Did lakhs of people belonging to 18 Akshauhinis participate in the Mahabharata war?

 

It is thought that lakhs of soldiers participated in the Mahabharata war with all of them having perished within the 18-day duration of the war. This is based on the version found in the 2^nd chapter of the first Parvan of Mahabharata that 18 Akshauhinis of the Pandavas and the Kauravas participated in the war. An Akshauhini is a measure of the number of foot soldiers, elephants, horses and chariots in what can be called a military unit. This measure given in Mahabharata is of stupendous proportions making us wonder whether so many people really existed at that time. This post is aimed at clearing that confusion.

Both Ramayana and Mahabharata do talk about huge numbers in the context of armies pressed into service. Let me begin from Ramayana for getting a better understanding.  

Huge army described in Ramayana.

In Ramayana we come across a description of the size of the army - not of men or horses or chariots that Mahabharata describes - but of Vanaras!!

Take a look at these verses of chapter 28 of Yuddha Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana.

“O, king! Do you observe those monkeys resembling huge elephants in rut, rising like banyan trees on the banks of River Ganga or Sala trees on Himalayas? Those warriors, able to change their form at will, are irresistible, equal to celestials and demons, and in a battle, are endowed with the valour of the gods.

There are twenty one thousand crores, a thousand Shankus and a hundred Vrindas of these monkeys.” (Verses 2, 3 &4)

What are these crores and Shanku?

From 33rd verse onwards the explanation is given:-

"Wise men call a hundred lakhs as a crore.

A hundred thousand crore is reckoned as a Shanku.

A hundred thousand Shanku is said to be one Maha Shanku.

A hundred thousand Maha Shanku is called one Vrindam here.

A hundred thousand Vrinda is said to be one Maha vrindam.

A hundred thousand Mahavrinda is called one Padmam here.

A hundred thousand Padma is said to be one Mahapadmam.

A hundred thousand Mahapadma is called one Kharvam here.

A hundred thousand Kharva is said to be one Mahakharvam.

A hundred thousand Mahakharva is called one Samundram.

A hundred thousand Samudra is said to be one ogha here.

A hundred thousand Ogha is acclaimed a one Mahaugha."

"This Sugreeva, the king of monkeys, having great strength and valour, always surrounded by a colossal army, is approaching you to make war, accompanied by the valiant Vibhishana and the ministers, as also a hundred thousand Crores of Shankas, a thousand Mahashankus, a hundred Vrindas, a thousand Mahavrindas, a hundred Padmas, a thousand Mahapadmas, a hundred Kharves, Samudras and Mahaughas of the same number, and a Crore of Mahaughas whole army as such is identical of an ocean." (Verses 33 to 39)

This description shows that the narrator (Shuka to Ravana) wanted to convey that Rama's army of Vanaras was like an ocean. To drive home the point he reminds Ravana of all the highest numbers known to them and says that so many numbers of Vanaras were present in the army of Rama.

If we take the literal head count of Vanaras told by this number, then that might far exceed the number of monkeys existed throughout the globe until now. So what is being told here is a kind of comparison by exaggeration to convey the enormity of the size of the army of the Vanaras.

Huge army of Mahabharata war

Coming to Mahabharata, the narration of the composition of Akshauhini is given by Sauti to other rishis. There he gives the description of sub- sub parts that make up an Akshauhini.

(from Mahabharata 2nd chapter in Adi parva) :-

"One chariot, one elephant, five foot-soldiers, and three horses form one Patti;

three Pattis make one Sena-mukha;

three Sena-mukhas are called a Gulma;

three Gulmas, a Gana;

three Ganas, a Vahini;

three Vahinis together are called a Pritana;

three Pritanas form a Chamu;

three Chamus, one Anikini;

and an Anikini taken ten times forms, as it is styled by those who know, an Akshauhini.

 

O ye best of Brahmanas, arithmeticians have calculated that the number of chariots in an Akshauhini is twenty-one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

The measure of elephants must be fixed at the same number.

O ye pure, you must know that the number of foot-soldiers is one hundred and nine thousand, three hundred and fifty,

the number of horse is sixty-five thousand, six hundred and ten." (end quote)

This is for one Akshauhini.

For 18 Akshauhinis the final tally is:

Chariots = 3,93,660

Elephants = 3,93,660

Horses = 11,80,980

Foot soldiers = 19,68,300

 

Now our question is how much space is required to accommodate them.

From the current data of high density of population, 20,000 are living in one square kilometer of Mumbai.

At this rate, 19,68,300 foot soldiers can be accommodated 98.415 square kilometer area.

But this is modest number because most of Mumbai population lives in high rise buildings.

So just to accommodate the 18 Akshauhinis in tents, we need at least double the area, i.e around 200 square kilometer land.

Even more than that area is needed to accommodate the chariots, elephants and horses and their attendants.

The battle field is also required to be of double the size of all these accommodations.

Leaving aside the issues of logistics – the most basic being how communication could have flowed from the front end to the back end or vice versa of such huge army formations – the main issue is the size of the battle field!

The battle took place on the banks of the river Sarasvatī in a place known as 'Samanta Pancaka'.

It was the place where Parasurama killed the ksahtriyas that left 5 pools of blood. Five adjoining pools gave the place the name, Samanta Pancaka.

Samnata Panchaka means 'the adjoining five'.

Parasurama invokes his pitrus there and gets an assurance that his sins of killing kshatriyas will be absolved. From then onwards, that place became a holy place where the sin of killing in war is absolved.

Sauti continues to say that "The region that lieth near unto those lakes of gory water, from that time hath been celebrated as Samanta-pancaka the holy."

This makes it clear that Mahabharata was fought in a particular region on the banks of river Sarasvatī which already got notoriety on account of a war between Parasurama and other kshatriyas and was called as Samanta Pancaka. This location being adjacent to the five pools, it could not have stretched for 100 and odd square kilometers, in which case it cannot be identified as being next to the five pools.

The only derivation is that it was not vast enough to accommodate the 18 Akshauhinis in the truest number of men, animals and chariots. The location rules out the participation of lakhs of soldiers in the war.

If we read carefully the passage that describes the numbers in an Akshauhini, we get to realize that Sauti had described the numbers.

"These, O Brahmanas, as fully explained by me, are the numbers of an Akshauhini as said by those acquainted with the principles of numbers."

Sauti had done what Shuka did in Yuddha kanda of Ramayana - that of narrating the size denoted by the numbers.

This doesn’t mean the exact numbers had assembled.

What appears possible in reality was that there must have been 18 units of army - each one of them huge enough to resemble an Akshauhini.

In chapter 4-72, there comes the description of who brought how many Akshauhinis.

King of Kasi and Saivya brought one Akshauhini.

Drushtadhyumna brought one Akshauhini.

Like this Kritavarman and King of Chedi arrived with one Akashuhini each.

But these could not have been the exact number of an Akshauhini.

Every huge unit of army brought by important allies must have been counted as an Akshauhini.