any warriors led to a dark age, where rakshasas increased in number, Vedas came to be trampled under feet, and Hinduism was forgotten. The sages then visited Parashurama's cave on Mount Abu. There, all the gods, men and nāgas assembled and came up with a plan to destroy the demons. Vashistha erected a fire altar and worshipped Shiva, who appeared before the sages. But the demons disrupted the ceremony by throwing impurities like blood, flesh and garbage on the altar. Twenty sages, including their leader Vashistha, then invoked Brahma and Shiva. They erected a new altar and conducted a fresh ceremony, singing hymns from the Sama Veda. Following this, four sword-bearing warriors emerged from the fire pit, and defeated the demons. Parashurama and Shakti blessed the newly created heroes. Chohan, one of the heroes, was four-armed. The sage Bhrigu told him that he would be protected by the goddess Shakti in his endeavours to kill the demons. The goddess protected Chohan from all dangers: every time he fell at her feet, his strength doubled and he was able to slay the demons. The goddess came to be known as Ashapuri because she fulfilled the hopes of the sages.

rdf:langString The Agnikula legend of Hammira Raso

rdf:langString The Agnikula legend of Nava-Sahasanka-Charita

rdf:langString The Agnikula legend of Prithviraj Raso

rdf:langString In Indian culture, the Agnivanshi are people who claim descent from Agni, the Vedic god of fire. The Agnivanshi lineage (Agnivansha or Agnikula) is one of the three lineages into which the Rajput clans, the others being the Suryavanshi (descended from Surya, the sun god) and the Chandravanshi (descended from Chandra, the moon god). According to medieval legends, there are four Agnivanshi clans: Chauhans (Chahamanas), Parihars (Pratiharas), Parmars (Paramaras) and Solankis (Chaulukyas). Apart from Rajputs, several other Indian communities and dynasties have legends of fire-born ancestry. Alf Hiltebeitel theorises that the fire-lineage legends signify a new class of Kshatriya warriors, as opposed to the earlier warriors who claimed descent from the solar and lunar lineages mentioned in the ancient texts. Among the clans now known as the Rajputs, the legend might have been invented by Padmagupta, a 10th-century court poet of the Paramara dynasty. His Nava-sahasanka-charita is the earliest source claiming an Agnivanshi origin for the Paramaras. He might have been motivated by the fact that the Paramaras were the only royal family in their region without a mythical account of heroic or divine origin. The 16th century Rajput bards might have extended the legend to include other imperial dynasties, in order to foster Rajput unity against Muslims.