Kurukṣetra:
Śrīla Vyāsadeva has referred to the battlefield of Kurukṣetra as the land of religion (dharmakṣetra). This has a hidden meaning. According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.22.4), this land is named
Kurukṣetra after King Kuru. The section of the Mahābhārata called Śalya-parva relates the
following story.
Once, when Kuru Mahārāja was ploughing this land, Indra, the king of the demigods, appeared
there and asked him, “For what purpose are you ploughing this land?” Kuru Mahārāja answered,
“I am doing this so that those who give up their bodies here may attain the heavenly planets.” Upon
hearing this, Indra ridiculed him and returned to the heavenly planets, and the king returned to
ploughing with great enthusiasm. Again and again Indra returned to deride and deliberately disturb
the king, yet Kuru Mahārāja remained unperturbed and continued his work. Finally, on the
insistence of other demigods, Indra became pleased with Kuru Mahārāja and gave him the
benediction that whoever gives up his body or is killed in battle on this land will certainly attain
the heavenly planets. For this reason, this land, known as dharma-kṣetra, was chosen for the battle.
Also, in the Jāvālopaniṣad (1.2), Kurukṣetra is described as a yajña-sthalī, a place for the
demigods and all living entities to perform sacrifice. One attains the heavenly planets and even the
topmost planet of Lord Brahmā by performing sacrifice at this place. Also it is written in the SatPatha Brāhmaṇa, “kurukṣetraṃ deva-yajanam āsa tasmād āhuḥ kurukṣetraṃ deva-yajanam –the
demigods performed worship of the Lord in Kurukṣetra; therefore, sages have named this
place deva-yajanam.” The phrase dharma-kṣetra is composed of two words, dharma and kṣetra.
The word kṣetra indicates land for cultivation. When a farmer waters the rice field, a type of weed
called śyāmā grass also grows along with the rice plants. This grass looks exactly like the rice
plant. It grows by taking the water used for the rice field and covers the rice plants. Eventually,
the rice plants dry up. Therefore, an expert farmer uproots these weeds because they are harmful
to the rice crop. In the same way, in this land of Kurukṣetra, Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa maintained and
nourished Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja, the personification of religion, along with his associates, by
annihilating those who were anti-religious, pseudo-religious and irreligious, such as Duryodhana
and others.
The land between the rivers Sarasvatī and Dṛṣadvatī is known as Kurukṣetra. At this place, both
the great sage Mudgala and Pṛthu Mahārāja performed austerities. Śrī Paraśurāma performed
sacrifices at five different places in this land, after annihilating the warrior class. Previously
this kṣetra was known as Samanta Pañcaka, but later it became famous as Kurukṣetra, named after
Mahārāja Kuru.