काश्यश्च परमेष्वास: शिखण्डी च महारथ: |
धृष्टद्युम्नो विराटश्च सात्यकिश्चापराजित: ||17||
The king of Kashi also an excellent Archer, the Shikhandi who is also a “Maharathi”, Dhrishtadyumna, Virat, and Satyaki, who is invincible.
The description of Pandava’s Army goes on…
The King of Kashi is on the Pandava’s side who is an excellent Archer as described in the above shloka. Next is great warrior Shikhandi, the daughter of King Drupada, who is mentioned over here as the “Maharathi”.
Maharathi means that a warrior who is considered equal to 12 Atirathis or in layman’s term a warrior who can easily defeat ten thousand ordinary warriors. The brief history of the origin of Shikhandi is mentioned by Bhishma in the Udyogaparva: Ambopakhyanaparva.
Next mighty warrior on the Pandava’s Side is Dhrishtadyumna, Son of the Drupada, the king of Panchala. He emerged from the fire Sacrifice to fulfill his father’s desire to slay Drona, who had humiliated King Drupada in a battle and taken half his kingdom. Dhrishtadyumna was a brother of Draupadi and Shikhandi and also the Commander of the Pandava Army.
Other warriors mentioned in this shloka is Virat and Satyaki. The former was the king of the Matsya Kingdom with its the Virata Kingdom, in whose court the Pandavas spent a year in concealment during their exile and the later was a powerful warrior of Vrishni clan of the Yadavas. Satyaki is mentioned as “Aparajitah” which means that warrior who is invincible.
All of these Mighty Warriors on the Pandava’s Side had a particular role to play in this War.
