The Tragic Hero of Mahabharata – Abhimanyu

Being the grandson of Lord Indra, god of mystical weapons and wars and the son of Arjuna, a great warrior himself, Abhimanyu was one of the most courageous warriors. He was also considered equal to his father’s level at times. Abhimanyu was able to instil a sense of fear in the minds of warriors like Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and Dushasana. He was brought up under the guidance of Lord Krishna himself.

Abhimanyu has taken part in the war of Mahabharat and killed important personalities such as Kumara Lakshmana, the son of Duryodhana and Brihadbala, the king of Kosala belonging to Ikshwaku dynasty.

Previous Birth

Abhimanyu was the son of Arjun (One of the five Pandavas) and Subhadra (Lord Sri Krishna’s sister). He was the reincarnation of Varchas, the son of the moon god. It is believed that when the moon god was once asked to let his son incarnate himself on earth by the other devas (Gods). The moon god then made a pact that his son will remain on earth only for 16 years. This was because he could not bear to be separated from him longer than that. Hence, Abhimanyu was just 16 years old when he died in the Kurukshetra war.

Abhimanyu & Lord Krishna

After the game of gamble, the Pandavas lost everything and were sent to exile for a period of 12 years. It was just the Pandavas and their wife Draupadi who left for the exile. Meanwhile, Arjun handed over Abhimanyu to Lord Krishna before they left. He was asked to take care of Abhimanyu. Hence, Abhimanyu spent his childhood in Dwaraka, his mother’s city. Lord Krishna taught Abhimanyu the art of military science. He was also taught the use of different weapons on the battlefield by Pradyumna, the son of Lord Krishna. Acquiring these skills made Abhimanyu an expert in warfare.

Apart from this, Abhimanyu was the son of Subhadra, Lord Krishna’s sister. He was very dear to Lord Krishna. Just like the devotion his father had towards Krishna; Abhimanyu also stayed devoted towards his maternal uncle – Lord Krishna.

Abhimanyu & Uttara

During the incognito phase (exile) of the Pandavas, Arjun taught dance and music to Uttara. Uttara was the daughter of the Matsya King, Viraat. Arjun taught her these skills in disguise as Vrihannla. Further to this, once the kauravas sent an army of theirs to attack King Viraat. At this point in time, Uttar (son of King Viraat) with the help of Vrihannla, defeated the army sent by the Kauravas. Seeing this, King Virat figured out the reality of Vrihannla. He then asked Arjunto marry his daughter Uttara. Arjun refused saying he could not marry his own student. Instead, he got Uttara married to his son Abhimanyu. With this marriage, the Pandavas had the whole support of King Virat.

Abhimanyu & Chakravyuh

It was believed that as an unborn child in his mother’s womb, Abhimanyu learned the knowledge of Chakravyuha. Here, the word Chakravyuh is made up of Chakra meaning circle or a ring and Vyuh meaning formation. The Chakravyuh is a formation consisting of 7 concentric circles of warriors rotating in circles. It was especially difficult to penetrate since the attacker is not able to focus on a still target. It is because the targets keep changing with the rotation of the Chakras. Once, while Abhimanyu was in the womb of his mother Subhadra, his father Arjuna, who only knew how to break a Chakravyuh taught her the technique. But Subhadra fell asleep even before learning about the exit of Chakravyuh. As an effect, the baby Abhimanyu in womb didn’t get a chance to know of coming out of it.

ॐ ॐ ॐ
श्री कृष्णेन सुभद्राये गर्भवत्येनिरुपिताम
चक्रव्युह प्रवेशस्य रहस्यं चातुदम्भितत
अभिमन्यु स्तिथो गर्भे द्विवेद्यनानयुतो श्रुणो
रहस्यं चक्रव्यूहस्य सम्पूर्णम असत्यातवा.

So, Abhimanyu in his mother’s womb could only listen to the art of getting inside the Chakravyuh.

The Kurukshetra War

Twelve days went since the great Kururkshetra war began. Duryodhana pleaded Dronacharya, the commander-in-chief of the Kaurava forces, to capture Yudhistira, the overlord of the Pandava army, and end the war. So, on the thirteenth day, Dronacharya came up with a plan. Guru Dronancharya created a Chakravyuh to capture Yudhishtira in order to end the war once and for all. The Pandavas accept the challenge since they know that the knowledge of how to defeat such a formation is known to Krishna and Arjuna. However, on that day, Krishna and Arjuna are dragged into fighting a war on another front with the Samsaptakas. This plan was made after Arjuna and Krishna have been distracted away by the Samsaptaka army led by Susarma.

Abhimanyu was hence left in charge of Yudhistira’s safety as Arjun was busy fighting others in another part of the battlefield. As the Chakravyuh of the Kauravas drew near, he had to break into the formation, so that he could save the King. But he was in dilemma as he knew only how to break into the formation, but didn’t know how to get out from it. Since the Pandavas have accepted the challenge already, they have no choice but to attempt to use young lad Abhimanyu, who has knowledge on how to break into the formation but none whatsoever regarding how to break out of it. To make sure that Abhimanyu does not get trapped in this endeavour, the remaining Pandava brothers decide that they and their allies will also break into the formation along with Abhimanyu and assist the boy in breaking out of it.

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Hence, the two major reasons that lead to Abhimanyu entering into the Chakravyuh are:

• On the side of the Pandavas, only four warriors knew how to breach or break into a chakravyuha. They were Abhimanyu, Arjun, Lord Krishna and Satyaki. In the absence of the latter three, Abhimanyu was the only one who was capable of dealing with the Chakravyuha. Although, he was not imparted with the full knowledge of Chakravyuh.
• The Chakravyuha that was formed by the Kauravas had to be stopped from moving forward. This is because, it would further engulf and therefore capturing Yudhishtira. Hence, the only way here was for someone to breach the formation and delay it until sunset. The other possibility was to wait until Arjuna returned. Hence, the Pandavas decided to act upon the solution whichever took place earlier.

