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Indra, the King of the Devas had been smitten by the beauty of Princess Madhavi and had planned to marry her. However, he became very jealous and angry at Agrasen for ruining his plans. To get revenge against Agrasen, Indra also known as the Lord of Rain made sure that Pratap Nagar did not receive any rainfall and famine struck the Pratap Nagar kingdom. Emperor Agrasen then waged war against Indra, and because he had dharma on his side, his army vanquished Indra's forces and put them to flight. Faced with this situation, Indra approached Narada (the celestial sage) for mediation between him and Emperor Agrasen. Narada was able to negotiate peace between them.
Agrasen was became concerned with maintaining a long lasting peace to end the enmity. So Agrasen went to the city of Kashi and started penance to propitiate Lord Shiva. Pleased with the severe penance of Agrasen, Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and advised him to propitiate Shri Mahalakshmi. Maharaja Agrasen began meditating on Shri. Mahalakshmi. Goddess Mahalakshmi was pleased with the dedication of Maharaja Agrasen and appeared before him. Goddess Mahalakshmi blessed Agrasen and suggested that he take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of the prosperity of his people and give up his Kshatriya tradition. Additionally, she requested that he establish a new kingdom in return for her eternal presence with with his descendants.
With the blessings of Sri Mahalakhmi, King Agrasen toured all of Bharat (India) . During his travels, he found a few tiger cubs and wolf cubs playing together. To King Agrasen and Queen Madhavi, this was an auspicious indication that the area was Veerabhoomi (land of the brave), and they decided to found their new kingdom at that location. The new kingdom was named Agroha. In due course, Agroha became prosperous and the influence of King Agrasen was felt in all neighboring areas as well. Trade, agriculture and industry flourished and the fame of King Agrasen spread far and wide.