Dharma Khestra Kurukshetra – Part X – Maharathi & Atirathi (Bhisma Parva)

Dharma Khestra Kurukshetra witnessed the amalgamation of the best of the best warriors of The Dwapar Yug & often mentioned that such Warriors would rarely be born in the coming Yug’s. Before the commencement of this Epic War & probably the First World War on this Earth fought on the banks of River Saraswati, Duryodhan had asked Bhisma Pitamah to present to him the classification of Warriors who are participating in the Dharma Yudh from Aryavrat. As Mahamahim Bhisma Peetamah (Bhisma Uvache) to Duryodhan that Warriors can be classified as Three Categories :

1. Rathi – Is one who can handle all his weapons & master on a Chariot.

2. Atirathi – Is one who can handle 12 times of a Rathi or 12 Rathi’s at the same time.

3. Maharathi – Is one who can handle 12 times of an Atirathi or 12 Ati Rathi’s at the same time.

The above ranks are not just a reflection of skill or mastery of a weapon. It also includes knowledge of battle formations, strategic skill set, tactical knowledge, past experience, ability to crack”battle traps” and so on. Simply because an archer rode a chariot did not make him a Rathi – the warrior needed to have some fearsome reputation and class battle experience too. Yudhisthir and Bheema both are considered Rathis but their respective sons – Prativindhya and Sutasoma are Atirathis. You may wonder why is that when both Yudhisthir and Bheema are more experienced than their sons? The reason is – Prativindhya and Sutasoma were highly skilled in battle plans, strategies, forming bottlenecks and tackling different battle formations (“Vyuhas”). They also had mastery of all forms of weapons which includes bows and arrows, mace, sword and spear.

Again, Abhimanyu – the youngest son of Pandava family is a Maharathi. This is because he had knowledge of cracking Chakravyuha and knew how to move the fastest in the battlefield. Only Abhimanyu and Arjuna had the mettle of tackling Drona, Bheesma, Aswathhama and other Maharathis from Kaurava side.So one Abhimanyu (Maharathi) is equal to 12 X 12 = 144 Yudhisthirs. Please also note that just because a warrior has a higher rank, that doesn’t mean a warrior from a lower rank cannot beat or kill him. Example – Shikhandi was only a Rathi but he ended up killing Bheesma – a Maharathi. Ved Vyas considers both Duryodhana and Bheema have the talent of an Atirathi but since both are weak in strategy and tactical thinking, they are slightly lesser than an Atirathi but higher than Rathis. Bheema and Duryodhana are considered equal to 8 Rathis.

Now that we are clear on the classification let’s look at the formation of the Two sides with this Warriors & also their arsenal that were used or possessed by them including their Celestial Weapons (Divya Astra)

The Kaurava’s formation looked somewhat like this :

Rathi – 99 Brothers of Duryodhan, 5 Trigartha Warriors, Lakshman (Dushashan’s Son),Shakuni & to name a few. While the Ati Rathis of the Kauravas comprised of Kritavarma, Shalya,Bhurisharavas,Alambush, Ashwathama, Vrishasen & few more.The MahaRathis were the best of the best which had Bhisma himself, Guru Dronacharya, Karna, Duryodhan himself. 

The Pandavas  on the other side with the blessings of Sri Krishna who was considered more than a Maharathi had Rathi’s in the form of Yudhistir, Bhim, Nakul, Sahadev,Vyagradatta, Chitra Yudha & to name a few. The Atirathi’s comprised of Dhristadumnya, Kuntibhoj, Srenimat, Satyajit (Drupad’s Son) & king Vasudeva. The Maharathi’s of the Pandavas had Arjun, Satyaki, Dhrupad,Dhristaketu, Ghatothkach, the 5 sons of Darupadi, Jayanta & King of Panchal,Aja , Bhoja & one of the Kaurav Brothers Yujutsu the half brother of Duryodhan & blessed with an armoury of celestial weapons.

Arjun & Krishna were the incarnations of Nara & Narayan, hence wherever they went, fought, lived they were together. Lord Hanuman was riding the flag of Arjuna’s divine chariot given to him by Agni Dev along with his Gandiv. Arjuna possessed All 3 weapons (Brahmastra, Pashupatastra and Vaishnavastra).And Arjuna, having dwelt for five years in the abode of him of a thousand eyes, and having from that lord of celestials obtained all the celestial weapons,--such as those of Agni, of Varuna, of Soma, of Vayu, of Vishnu, of Indra, of Pasupati, of Brahma, of Parameshthi, of Prajapati, of Yama, of Dhata, of Savita, of Tvashta, and of Vaisravana. This was also coupled with Anjali Astra.

Ved Vyas also lays down the formation of the Armies, while we have described the details of the strength & break up in our earlier chapters of this series let’s look at it in a more detailed manner :

Padatik-  Infantrymen.

Ashvarohi  – Horseman. One Ashvarohi = 12 Infantrymen.

Gaja  – Soldier on an Elephant. One Gaja = 12 Ashvarohi.

ArdhaRathi – A soldier on a chariot who is considered equal to one Gaja. Apart from these we have in the earlier paragraph described the Rathi, Ati Rathi & Maharathi’s. There are two more types of this which however never came into play their roles in Kuruskshetra.

Ati-Maharathi – A warrior who is considered equal to 12 Maharathis.( No warrior in Mahabharata war held this rank. Vyasa was of the opinion that Krishna is the only Atimaharathi after Parashurama, because of his Sudarshan Chakra which is deadlier than Bhrahmasthra, Pashupatashtra and all divine weapons combined.Apart from Parashurama and Krishna, Ravana’s son Indrajit was considered to be an Ati-Maharathi.

Mahamaharathis – A warrior who is considered equal to 24 Ati-Maharathis (No Warrior in Mahabharata held this rank. Shiva and Kali are said to be the ultimate Mahamaharathis who held the power of destroying the whole universe in one blink of an eye. The only person who was capable of becoming a MahaMahaRathi was Aswathhama but there was a condition – he had to be extremely angry and excited to unleash his full potential (which he himself did not knew). Aswathhama had this potential because he descended as an avatar of Rudra, which is Shiva himself. Only Drona, Bheesma and Krishna knew the true potential of an angry Aswathhama but they never revealed this to anyone. Aswathhama was one of the Chiranjivis and is supposed to live as an immortal, superceeding the “Ichhamrityu” of Bheesma. Vyasa is of the opinion that Shiva was a silent observer of the whole ordeal (in the form of Aswathhama) and would have taken steps to destroy the whole humankind, if Krishna failed to preserve Dharma before Kali Yuga prevailed.

The measure of the army that fought in Mahabharata war was measured in “Akshauhini”. The ratio was 7:11 i.e 7 Akshauhini units on Pandava side while 11 Akshauhini units on Kaurava side.By calculation, One Akshauni division contains 21,870 elephants, 21,870 chariots, 65,610 Horses, and 109,350 infantry men. In total, there were 18 Akshauhini units which means the total combined strength of the army on both sides is 1968300 Infrantymen,393660 Elephants,1180980 Horses & 393660 chariots. This has a sharp co-relation with the game of Chess (“Chaturanga“) which was invented in ancient India.The Formations where hence called the Chaturangi Sena. In our Next Chapter we will cover the Battle formations in details.