Introduction: Mahabharata is the
second longest epic in the world, it was narrated thrice by Ved Vyasa to Lord
Ganesha, by Vaishampayan to king Janamejaya and by Suta sages to other sages. War
of Mahabharat was fought in 3139 B.C. at Kurukshetra. It referred
to some astonishing facts like the existence of planets like Uranus and
Neptune, use of numbers up to 10 raised to power 16 and -16, descriptions
of devastating weaponry like chemical
weapons and various military formations. Mahabharata is a massive treasure for
management learning’s. The Great War lasted for 18 days and against all odds
Pandavas emerged as victorious.
A comparison of both powers head to head
·
Kauravas:
They were in power from last 13 years. Duryodhana was considered as a benevolent king. They had support of vast resources and Karna went on a world wide mission to conquer kingdoms and amass wealth. They were the sovereigns of the world at that time. They had valiant and supreme warriors like Bhishma (Who cannot die against his own wish), Drona (the ‘guru’ of both Kauravas and Pandavas), Karna (Eldest of Pandvas, who wore the indestructible Kavach-kundal), Krpiacharya, Ashwaththama, Kritvarma etc.
They were in power from last 13 years. Duryodhana was considered as a benevolent king. They had support of vast resources and Karna went on a world wide mission to conquer kingdoms and amass wealth. They were the sovereigns of the world at that time. They had valiant and supreme warriors like Bhishma (Who cannot die against his own wish), Drona (the ‘guru’ of both Kauravas and Pandavas), Karna (Eldest of Pandvas, who wore the indestructible Kavach-kundal), Krpiacharya, Ashwaththama, Kritvarma etc.
Motivation for
war: Duryodhana was bent on war, it was
his moment of truth, he was ready to save his kingdom by hook or by crook.
·
Pandavas:
They were suffering exile from last 13 years. They did not had any kingdom and they were heavily dependent on friends and relatives for power and resources. Yet they also had warriors like Bhim, Arjun, Yudhishthir etc.
They were suffering exile from last 13 years. They did not had any kingdom and they were heavily dependent on friends and relatives for power and resources. Yet they also had warriors like Bhim, Arjun, Yudhishthir etc.
Motivation for war:
None of the Pandavas wanted the war; they were even ready to settle the matter
for just five villages.
Turning points
Karna went on a world-wide campaign to gather resources, but it also created many new enemies which supported Pandavas. Pandvas even in exile gathered resources and weapons e.g. Arjuna performed severe penance to obtain Divyastras.
Kauravas had a central authority system and women were not
included in the decision making system i.e. they had one commander controlling
their army, while Pandavas delegated the authority to many commanders i.e. they
had seven different commanders commanding each of the seven units of their army
As a team Kauravas
were horrible: Bhishma had problems with Karana and Shakuni, Karna had a
problem with Shakuni, Shakuni’s mission was to destroy Dhritrashtra (father of
Duryodhana), Drona, Bhishma, Shalya and Karna had personal affection for
Pandavas. So it was a team of culprits. Pandavas had a wonderful blend of
warriors; their side was in complete awe of Arjun, Bhim and above all Lord
Krishna.
Result:
Result:
Most of the
Kaurava warriors wanted to harm Pandavas so they never attacked with their full
might
While Pandavas, under the leadership of Lord Krishna
studied and exploited the weakness of each and every foe and thus defeated the
Kauravas.