The Mahabharata War can be described as true “total warfare”. The term “total warfare” means that countries devote all of their resources and men towards the war. During the Mahabharata, the entirety of Bharatvarsha sent its might and men to the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Nearly every kingdom and tribe, from modern-day Iran to Myanmar, participated in the war. Only a few kingdoms stayed neutral and out of the war. Never before had the world seen a war at this scale. But how massive was the war at Kurukshetra? More specifically, how many men actually fought in the war, and how does this compare to modern wars? In this post, we are going to understand how many soldiers fought in the war.
Military Units During the Mahabharata
This information is in the Mahabharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 2
Before we begin discussing the war, we should understand the different military units during the Mahabharata times. Fortunately, right at the beginning of the Mahabharata in chapter 2 of the Adi Parva, Ugrashravas Sauti (the narrator of the Mahabharata) gives a detailed description of the military units used during that time. Let’s start with the smallest army unit: a patti. A patti consists of one chariot, one elephant, five foot soldiers, and three horses. Three pattis make up a senamukha, and three senamukhas made up a gulma.
The next larger army unit is a gana, which consists of three gulmas. Three ganas are called a vahini, and three vahinis collectively form a pritana. Three pritanas were grouped to make a chamu, and three chamus made up a anikini. Now, ten anikinis are called an akshauhini, which was the largest military unit during the Mahabharata. An akshauhini is pretty much an army, and most kings tended to have one akshauhini, with some having two. An akshauhini was led by the commander, while all the lower units were led by different officers. If you do the math, then you will find that an akshauhini is: 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 109,350 foot soldiers, and 65,610 horses. Thus, an akshauhini consists of a total of 218,700 soldiers.
| Army Unit | Chariots | Elephants | Foot Soldiers | Horses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patti | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Senamukha | 3 | 3 | 15 | 9 |
| Gulma | 9 | 9 | 45 | 27 |
| Gana | 27 | 27 | 135 | 81 |
| Vahini | 81 | 81 | 405 | 243 |
| Pritana | 243 | 243 | 1,215 | 729 |
| Chamu | 729 | 729 | 3,645 | 2,187 |
| Anikini | 2,187 | 2,187 | 10,935 | 6,561 |
| Akshauhini | 21,870 | 21,870 | 109,350 | 65,610 |
Note that 218,700 is the number of soldiers in the akshauhini. Each chariot would have a charioteer and each elephant would have a rider as well. Thus, an akshauhini actually has 262,440 men. However, we don’t count the charioteers and elephant riders because they were non-combatants. They simply steered the chariots and elephants.
The Pandava Side
1. Satyaki: Satyaki, the great Satvata warrior, arrived with a large army with the four types of forces (chariots, elephants, foot soldiers, cavalry). The Mahabharata describes, “His immensely valorous warriors had arrived from many countries. They were courageous and wielded many weapons. The army was beautiful. It had battleaxes, slings, spears, javelins, clubs, lances, swords, axes, nooses, unblemished scimitars, swords, bows, helmets, and many different kinds of arrows that had been washed in oil. With all these weapons, that army dazzled like a cloud. The soldiers shone, like lightning in the midst of a cloud.” (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
2. Dhristaketu: The great Chedi warrior Dhristaketu brought an akshauhini to the Pandava army as well. Along with the Chedis, his army also consisted of the neighbouring Karusha kingdom’s soldiers and kings. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
3. Jayatesena: King Jayatsena of Magadha, the son of Jarasandha, also arrived in front of Dharmaraja Yudhishthira with one akshauhini of troops. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
4. Pandya: The king of the Pandya kingdom, which is near the shores of the ocean, also arrived before Yudhishthira will a full akshauhini of soldiers. The Pandya king was a potent warrior who is described as being equal to Indra himself in battle. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
5. Drupada: King Drupada of Panchala had an akshauhini of soldiers from many regions. They were handsome and brave men, and the army was led by his numerous sons. (Virata Parva Chapter 67, Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
6. Virata: King of Virata of Matsya, where the Pandavas had stayed during their thirteenth year of vanvas, came to the Pandavas with an akshauhini. He also brought various kings from the mountainous regions of west Bharata to the Pandava cause. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
7. Kashi: The king of Kashi, who is described as a great chariot warrior, brought an akshauhini to the Pandavas. The Pandavas were allies with the king of Kashi. (Virata Parva Chapter 67)
8. Shibi: The king of Shibi also brought his akshauhini to the Pandavas because he was “affectionate towards Yudhishthira”. This phrase entails that this king of Shibi was most likely Govasana, who is mentioned in Adi Parva Chapter 90. Govasana was the king of Shibi and Yudhishthira married his daughter Devika. (Virata Parva Chapter 67)
The Kaurava Side
The Kaurava army was so large that it appeared like an endless sea of men and weapons. When Drupada’s priest arrived at the Kaurava camp, he was awestruck by the sheer extent of the forces. He describes it in the following excerpt…
“The region of the five rivers, Kurujangala, the forest of Rohitaka, the entire desert region, Ahicchatra, Kalakuta, the banks of the Ganga, Varana, Vatadhana, and the mountains around the Yamuna—this entire region was extremely large and full of treasure and grain. It was completely covered by the forces of the Kauravas.
– Vaishampayana, Udyoga Parva Chapter 19
The region of the five rivers in Punjab. Kurujangala is the region between the Saraswati and the Yamuna Rivers, forming a majority of modern-day Haryana and Delhi. Ahichhatra was the capital of northern Panchala in the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. The “desert region” and Rohitaka are both modern-day Haryana and Rajasthan. Thus, you can tell how vast the Kaurava army was, spreading across various regions and states.
