Virata was a kingdom ruled by the Matsya king by the name Virata. It was here that the Pandavas spent their 13th year of anonymity (Ajgnata Vasa) after their 12 years of forest-life (Vana Vasa) in the forests of Kamyaka and Dwaita. Its capital was Virata Nagari, modern Bairat in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan. Upaplavya was another city in this kingdom where the Pandavas and their allies camped before the beginning of the great Kurukshetra War.
King Virata and his sons took part in the great war and perished. Virata's daughter Uttara married Arjuna's son Abhimanyu and gave birth to Parikshit who later became the Kuru king after the reign of the Pandavas.
Famous quotes containing the word kingdom:
“Was I not born in this Realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country?... Is not my Kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to other’s harm? What turmoil have I made to this Commonwealth that I should be suspected to have no regard of the same?”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)