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| A Depiction of the war of Kuru Kshetra |
1. Involvement
The Indian sub-continent, then known as the Jambudweep(Jambudvipa) had been divided into many kingdoms. One of them was Hastinapur, capital city of Kuru kingdom,where the story of the epic is centered.There were also several other kingdoms which participated in the war on the calling from Pandavas, and their friend Lord Krishna. To support the army of Kauravas(100 Princes of Hastinapur), many other kingdoms participated in the war.
The approximate number of soldiers involved has also been mentioned in the epic. Kauravas had gathered about 11 lakh soldiers while Pandavas had arranged 7 lakh soldiers. At the end of the war, some 200-500 soldiers were left alive.
2. Weapons
Anyone who has read Mahabharata comes across with bows and arrows as the weapons. The description of the weapons seem contemporary to the date during which the epic had been written down because we do not know of the arrows that send out fire or track targets or kill thousands of people at once.Bows and arrows might have been the most convincing weapons for description at that time. If Guru Vyas had said about sophisticated nuclear weapons, who would have believed him? But he does mention the Brahmashtra, the weapon of mass destruction. Only some authorized people had license to use them, among which is Guru Drona's son, Ashwathama. Even Karna talks about using the weapon to kill the Pandavas but does not use it in his life time. Krishna also could have used the weapon had he not taken a vow not to use weapons in the war against anyone. Among the Pandavas, Arjuna was the one who used it to destroy thousands of soldiers after his son had been killed.
This weapon of mass destruction was special. Anyone who had it would be among the most powerful. According to other Sanskrit texts like the Puranas and the Ramyana, Guru Vashistha was the first to produce it in war against Guru Vishwamitra, who later gained one after a lot of penances (studies and meditations). Parshu Ram, the teacher of Karna also possessed one, which he used against evil-doing Kshatriyas. The limited number of users signifies its strength and sophistication. The death toll presented above corresponds to the use of weapons of mass-destruction.
3. End of Civilization
The War of the Mahabharata is said to be the marking of end of Dwapar Yug. In fact, it wiped out civilization from the Indian sub-continent. The Kuru Kshetra and the land around it became infertile. The area is now in the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan and it is among the most barren parts of the sub-continent. The amount of radioactive materials have been estimated to be high in the area, which is not a surprise, owing to the use of nuclear weapons in the war that occurred some eight to ten thousand years ago. Cities, and even countries may have been destroyed. Along with them, the weapons must have been destroyed and their formula, hidden.Women, children and senescent were the only people who survived the direct deaths in the war. Their conditions must have been worse increasing the number of deaths and migration to other places. They seem to have migrated eastwards and southwards because they were the regions that survived the effect of nuclear weapons. Thus the areas around Hastinapur were also deserted, forcing the Pandavas to leave the kingdoms towards the end of their lives. Those who survived must have passed the stories generation-after-generation but must have lived nomadic lives until the discovery of fertile lands between the Indus and the Ganga.
This somewhat corresponds to one of Albert Einstein's famous sayings, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
