Hastinapura

Capital city

Hastinapura

Hastināpura

Location
Traditional site Hastinapur, Meerut district, Uttar Pradesh
Capital of
Kuru
Note
Capital of the Kuru kingdom under Dhritarashtra. Identification with modern Hastinapur on the old Ganga course is traditional and supported by excavation of an early settlement, but not proven.

In the story

  1. 1Shantanu, Ganga and the boy DevavrataA king marries a river goddess; the eighth son survives and returns as the finest warrior of his age
  2. 2Bhishma's vowTo win his father a bride, Devavrata gives up the throne and marriage for ever
  3. 3The princesses of KashiBhishma carries off three brides for his brother; Amba is refused by everyone and swears revenge
  4. 4Vyasa fathers the next generationA blind son, a pale son and a wise son born of a servant: Dhritarashtra, Pandu and Vidura
  5. 5Pandu, Kunti and MadriPandu is crowned, marries Kunti and Madri, conquers, and is cursed to a childless life in the mountains
  6. 6The birth of the Pandavas and the KauravasFive sons by five gods on a mountain; a hundred sons from a ball of flesh; Pandu's death
  7. 7Drona, the tournament and KarnaA teacher of arms, the finest pupil, a stranger who matches him, and a fee paid in a kingdom
  8. 8The house of lacA palace built to burn; the Pandavas escape by tunnel into the forest and live in hiding
  9. 9Draupadi's svayamvaraOn a journey's route · A bow no king can string, a target hit by a brahmana, and one bride for five brothers
  10. 10Half a kingdom: IndraprasthaThe Pandavas are given the Khandava wilderness and build a city; Arjuna's pilgrimage and Subhadra; the burning of the forest
  11. 11Two Kuru courtsYudhishthira's rajasuya makes Indraprastha a rival to Hastinapura
  12. 12The dice gameYudhishthira stakes and loses everything at Hastinapura; Draupadi's question
  13. 13The second game and the exileTwelve years in the forest and a thirteenth in hiding; the Pandavas go to Kamyaka
  14. 15Duryodhana's cattle expedition and Draupadi's abductionDuryodhana is captured by gandharvas and freed by the Pandavas; Jayadratha seizes Draupadi
  15. 16The year in hiding at Virata's courtDisguises in Matsya, Kichaka's death, the cattle raid, and a marriage that seals an alliance
  16. 17The council at Upaplavya and the levy of armiesBoth sides summon allies; Krishna or Krishna's army; Shalya is won over
  17. 18Embassies and the last offersSanjaya to Upaplavya, Krishna to Hastinapura; five villages refused; Karna refuses his mother
  18. 19The march to KurukshetraSeven akshauhinis against eleven; commanders chosen; Bhishma's vow about Shikhandi
  19. 20The first day at KurukshetraThe rules of war, the Gita, Yuyutsu crosses over, and Bhishma kills Shveta

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Positions on the atlas are approximate. A location marked traditional follows the identification most often given in the references on the Sources page; approximate and disputed mean what they say.