1. Bhagadatta: Bhagadatta, the son of Narakasura and the king of the eastern kingdom of Pragjyotisha, brought one akshauhini of soldiers. His army consisted of chinas and kiratas. The Kiratas are hunters who dwelled in the mountainous regions in the northeast. Meanwhile, the Chinas are the tribes from China, most likely Tibet rather than China proper. The Mahabharata states that Bhagadatta’s army was covered with gold. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
2. Bhurishrava: King Bhurishrava was the king of Bahlika in the north. He was descended from the original Bahlika, brother of Shantanu, and thus inevitably joined the Kaurava due to familial relations. He presented an akshauhini to Duryodhana. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
3. Shalya: King Shalya of Madra in the north was going to join the Pandava side with his powerful sons and his akshauhini, but he was tricked into joining the Kauravas by Duryodhana and Shakuni. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
4. Narayani Sena: Duryodhana and Arjuna both approached Krishna to take their side in the war. Krishna gave the choice of himself as a charioteer or his entire Yadava army. Arjuna chose to have the weaponless Krishna, while Duryodhana chose the Yadava army (known as the Narayani Sena). To lead this army, Duryodhana first approached Balarama, who decided to remain neutral. Thus, he then approached Hardikya Kritavarma, who agreed to lead the army. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 7 and 19)
5. Jayadratha: Jayadratha of Sindhu was the brother-in-law of Duryodhana and husband of Dushala. He brought an army of Sindhu-Sauvira warriors along with other peoples he had subjugated. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
6. Sudakshina: Sudakshina was the king of extreme northern kingdom of Kambhoja He brought an akshauhini of troops, plus Yavana and Shaka warriors. The Yavanas were the Greeks, and the Shakas were the Scythians of Central Asia. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
7. Nila: King Nila of the Haihayas came with a coalition of soldiers and kings from southern India that formed a complete akshauhini. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
8. Vinda and Anuvinda: Vinda and Anuvinda were two brothers who were the kings of Avanti. Avanti had been divided among two kingdoms, one centered at Ujjaini and the other centered at Mahishmati. Each brother ruled one half of Avanti, and each brother brought their own akshauhini to the Kaurava side, adding two akshauhinis to already vast forces. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
9. Kekayas: The Kekayas actually fought on both the Pandava and Kaurava side. This is because there was a battle of succession within the Kekaya family. Five brothers led by the eldest Brihatakshatra, were deprived of the kingdom. Thus, they fought on the Pandava side. Meanwhile, the rest of the Kekayas, which comprised an akshauhini of troops, fought on the Kaurava side. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
10. Samshapatakas: Samshapatakas were warriors who had taken an oath in battle, either to kill the enemy or fall in battle. They were a type of Rakshasas. They were led by king Susharma of the Trigartas.
11. Other Kings: The Mahabharata states “From other directions, many other great-souled lords of the earth arrived and brought three more armies [as in akshauhinis]”. Thus, other kings added three more akshauhinis to the Kaurava force. (Udyoga Parva Chapter 19)
12. Kuru Army: Of course, the Kurus had their own akshauhini, being one of the most powerful kingdoms of the time. The Kuru army consisted not only of the forces of Hastinapura, but also of other kings that had been forcefully imprisoned by Duryodhana, such as the king of Vatadhana.
Doing the Math
This is the most complete information we can get of the armies of the two sides. With these numbers in mind, let’s do the calculations. On the Pandava side, we found a total of 6 complete akshauhinis. 6 * 218,700 = 1,312,200 fighting soldiers! And 1,574,640 total men, counting charioteers.
On the Kaurava side, we found a total of 14 Akshauhinis, plus the Sampshapatakas and other Rakshasa forces, which (based on reasonable estimates) consisted of at least 300,000 more soldiers. This would made the total fighting men as 3,361,800, nearly three times are much as the Pandava force! Counting charioteers and others, this would be 3,974,160.
These numbers are obviously not exact. But the purpose is to give you an idea of just how massive of a scale the Mahabharata war was fought at. Adding up the numbers, we get our final numbers of fighting men as:
4,674,000
A massive number, not even counting the hundreds of thousands of charioteers, medics, elephant riders, etc! Considering the population of the Indian subcontinent during that time, the Mahabharata was truly an existential conflict.
Comparing to Other Wars
The Mahabharata War occurred sometime around 3000 BC, and during that time, it was by far the deadliest war of all time in terms of pure casualties. Keep in mind that from the number given, around 90% of those men must have perished. Almost nobody survived the war.
The Mahabharata War’s total casualties probably wouldn’t have been surpassed until around 100 A.D. during the Three Kingdoms Era of China. Infighting and rebellion against the Han dynasty is estimated to cause the death of a staggering 10 million people. Later medieval-era revolutions in China also had large death tolls, but all of these conflict occurred over the course of years, while the Mahabharata’s war casualties were all within 18 days! The Mahabharata War was truly the bloodiest 18 days in human history.
If we look at modern wars, most of modern warfare’s casualties are unfortunately civilians usually. But looking at purely military personnel deaths, the Mahabharata War’s casualties could be comparable to the casualties from the Second Sino-Japanese War, fought between China and Japan from 1937 to 1945 as part of the greater World War II. It is estimated that around 4-5 million soldiers died from this war, a majority of them from China.
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it is interesting how it was the bloodiest 18 days in human history, but we never learn about it. why?
question 2 – is this the most people that were killed in the shortest amount of time in human history?
hey, for your first question, i think there isn’t nearly enough evidence of the war for it to be widely accepted. small evidence does exist here and there, but no major archaeological evidence. for the second question, i can guess that in terms of wars, yes, because most wars span years. but in terms of all types of death, there have been natural disasters that have killed more people in one day than the mahabharata war
very well said, thank you.