Manipur

Manipura, also known as Manalura, is a kingdom mentioned in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. According to the epic, it was located near a sea-shore, the Mahendra Mountains (present day Eastern Ghats) and the Kalinga Kingdom (present day Odisha). Arjuna—one of the five Pandava brothers—visited Manipura and married Chitrangada, the princess of the kingdom. They had a son named Babruvahana who later ruled it. Manipur shares its name with a modern-day state of India, located in the North-Eastern part of the country. Some past rulers of the state had claimed themselves to be the descendants of Arjuna. While some scholars support the identification of the state with the kingdom, others oppose this idea and based on the geographical description given in the epic, they state that Manipura kingdom was in present-day Odisha. Legend In the Mahabharata, Arjuna was one of the Pandava brothers and they shared a common wife named Draupadi. To prevent jealousy among the brothers and identify the paternity of Draupadi's children, the Pandavas followed a condition in which one brother was given a year with her and others were forbidden to enter her chamber. If the condition was violated, the brother, who entered the room, had to go on a pilgrimage for 12 years. Once, when Yudhishthira—the eldest brother—was spending time with Draupadi, Arjuna entered the room to take his weapon. As a result, Arjuna was exiled and he spent his time roaming around the subcontinent. During this period, he married a Naga lady named Ulupi, with whom he spent a night and continued his journey. He reached the kingdom of Manipur, which was then reigned by King Chitravahana. According to the Adi Parva of the epic, Arjuna reached Manipur after crossing the kingdom of Kalinga, the Mahendra Mountains and the sea-shore.