The Agrawals are descendants of the legendary king Maharaja Agrasena. He was a Suryavanshi Kshatriya leader and the eldest son of King Ballabh of Pratapnagar.

Maharaja Agrasena was a peaceful king and did not like violence. Once while performing a yagna, the Rajguru asked Maharaja Agrasena to sacrifice a goat in order for the ceremony to be successfully completed. Agrasena did not wish to kill the innocent animal and refused to order the killing. The Rajguru advised that since he was a Kshatriya king, it was his duty to perform the ritual and if he did not wish to proceed, he should instead join the Vaishya varna (known as Baniya in the modern days).

He married a naga-vanshi girl Maharani Madhavi and fathered 18 children, from whom the Agrawal gotras came into being. Agrasena traveled all over India with his queen to select a place for a new kingdom, and finally established his kingdom at Agroha. Agrasena divided his kingdom amongst his 18 children, resulting in eighteen Agrawal gotras. Often, the number of gotras is stated to be seventeen and a half. According to one legend, Agrasena had conducted 18 mahayajnas (“Great yajnas”). When he was in the process of performing his eighteenth yajna, he was filled with compassion for the animal to be sacrificed. He put a stop to his eighteenth yajna announcing that henceforth, no sacrifices would be made in his kingdom in the name of yajnas. Thus, the eighteenth yajna was not completed and Agrasena had only performed seventeen and a half yajnas. The sage blessed him with seventeen and a half gotras.

In the later part of his life, King Agrasena approved the succession of his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took Vanaprastha ashram. According to legend, Agroha was a prosperous city and a hundred thousand traders lived in the city during its heyday. An insolvent community man as well as an immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each inhabitant of the city. Thus, he would have a hundred thousand bricks to build a house for himself, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a new business. Gradually, the residents of Agroha i.e. the Agrawals moved out of Agroha and spread to other parts of India.

  • Airan/Aeron
  • Bansal
  • Bindal or Vindal
  • Dhoumya, Dharan or Deran
  • Garg or Gargeya
  • Goyal or Goel
  • Goyan
  • Goin
  • Goyanor or Gangal or Gol or Goenka
  • Jindal
  • Kansal
  • Kuchhal
  • Kachal or Kuchchal
  • Madhukul/Mudgal
  • Mangal
  • Mittal
  • Naagil/Nangal/Nagal
  • Singhal/Singla/Singal
  • Tayal
  • Tingal/Tunghal