Friday, October 19, 2012

What would have been population of India in early days?

Hi friends! Any idea on what would be the population or size of India in early days - may be in or around the days of Mahabharatha? We cannot be sure, but still we can make a rough comparison based on the army size. Yes, please continue reading. In Mahabharatha, there is a sloka (verse) that explains the strength of Pandava and Kaurava armies that took part in Kurukshetra. The sloka is highlighted in the photo. Here is the English Translation of the sloka:

Kashtam Yudhdhae dhasha shaeshaa: shrutha mae thrayoasmaakam Paandavaanaam cha saptha
Dhvyoonaa vimsathiraahathaadhouhineenaam thasminsangraamae vigrahae dhathriyaanaam
It means: The difficult war has left only ten alive - three from our side (Kaurava) and the Pandavas seven, in that dreadful conflict eighteen Akshauhinis of Kshatriyas have been slain!

So wondering where is the strength of army mentioned? I believe not. Because, I have highlighted it as well. Yes it is "Eighteen Akshauhini". It is the keyword. One Akshauhini comprises of the following:
21,870 Chariots
21,870 Elephants
65,610 Cavalry (Horses)
109,350 Infantry (Soldiers on foot)
So, the total strength of one Akshauhini is 218700. So, 18 times 218700 gives us 3936600. Could you believe it? It is almost 4 million. This 4 million is split into 1530900 (7 Akshauhini) on Pandavas' side, 2405700 (11 Akshauhini) on Kauravas' side. Let us compare this strength with strength of Indian army at present. The Indian army at present has 1,129,900 active personnels and 960,000 reserved personnels, 2089900 in total which is nothing but 2 million. Today we have got a population of over 12 billion and today we have got all the complex forms of terrorisms and neighborhood threats. So, if 12 billion population has got an army strength of 2 million, what amount of populatio would have got an army strength of 4 million. This gives us two indications. One is the population. The other important indication is the boundary of India. What size of a country could have occupied such a size of people?!!! There are other slokas in Mahabharatha that talks about this 18 Akshauhini. But the reason for me selecting this sloka is that this particular sloka has got a treasure of information in it. It is "eighteen Akshauhinis of Kshatriyas have been slain". So, at the end of this war 4 million people have died which means a great reduction in population!!!...THE PATH WILL BE FOLLOWED...
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4 comments:

  1. VasanthOctober 20, 2012 at 2:19 PM

    U have digged in a lot machi... got some interest to know about history...

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    1. RagavendranOctober 20, 2012 at 9:28 PM

      Yes Vasanth, that is the whole point to have this blog created. Happy that you like this. For now, I can quote only from Mahabharatha, Ramayana and stuff like that. But soon, I will have myself prepared to quote from a diversified group of texts. I will have an update on this blog almost everyday. So, stay connected...

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  2. prabhaOctober 21, 2012 at 8:24 PM

    yenakku yenna thonudhunna indha population difference-ikku lakhs and lakhs of ppl from various regions have cme and made colonies(Mughals,Zoroastrian parsi,British,etc etc etc ) here that also may be reason for this population increase. as well these ppl may not to part in the wars so the count cld hv increased. And 1 thing I dont unstd that hw u can compare olden wars and the present?

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    1. RagavendranOctober 21, 2012 at 9:39 PM

      Prabha, one thing to be noted here is the timeline.
      Please see it here:
      Zoroastrian Parsi - 10th Century AD
      Portuguese in India - 1505 to 1961
      Mughals in India - 1526 to 1757 AD
      Dutch in India - 1605 to 1825
      British in India - 1617 to 1947
      So all of these are at least after the 10th century AD.
      But the Mahabharatha War (War of Kurukshetra) is claimed to have taken place in around 3100 BC. The time gap between this war as claimed to have hapened and the first of the invasions as you mentioned is around more than 3000 years.
      Even if we do not believe that the Mahabharatha did not take place in 3100 BC because it was written only in around 900 to 800 BC and the text reached it's final state in around 400 AD. Because all of the Sanskrit literatures were passed on generation to generation only orally. They were not written down. It was only around 1000 BC that the literatures started getting themselves in written form. So, finally there could be two possible dates for this war to have taken place - around 3100 BC (I personally believe in this) and 900 to 800 BC. In any case, it is far before the first of the modern day invasions have started. So, the strength mentioned in the Mahabharatha (that we are talking about) doesn't include these invaded people. We have to see deeper into History to understand this. In fact, no present day classification of world, country would have been there. The concept would have been entirely different. But the concept of India (the reason for this name may not be Sindhu, I will explain this in a later post) or Bharath would still have been there. So, we are in a position to think of a wider boundary for India during Mahabharatha. I hope this reply helps you.

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