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Eric11235
28 October 2011, 08:05 PM
Vannakam,

This may be a nitpicky question, but upon conclusion of the Drona Parva and beginning of the Karna Parva of the Mahabharata as translated by K.M. Ganguli, I'm starting to get confused. How many people took part in the great battle of Kurukshetra?

Officially there were 18 Akshauhinis (the importance of the number 18 appearing many times throughout).

However, the numbers don't seem to add up. In the Karna Parva opening it says Arjuna alone slew 11 Akshauhinis. This seems to contrast directly to the above official statement as Duryodhana's army alone was 11 Akshauhinis.

Further adding to the confusion, throughout the Bhishma and Drona Parvas there is mention of each hero slaying hundreds of thousands of other warriors daily.

So my main question is, were there more than 18 Akshauhinis present at the battle or are those figures figurative?

This may seem a bit of a stupid question, but the confusion is hindering my enjoyment of the battle insofar as I can enjoy it

Namaste

harih
05 June 2012, 02:27 AM
Namaste Eric,

In my understanding, the count you gave (11 Akshauhinis for the Kauravas and 7 for the Pandavas) is the correct one and also the commonly accepted one. There might be a few stray verses that give hyperbolic figures, but discounting such interpolations we can get very truthful and consistent accounts throughout.