 | Wars of Hindu Mythology: Encyclopedia II - Wars of Hindu Mythology - The Mahabharata
Wars of Hindu Mythology - The Mahabharata
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- Kuru Army: of 11 akshauhinis is formed by the kingdom of Hastinapura in alliance with races like the Samshaptakas, Trigartas, the Narayana army, the Sindhu army and Shalya of Madra.
Commanders in Chief: Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Shalya
Maharathas: Shalya, Ashwathama, Somadatta, Bhurisrava, Bhagadatta, Jayadratha, Kritavarma
Atirathas: Bhishma, Drona, Karna
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- Pandava Army: is a coalition of 7 akshauhinis, primarily comprising of the Panchala and Matsya forces, the Rakshasa forces of Bhima's son, and Vrishni-Yadava heroes.
Commanders in Chief: Dhristadyumna, Arjuna
Maharathas: Yudhisthira, Bhima, Dhristadyumna, Ghatotkacha, Satyaki
Atirathas: Arjuna
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- Bhishma: the most consummate warrior trained by Parashurama, Bhishma is indestructible by any warrior when he lifts his weapons. Having mastered his preceptor himself and all the kings of the earth, he is the Commander in Chief of the Kuru Army.
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- Drona: the preceptor of the kshatriyas and kings of the age, Drona is a great master of Vedic military arts, almost every celestial weapon, with great religious knowledge and wisdom. He becomes the second Kuru commander, and is the favorite of Arjuna. Drona's rejection of Karna as a student, owing to his unknown caste lays the foundation for the great Karna-Arjuna rivalry.
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- Arjuna: known all over the three worlds as the foremost warrior alive, he is the son of Indra and the most powerful atiratha. As the Pandava army's chief general, he is responsible for vanquishing Bhishma, as well as exterminating an entire akshauhini of warriors and maharathis in one day, in addition to the armies of Samshaptakas, Trigartas and Narayanas - millions of soldiers and heroic warrios. He is also the protagonist of the most intense personal rivalry of the war, between the two reputed greatest warriors, with Karna, whom he slays.
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- Bhima: the second and most impetuous Pandava, Bhima's personal strength is phenomenal. He is an unsurpassed master of the mace weapon, and a consummate wrestler. He slays all of the one hundred Kuru brothers, and the chief antagonist of the saga, Duryodhana.
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- Abhimanyu: the son of Arjuna, Abhimanyu is a consummate warrior almost equal to his father. When he enters the unbreakable chakravyuha, he holds the entire Kuru host, with Drona, Karna and hundreds of other heroic warriors, in addition to hundreds of thousands of foot soldiers at bay single-handedly. He is killed however, by deceit and a merciless and most unlawful slaying while he is unarmed and without a chariot, by all these powerful Kuru heroes.
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- Karna: the tragic hero of the epic, Karna is the first-born of Kunti, the mother of the five Pandavas, but abandoned as a child owing his mother's maidenhood and fear of destroying her honor. As a result, Karna is raised by charioteers and denied the recognition and benefits of belonging to the [[kshatriya] order.
Karna has to employ deceit to dodge the question of his caste, but obtains training from Parashurama. His passion and desire for revenge upon Drona, Arjuna and all of those who denied him opportunity and respect is consummate, and he becomes the most fearsome warrior. The entire rivalry is a question of who is truly superior.
Karna's prowess meets par with Arjuna's, and Karna devises a fearsome ploy to kill the Pandava prince. Firing off an extremely powerful missile at one instant that dazzles and injures Arjuna, he instantly fires off another powerful arrow to strike down the prince while he is still reeling from the impact. His ploy is thwarted by Krishna, who sinks Arjuna's chariot just so as the arrow passes Arjuna's head by an inch!
It is felt by many contemporary scholars and Hindus that Karna in fact was the superior of Arjuna, and was done in only by the curse of Parashurama owing to his deceit, and Krishna, due to his support of the evil Duryodhana and the horrible slaying of Abhimanyu. It is also depicted in the epic that Karna's soul is in fact that of Naraka, the terrible demon slain by Vishnu in a previous age.
Other related archivesAbhimanyu, Agneyastra, Agni, Arjuna, Ashwamedha, Ashwathama, Astra, Asura, Asuras, Avatara, Bhagavad Gita, Bhima, Bhishma, Bhumi, Brahma, Brahman, Brahmastra, Brihaspati, Devas, Dhristadyumna, Drona, Duryodhana, Fate, Ghatotkacha, Hanumana, Hastinapura, Hindu mythology, Indra, Indrajit, Jupiter, Kali Yuga, Kalki, Karna, Kaumodaki, Khara, Krishna, Kshatriya, Kumbhakarna, Kunti, Lakshmana, Mahabharata, Maricha, Matsya, Naraka, Narasimha, Narayana, Narayanastra, Nataraja, Panchala, Parashurama, Pashupata, Pradyumna, Prahasta, Preceptor, Rakshasa, Rama, Ravana, Satyaki, Shakti, Shalya, Shastra, Sindhu, Siva, Skanda, Subahu, Sudarshan, Sugriva, Sukracharya, Swarga, Trisula, Vaishnava, Vaishnavastra, Vajra, Varuna, Varunastra, Vayavastra, Vayu, Vedas, Vishnu, Vishwamitra, Vritra, Yudhisthira, Zeus, brahmarishi, brahmin, mace, missile, nuclear weapon, tapasvin, tapasya
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Mahabharata", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
