Mahabharata War Statistics - Army strength of Pandavas & Kauravas
Manas Sadhanala -
Kurukshetra, the place where the war was fought , was spread over an area of 128 sq kms during the time of Mahabharata.
Lets define a term Akshauhini. Refer to the table below :
- Pandava had *7 Akshauhini* and Kaurava *11 Akshauhini* armies.
- So a total of around** 20 million infantry **fought this battle , where as in later years **Chandragupta Maurya **had close to **8 Million** , **Ashoka** had close to **6 Million** and **Ibrahim Lodi** had **100K**. Now look at the gigantic scale on which the war was fought.
- **Rathi**: A warrior capable of attacking 5,000 warriors simultaneously. Duryodhana Jayadhradha, Dusassana, Vikarna, all 97 brothers of Duryodhana, Shakuni, Yudhishtir, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva.
- **Atirathi**: A warrior capable of contending with 12 Rathi class warriors or 60,000 warriors simultaneously. Drishtadyumna, Kuntibhoja, Ghatotkacha, all sons of Draupadi, Prahasta, Angada, Somadatha and Pradyumna.
- **Maharathis**: A warrior capable of fighting 12 Atirathi class warriors or 720,000 warriors simultaneously, circumspect in his mastery of all forms of weapons and combat skills. Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Arjuna, Ashwatthama, Abhimanyu, Balrama, Lord Narasimha, Drupada, Virata, Jarasandha were Maharathis.
- **Atimaharathis**: A warrior capable of fighting 12 Maharathi warriors simultaneously.Parasurama the sixth avatar of Vishnu is also considered an Atimaharathi (as he possessed all three weapons of the trinity Pashupatastra, Vaishnavastra and Brahma astra) and also Meghanada or Indrajit (Son of Ravana) who also had three weapons of trinities and was trained guided by Maha Guru of Asuras, Shukracharya.
- **Mahamaharathis**: A warrior capable of fighting 24 Atimaharathi’s simultaneously.This includes Lord Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, Ganesha, kartikeya are Mahamaharathis.