Strong, however, as these nations were none seemed able to dispute the prize of the coming empire with the Kurus, until under King Jarasundha the Barhodruth Magadha for a moment disturbed the political balance. The history of the first great Magadhan hope of empire and its extinction—not to be revived again until the final downfall of the Kurus—is told very briefly in the Sabhapurva of the Mahabharata.
The removal of Jarasundha restored the original state of politics and it was no longer doubtful that to the Kurus alone could fall the future empire. But here a contest arose between the elder & younger branches of the Bharata house. The question being then narrowed to a personal issue, it was inevitable that it should become largely a history of personal strife & discord; other & larger issues were involved in the dispute between the Kaurava cousins; but whatever interests, incompatibilities of temperament & differences of opinion may divide brothers, they do not engage in fratricidal conflict until they are driven to it by a long record of collision & jealousy, ever deepening personal hatreds & the worst personal injuries.
We see therefore that not only the early discords, the slaying of Jarasundha & the Rajasuyasacrifice are necessary to the epic but the great gambling & the mishandling of Draupadie. It cannot, however, have been personal questions alone that affected the choice of the different nations between Duryodhana and Yudhisthere.
Personal relations like the matrimonial connections of Dhritarashtra's family with the Sindhus and Gandharas and of the Pandavas with the Matsyas, Panchalas & Yadavas doubtless counted for much, but there must have been something more; personal enmities counted for something as in the feud cherished by the Trigartas against Arjouna. The Madras disregarded matrimonial ties when they sided with Duryodhan; the Magadhas & Chedies put aside the memory of personal wrongs when they espoused the cause of Yudhisthere.
I believe the explanation we must gather from the hints of the Mahabharata is this, that the nations were divided into three classes, those who desired autonomy, those who desired to break the power of the Kurus and assert their own supremacy and those who imbued with old imperialistic notions desired an united India.
The first followed Duryodhana because the empire of Duryodhana could not be more than the empire of a day while that of Yudhisthere had every possibility of permanence; even Queen Gandhari, Duryodhan's own mother, was able to hit this weak point in her son's ambition. The Rajasuya Sacrifice had also undoubtedly identified Yudhisthere in men's minds with the imperialistic impulse of the times. We are given some important hints in the Udyogapurva.
When Vidura remonstrates with Krishna for coming to Hastinapura, he tells him it was highly imprudent for him to venture there knowing as he did that the city was full of kings all burning with enmity against him for having deprived them once of their greatness, driven by the fear of him to take refuge with Duryodhan and all eager to war against the Pandavas.
This can have no intelligible reference except to the Rajasuya sacrifice. Although it was the armies of Yudhisthere that had traversed India then on their mission of conquest, Krishna was generally recognised as the great moving & master mind whose hands of execution the Pandavas were and without whom they would have been nothing. His personality dominated men's imaginations for adoration or for hatred; for that many abhorred him as an astute & unscrupulous revolutionist in morals, politics & religion, we very clearly perceive. We have not only the fiery invectives of Shishupala but the reproach of Bhurisravas, the Vahlika, a man of high reputation & universally respected.
येषु येषु नरः पार्थ यत्र यत्र च वर्तते । आशु तच्छीलतामेति तदिदं त्वयि दृश्यते ॥ कथं हि राजवंश्यस्त्वं कौरवेयो विशेषतः । क्षत्रधर्मादपक्रान्तः सुवृत्तश्चरितव्रतः ॥ इदन्तु यदतिक्षुद्रं वार्ष्णेयार्थे कृतं त्वया । वासुदेवमतं नूनं नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ॥ को हि नाम प्रमत्ताय परेण सह युध्यते । ईदृशं व्यसनं दद्याद्यो न कृष्णसखो भवेत् ॥ व्रात्याः संश्लिष्टकर्माणः प्रकृत्यैव च गर्हिताः । वृष्ण्यन्धकाः कथं पार्थ प्रमाणं भवता कृताः ॥
Krishna himself is perfectly conscious of this; he tells Vidura that he must make efforts towards peace both to deliver his soul & to justify himself in the eyes of men.
न मां ब्रूयुरधर्मिष्ठा मूढा ह्यसुह्रदस्तथा । शक्तो नावारयत्कृष्णः संरब्धन्कुरुपान्डवान् ॥''
Sri Aurobindo - Notes on the Mahabharata
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