Using all his skills that he mastered in Subhadra’s womb, he successfully broke into the formation. The Pandava brothers and allies attempt to follow him inside the formation, but they are effectively cut off by Jayadratha, the Sindhu king, who makes use of a boon from Shiva to hold off all Pandavas except Arjuna for one day only. Abhimanyu is left to fend for himself against the entire Kaurava army.

Inside the Chakravyuh

Inside the Chakravyuh, the Kauravas were feeling helpless in front of Abhimanyu’s valour and war expertise. Then, Duryodhan along with the seven mighty Kauravas attacked Abhimanyu who was alone. When Abhimanyu commands his charioteer to lead his chariot towards Drona, the man is not happy to do so and raises objections. He requests the sixteen-year-old to take time to think about it before he begins the battle. He points out that Abhimanyu has grown up amidst great love and comforts and he is not a master of the battle arts as Drona is. He tells the charioteer:

“What is this Drona or even the entire world of kshatriyas to me? I can fight Indra himself, mounted on his Airavata, along with all the gods! Why, I can fight in a battle even Lord Rudra himself, to whom the entire world of beings pays homage! This battle that I am going wage today does not bewilder me in the least.” Further he says: “This entire army of enemies is not equal to one sixteenth of my power. Why, even if I find in front of me in the battlefield my father Arjuna or my uncle himself, the mighty Vishnu who has conquered the whole universe, that wouldn’t frighten me.”

Abhimanyu breaks into the chakravyuha. He defeated everyone who came in his path. He killed thousands of soldiers and rathis on the way inside the formation. Abhimanyu fought courageously and entered the Chakravyuh.  He defeated great warriors like Drona, Kripa, Aswatthama, Duryodhana, Salya, Dussasana, Bhurisrava and killed many prominent heroes including Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana, Salya’s son, Rukmaratha, Kritavarma’s son, Matrikavata, Salya’s brother, King Vrihadvala and many others. Karna was the only warrior who was able to match the young warrior in battle.

However, Abhimanyu only knew how to enter and not to exit the Chakravyuh. He was then left helpless inside the Chakravyuh, surrounded by the Kauravas. His weapons broke while fighting and his chariot too was destroyed. On one side there was Abhimanyu alone and weapon less and on the other side there were seven mighty Kauravas loaded with weapons. Breaking all the rules of war, the Kauravas fight simultaneously with him.  Karna cut off Abhimanyu’s bow, Kripa killed his two chariot-drivers and Kritavarma killed his horses. Abhimanyu took up a sword and a shield but these weapons were cut off by Drona and Karna. When no weapon was left with Abhimanyu, he picked up the wheel of the chariot and used it as his weapon and faced the Kauravas bravely. He fought with the Kauravas until his sword broke and the remaining chariot wheel shattered into pieces. Abhimanyu was killed shortly thereafter when Dushasan’s son Durmasana crushed his skull with a mace. At his death, Kauravas blew the trumpet to declare their victory and Pandavas were very sad.

Hence, it was the Kauravas who crossed limits and killed Abhimanyu. It is believed that the death of Abhimanyu marked and end to fairness of the Kurkshetra War.

Jaydrath’s Death

As soon as Arjuna learns about the death of his beloved son Abhimanyu. He was filled with rage and decided to kill the person who was responsible for his death. Jaydrath being the main cause of the death of Abhimanyu, Arjun pledged to kill Jaydrath before the sunset the next day. He further adds that if that does not happen, he would ignite himself and die. The Kaurava army the next day places Jayadratha furthest away from Arjuna, and every warrior including the Samshaptakas attempts to prevent Arjuna from reaching anywhere close to Jayadratha. Enraged Arjun, kills more than a hundred thousand soldiers and warriors in a single day.

However, as sunset neared Arjun’s chariot was nowhere near that of Jaydrath’s chariot. Arjun then begins to accept the fact that he failed to stand  by his word. Lord Krishna comes to his rescue and the almighty himself creates an eclipse temporarily. It appeared like the sun set and hence the war for the day had to come to an end. Both the sides of the war come to witness Arjuna’s death. With the Kauravas, anxiously comes Jaydrath too. Lord Krishna on creating this scene where Jaydrath is right in front of Arjuna, then makes the sun come out again. Even before the Kauravas realising the trick, Lord Krishna cautions Arjun. He asks Arjun to quickly pick his Gandiva (a weapon) and behead Jaydrath. Arjuna follows Lord Krishna’s instructions and beheads Jaydrath with his powerful arrows. He could hence stand by his words and could  avenge Abhimanyu’s death successfully by the sun set that day.

Although, Lord Krishna causing the eclipse is talks another story too. It was known lord Krishna did so to save Arjun’s life. It is believed that Jaydrath had a boon from his own father. It was that whoever causes Jaydrath’s head to fall on earth would also die immediately. On knowing this, Lord Krishna is said to have planned it all very strategically. Ultimately when Arjun beheaded Jaydrath, it was done in such a way that the head went and fell on the laps of his father sitting under a tree. On seeing the head of his son, his father immediately stood up in shock. This caused Jaydrath’s head to fall onto the ground. His father hence died in the next moment.

In the end, Abhimanyu emerged as a great warrior. As the son of a great archer, Arjun, he couldn’t just flee from the battlefield to save his life. He chose to enter the formation even when he knew that he might breathe his last in there. It was believed that a Kshatriya of such order would never reject such chances of war, as the rightful war is the greatest dharma of the Kshatriyas. And hence, Abhimanyu was confident of himself. He was no less of a warrior at the age of just sixteen years!

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