In the northern region of the state of Haryana, there is a
city and holy place (tirtha) next to the sacred site of Kurukshetra.
In the Mahabharata, the later of the two Sanskrit epics,
Thanesar is a well-known location.
The epic's conclusion occurs in Kurukshetra, when two
sections of an extended family, together with their friends, fight for eighteen
days.
On one hand, there are the five Pandava brothers, who are
the heroes of the epic, and on the other, the Kauravas, who are the villains.
According to the epic, the Pandavas worshiped the deity
Shiva at a temple in Thanesar on the eve of the battle, and after their
devotion, Shiva told them that they would win.
Apart from the temple, Thanesar also boasts a well-known
swimming tank that is supposed to contain all of India's holy rivers, with
Sunday being the principal bathing (snana) day.
Nearby lies the Gita Mandir, where Arjuna, one of the
Pandava brothers, is claimed to have received the Bhagavad Gita instruction
from Krishna just before the war.
