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.
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“The private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy,—more formidable to its enemy, more sweet and serene in its influence to its friend, than any kingdom in history. For a man, rightly viewed, comprehendeth the particular natures of all men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)