Thanesar

City and sacred site (tirtha) adjoining
the sacred site of Kurukshetra in the
northern part of the state of Haryana.
Thanesar is a famous site in the
Mahabharata, the later of the two
Sanskrit epics. The epic’s climax comes
at Kurukshetra in an eighteen-day battle
between two factions of an extended
family, along with their allies and supporters. On one side, there are the five
Pandava brothers, who are the epic’s
protagonists, and on the other, their
cousins the Kauravas, who are the
antagonists. According to the epic, on
the eve of the battle, the Pandavas worshiped the god Shiva in a temple at
Thanesar, and after their worship Shiva
assured them that they would be victorious. Aside from the temple, Thanesar
also has a renowned bathing tank said to
contain all the sacred rivers of India, at
which the primary bathing (snana) day
is Sunday. Nearby is the Gita Mandir,
at which Arjuna, one of the Pandava
brothers, is said to have received
the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita
from Krishna in the moments before
the battle began.