The Mahabharata War was the largest in ancient India. It involved almost all the kingdoms from the present-day region of India and kingdoms from Afghanistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
The estimated total number of warriors who participated in the war was around 4.8 million. Despite such massive participation, there were exceptions. Many important warriors chose not to fight or join in the war. Here are their stories and the reasons why they decided to stay away from such an impactful war.
1. Vidura
Vidura was the stepbrother of Dhritarastra. He served as the chief minister and counselor to the Kuru kingdom. Known for his wisdom, honesty, and moral integrity. Being such an important figure he still stayed away from war due to several reasons.
1. As per the description in the Mahabharat, Vidura isn’t described as a warrior. He was a skilled minister.
2. Dhritarashtra wholeheartedly trusts Vidura. If any difficult situation arises he always seeks help from Vidura. Vidura always showed him the right path fearlessly. No matter how harsh the truth was, he always presented it before Dhritarashtra. In such a situation if Vidura goes to the Pandava side, it will break Dhritarashtra’s trust in him and he will not have anybody to share his burden.
3. Most importantly, Before Starting of the war Duryodhana Scrolled him and sent him away. He was on the pilgrimage when the Mahabharata war happened.
2. Balaram
Who doesn’t know Balaram? He was the elder brother of lord Krishna. Also, he was the Guru of both Bhima and Duryodhana. Both Bhim and Duryodhana were taught the skills of mace fight (Gada Yuddh) by Balarama.
Both of them had also approached him to be part of their side. Though Duryodhana was his favorite, he didn’t join Kauravas as he didn’t want to against Krishna and Dharma. He also loved Bhima but didn’t join Pandava as he didn’t want to go against his favorite student. So He decided to remain neutral and went on pilgrimage.
3. Rukmi – King of Vidarbha
Rukmi was the brother-in-law of Krishna, his wife Rukmini’s brother. When Krishna abducted Rukmini, He fought with Rukmi and defeated him, But at the request of Rukmini Krishna left him alive.
When the war was about to start he first went to Arjuna. Rukmi who was present there thought that Arjuna desperately wanted the help of Krishna because he was afraid of Kauravas. Rukmi told Arjuna that he had a great bow in his possession which was blessed by the Devas and with him, on his side, Arjuna need not worry about the result of the war. Arjuna did not like the boastfulness of Rukmi and refused his help.
Then, Rukmi turned to Duryodhana, but the Kauravas refused him, stating they couldn’t accept someone rejected by the Pandavas.
Thus, rejected by both sides, disheartenedly, Rukmi returned to his kingdom and stayed away from the War.
4. Pradumna and other sons of Krishna
Mahabharat text does not mention the participation of any of Krishna’s sons in the Mahabharat war. While Pandava was in exile, Pradhyuman taught the art of warfare to Abhimanyu and all five Uppandavas.
After that, he went on a Pilgrimage with his uncle Balaram during the War.
5. King of Udipi
When all the kings, both inside and outside of India, joined either the Kaurava or the Pandava armies, the King of Udupi reached Kurukshetra. He and his warriors were not interested in fighting in the war. However, seeing the scale of the war, not participating was also not an option. So, the King of Udupi went to meet Krishna and said, “If I were to participate in the war, I would like to feed all the soldiers. Someone has to cook for them, so my army and I will take on that responsibility.” Krishna agreed.
A very popular folklore is also attached to this incident.
The king always managed to cook the perfect amount of food; it was neither wasted nor was there a shortage.
When Yudhishthir asked the secret behind it, the King explained, “Every day, I offer Krishna a sweet with some dry fruits. The number of dry fruits eaten by Krishna indicates the number of thousands of soldiers who will die the next day, and the number of dry fruits left represents the number of remaining soldiers. Based on this, I cook food in the appropriate quantity.”
According to the other version of this story, every day Udipi king used to feed boiled peanuts to Krishna, and based on the left peanuts by Krishna, he used to cook food.
6. Queen of Kashmir – Yashovati Devi
According to the Nilamata Purana, King Gonanda of Kashmir, a relative of Jarasandha, aided him in the invasion of Dwaraka but was killed by Balarama. To avenge his father, his son Damodara attacked Krishna in Gandhara but was also killed. Krishna then appointed Damodara’s widow, Yashovati, as Queen of Kashmir. During the Kurukshetra war, her son Bala Gonanda was still a minor and did not participate.