Duryodhana's overconfidence - Kurukshethra warrior strategy

Kurukshethra - Kaurava Pandava warrior mapping

Duryodhana's overconfidence

Duryodhana and Shakuni were no fools. They were brilliant strategists and they never wanted a war if they had no chance of winning. So when Duryodhana decided to go to war he was confident, in fact he was overconfident that he held all the cards, the aces, all the winning cards. He felt he had the numbers 11 against 7 akshauhinis, a solid 50% more army.

But that was not his main strength or reason or cause for overconfidence! It was his feeling that he had the better class of warriors! He felt he matched and outclassed in the list of warriors over the Pandavas. How do we say that? Let us look and map the warriors of Pandavas against the Kauravas as it stood before the 1st day of Kurukshethra!!!

Warrior mapping - Pandava army vs Kaurava army

This is just a list mapping the prominent names of warriors on both sides.

Bhima vs Duryodhana

Duryodhana felt Bhima was the dangerous guy as he was always defeating him and his brothers during child and youth stage. He felt the 12 years in forest and 1 in hiding will keep Bhima away from practicing and he can defeat him. Also the main reason for his playing trick on Shalya was because after Balaram and Bhima, Shalya was considered the strong man.

So Bhima vs Duryodhana problem solved he thought.

Mistake : Bhima was a good archer and had great strength and stamina and could handle any weapon unlike Duri. Bhima killed more people than most with more range of weapons.

Arjuna vs Karna

Arjuna was a foregone conclusion for Duryodhana. Karna will kill him was his expectation. But first 10 days it was Bhishma vs Arjuna even that Duri felt was in his side victory or advantage.

Drona vs Drupad/ Virat

Duryodhana was confident that Drona could take care of Drupad and Virat without any issues. Drona had all divine weapons and was a master or a Maharathi against him they were no match and it was true.

Bhurishravas vs Satyaki

Satyaki was a dangerous man so was Bhurishravas. So it was a foregone conclusion for Duri.

Ghatotkacha vs Alambusha

A rakshasa against another was Duri's plan. Bhima's son vs Alambush a Rakshasa king. He felt that as the foremost name Alambusha had the advantage. Which was a mistake.

Abhimanyu vs Kritavarma

Abhimanyu was taught by Krishna and Pradyumna so was more a Yadava style warrior. Who better than Kritavarma a Yadava chief?

Ashwadhama vs Drishtadyumna

Again it was a foregone conclusion the man who was there to kill his father Drona and the Ashwadhama was immoral so Duri was sure Drishtadyumna vs Ashwadhama was the best match.

Kripa vs Kuntibhoja

Two aging great warriors. One immortal, again it was a foregone conclusion. But that never happened most of the time Kripa was rescuing Duryodhana or supporting Dushasana or Ashwadhama against Arjuna or Bhima!

Bhurishravas vs Yudhishtira

Not much but they felt Yudhishtira was not great so everyone was trying to capture him. Bhurishravas generally was fighting near Yudhishtira and even defeated Shikhandi and Satyaki. But Bhurishravas was mostly running into Arjuna or Bhima or Satyaki or Dhrishtadyuma and fought very little with Yudhi.

Jayadratha vs Shikhandi

Shikhandi though reborn as man or whatever was a good warrior and he gave some good fights to Ashwadhama, Kripa etc So Jayadratha a good warrior considered equal to 4 Rathis was a clean match and edge over. Jayadratha was mostly joining group fights and unfair fights against Bhima, Arjuna, Abhimanyu until he was killed.

Shalya vs Nakul

Uncle against nephew. Strong, experienced warrior vs a good warrior but outclassed was what Duri thought. Nakul never defeated Shalya and one or two instances they fought but result was always Bhima or Yudhishtira or Satyaki came to neutralize Shalya.

Sahadeva vs Shakuni

Again a gross under estimation. Shakuni was good but Sahadeva was better. Duri again thought otherwise. But end result was Sahadeva finished off Shakuni.

Vikarna, Vinda, Anuvinda, Dushasana, Chitrasena vs Upa Pandavas (Sons of Draupadi)

Again a surprising plan but the Upa Pandavas were a good match against the seasoned team of Vikarna, Vinda Anuvinda, Chitrasena and Dushasana. But ultimately they were fighting Bhima most of the time and Vikarna and Dushasana dies at Bhima's hands.

More warriors of Duryodhana

Duryodhana still had his brothers and nephews and sons plus Shalya, Karna, Shakuni's brothers and sons, nephews etc He had Trigarta king Susharma, Kamboja king, Mahishmati King, Kosala king, King of Vahlika were more strong warriors of Rathi or Atirathi class. This was an advantage he felt he had over the Pandavas.

So he felt he had reserves who were there to support anyone and take on anyone. Duryodhana felt he had the advantage in numbers and warriors of higher class. But either Bhima or Arjuna or Satyaki finished most of them off. Some were finished by Ghatotkacha, Abhimanyu, Upa Pandavas or Drishtadyumna. 

Paper tigers

On paper Kaurava army looked formidable but in reality it was not. There was no one to stop a rampaging Bhima, Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha, Satyaki. On day 14 Bhima and Arjuna together finished of 7 akshauhinis. Bhima already had finished another till then. Satyaki also finished 1. So around 9 akshauhinis just the 3 finished off!

Bhima killed all Duryodhana's brothers and stopped Shalya, Kripa, Karna, Drona, Bhurishravas, Kritavarma, Jayadratha, on many occasions. He had held up Bhagadutta also couple of times. Ghatotkacha killed Alayudha, Alambusha and stopped Bhagadutta, Karna, Drona several times and finished an akshauhini himself.  

Between Ghatotkacha and Abhimanyu, Stayaki, Arjuna and Bhima they killed almost all the allied kings. Arjuna finished off Bhishma and Karna as well as Jayadratha. Compared to that none of the top warriors were defeated by Kauravas or killed except Uttara, Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha, Drupad, Virat during battle. Rest was all killed in night evil ways only.

So in reality Kauravas were not having the class of warriors to match Pandavas. Bhishma and Drona and Karna were fettered by the feel that they were forced to support adharma and Arjuna was more than a match and a surprise was Bhima who defeated Drona and Karna many times!