The Mahabharata – A war in which 6 generations participated

The Indian epic – The Mahabharata is one of the most complex stories ever told. One of the details that we tend to miss is the time span it covers. The Mahabharata war itself had participation from six generations of soldiers. Yes, six generations participated together in or witnessed one war! Who are they you would as? How can they would be the next question. Let us look at the who question first.

Here is a chart that identifies representatives of these six generations.

The Mahabharata lineage starts with Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura. Shantanu is the youngest of the three sons of King Pratipa. The eldest of the three, Devapi was inflicted with leprosy and so gave up the throne. The second son Bahlika inherited his maternal uncle’s kingdom. Thus Shantanu became king of Hastinapura. This is not the only instance of the eldest son not succeeding to the throne in the Mahabharata. Bhishma, Shantanu’s eldest son did not succeed him because he gave up his claim the throne as demanded by Satyavathi. Of Shantanu’s two sons with Satyavati, the younger Vichitravirya became king as the elder, Chitrangada was killed by a Gandharva. Even later, Pandu was younger to Dhritarashtra but became king as Dhritarashtra was blind.

Generation 1

The oldest participant of the Mahabharata War was Shantanu’s elder brother Bahlika. He represents the first generation in the war. His son Somadatta and grandson Bhurisravas also participated in the war. All of them fought on the Kaurava side.

Generation 2

Shantanu married Ganga and their son Devavrata better known as Bhishma or Bhishma Pitamah was the first commander of the Kaurava forces in the 18 day war.

Shantanu’s second marriage was with Satyavati. Satyavati had an earlier son with sage Parashara. This son, Krishna Dwaipayana better known as the sage Veda Vyasa is the author of the Mahabharata. As we will see, Veda Vyasa’s role in the Mahabharata was not just to write it.

Satyavati and Shantanu had two sons – Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. After the death of Chitrangada, Vichitravirya became king. Vichitravirya had two queens – Ambika and Ambalika. Vichitravirya died without children. Faced with the prospect of the Kuru lineage dying out, Satyavati got her son Vedavyasa to do niryoga marriage with Vichitravirya’s wives.

Incidentally, this is not the only instance in the Mahabharata where the lineage is maintained like this. The Pandavas are also the result of a similar arrangement.

Generation 3

Vichitravirya’s children through the niryoga marriage with Veda Vyasa are Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Vidhura is also born out of the niryoga marriage when Ambika sent her maid Parishrami to Veda Vyasa in her place.

Pandu the younger brother dies before the war and Dhritarashtra being blind id not participate in the war. Bhurisrawas, Bahilika’s grandson and belonging to the third generation, participated in the war on the Kaurava’s side.

The narration of the war in the Mahabharata is as described by Sanjaya to Dhritarashtra.

Generation 4

The fourth generation in the war are the Pandavas and the Kauravas themselves. Yuyutsu, the Son of Dhritarashtra in Sughada, Gandhari’s maid fought the war on the Pandava side. He is one of the few warriors to survive the war. He was made the guardian of Parikshit, who became king when the Pandavas retired to the forest towards the end of their time on earth.

Generation 5

This is the generation of the children of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Notable participants in the epic war were Abhimanyu – Arjuna’s Sun with Subhadra and Ghatotkacha, Bhima’s son with Hidimbi. Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana is also a participant in the war.

Generation 6

The sixth generation did not directly participate in the war, but nevertheless some of them had a role to play. Barbarika, GHatotkacha’s son with Mourvi was a undefeatable warrior. And he made a promise that he would always fight on the side of the looser. Sri Krishna explained to him that the meant that he would keep changing sides till both the sides were destroyed completely and only he was left standing. To avoid this situation, Sri Krishna got him to behead himself. He got a promise from Sri Krishna that he would be able to witness the war. So, his head was set up on a high hill and he witnessed the whole war.

At the end of the war, Ashwatthama, Dronacharya’s son, kills all the remaining sons of the Pandavas (Upa Pandavas) and other warriors by attacking them at night. Arjuna and Sri Krishna confront Ashwatthama. In the ensuing battle, both Arjuna and Ashwatthama deploy the Brahmastra, which would have destroyed the whole universe. Veda Vyasa intervenes and asks both to withdraw their respective weapons. Arjuna is able to do it, but Ashwatthama does not know how to withdraw the Brahmastra. Sri Krishna Advises him to direct the Brahmastra to any empty location. In a moment of spite, Ashwatthama directs his Brahmastra at the womb of Uttara, Abhimanyu’s wife. At that time, Uttara was carrying Parikshit, Abhimanyu’s son. As a result of the Brahmastra, Parikshit is still born, but Sri Krishna revives him.

So, that is how six generations of warriors participated in the war of all wars, the war between righteousness and evil.

Note: [This is purely in the realm of speculation].

That leaves us with the question of how old were these warriors when they fought in the Mahabharata war. Parikshit we know, was born right after the war. If we assume even a 15 year gap between each generation (each warrior is atleast 15 years old by the time he gets married and has children), that makes the oldest of these warriors – Bahlika, at least 75 years old at the time of the war. This puts the Pandavas in their thirties at the time of the war and does not account for their 13 years of vanavas or the many years that Arjuna spent in penance.

So, what was the age of the warriors? There are theories that place the age of the older warriors like Bhishma and Drona well aver a hundred years. These theories are based on the premise that as the yugas progress, the lifespan of individuals reduce. We are now in the Kaliyuga and the events that the Mahabharata speaks of happens towards the end of the Dwaparayuga, when lifespans were much longer.