The story of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna

The story of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra who valiantly fought alone with all the Kaurava generals inside the Chakravyuha .

We may think that history started with Mesopotamia and Egypt, but the Vedas explain that human history goes much further than that.

In a time before our known history, there was a class of powerful and valorous warriors called Ksatriyas. The best among them would typically fight on chariots. These were the ancient equivalent of a tank, moving swiftly on the battlefield, shooting powerful arrows with remarkable accuracy.

Amongst these powerful warriors, some would achieve perfection in their military skills. They would become so expert in the usage of weapons, that they would be able to fight thousands of other warriors, even if surrounded. They were called Maharatis, or “great chariot fighters”.

Arjuna, Bhisma, Karna, Drona, and Bhima, are examples of famous maharatis that performed heroic deeds during the battle of Kurukshetra as described in the Mahabharata. However, there is another Maharati that is less known. This is his story.

Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna, the great hero of the Mahabharata, and Subhadra, Krsna’s sister. He was personally trained by Krsna and Balarama from a very early age in the military arts and proved extraordinarily talented. Even though he was just 16 years old, he already knew tricks that even his father could not master, such as the art of wearing his armor in a loose fashion, so he could close the gaps between the plates in the event of incoming arrows just by subtle movements of his body, making thus his armor impenetrable.

On the 13th day of the battle of Kurukshetra, the Kauravas organized their army in a Chakravyuha formation, with the goal of capturing King Yudhisthira and thus defeating the Pandavas. Part of the plot was to use Susharma to challenge Arjuna and thus lure him to a distant part of the battlefield, neutralizing the biggest threat to the plan.

In the Chakravyuha, an army is organized as a gigantic moving circle that acts like a chakra (a sharp circular weapon), penetrating the opposing force with the goal of capturing a specific individual. When properly organized, the movement of the Chakravyuha is considered unstoppable because anyone standing in this way is relentlessly attacked by a sequence of different warriors without time to counterattack.

Using this formation, the Kaurava army gradually penetrated the Pandavas formation and was about to capture King Yudhisthira, who didn’t know how to stop it. If the Kauravas could capture King Yudhisthira, it would mean the end of the war in their favor, just like in a game of chess that ends with the capture of the king.

Abhimanyu volunteered to attack the formation and break it open, opening a path so others could also enter and destroy it from inside. The plan was that Abhimanyu would be followed by Bhima and the other Pandava generals, who would exploit the gap created by him.

How to enter the formation was a secret that few knew. It involved using specific types of weapons in a very complicated timing to exploit the weaknesses of the formation. It was an extremely dangerous mission: if the others could not exploit the gap, the formation would close, and Abhimanyu would be trapped inside.

Abhimanyu advanced, firing different types of arrows, volley after volley. He seemed like the river Ganges meeting the ocean. He was firing his arrows at such speed that the Kauravas had the impression of fighting hundreds of Abhimanyu. Using celestial weapons, he was slaying the Kauravas by the thousands, including many powerful generals. In fact, the attack of Abhimanyu was so fierce that he turned the tables, injuring Karna and threatening the life of Duryodhana, forcing the Kaurava warriors to go on the defensive and form a phalanx to protect their king.

As Abhimanyu advanced, Bhima and the others followed suit. However, they were stopped by Jayadratha, an otherwise unimportant Kaurava general who had a boon from Lord Shiva that one day he would be able to defeat four of the Pandava brothers in battle. Unfortunately, that was the day when the boon came to fruition. Thanks to the boon, Jayadratha was able to obstruct the Pandava brothers, while the other Kaurava warriors checked the others following them. This way, the attack was completely stopped.

Being fully concentrated in the battle, Abhimanyu could not see if the others were able to follow him or not. Thus, he advanced alone into the midst of the Chakravyuha. Eventually, the Kaurava generals were able to close the path opened by him and he was trapped inside the formation, alone.

In modern days, when a soldier or a group is surrounded, it almost always means to surrender. However, this was not the case for Abhimanyu. He kept fighting, even when the odds of surviving seemed impossible.

At first, the Kaurava generals attacked him one at a time, honoring the Ksatriya code of honor, but as Abhimanyu resisted the advances, they started attacking in groups. Even then, Abhimanyu held his own and kept defeating all the assaults by expertly firing his arrows. He defeated Drona, Ashwatthama, Kripa, Karna, Shalya, Duryodhana, Dusasana, Kṛtavarma, Bahlika, and others. Even Bhisma was injured by his arrows.

Incapable of defeating Abhimanyu by honest means, the Kaurava generals decided to attack him simultaneously from all sides. Karna shot an arrow from behind, breaking his bow, while the others attacked him from different directions, breaking his chariot and killing the horses.

With his bow broken and his chariot destroyed, Abhimanyu resorted to his sword, viciously attacking the Kaurava warriors, moving swiftly like the wind. Even though he was simultaneously attacked by many different generals, armed with all kinds of weapons, he still could not be defeated.

Eventually, however, Drona was able to break his sword using a sharp arrow, and at the same time, the arrows from Karna broke his shield. Being stuck by many arrows and hurt by different weapons, Abhimanyu was bleeding profusely. However, he was still not defeated.

Using the wheel of a chariot as a weapon, he continued to attack the Kaurava warriors, causing additional losses. When the wheel was broken, he caught an abandoned mace from the ground and kept fighting, killing Kalikeya, alongside many other warriors and a number of elephants. Only then, completely exhausted and with arrows protruding from every part of his body was Abhimanyu finally defeated, his head stuck by a mace when he had fallen to the ground.

Some define this moment as the beginning of Kali-yuga, the disgraceful moment when the exalted Kaurava generals banded together to attack a teenage boy, abandoning the Kshatriya code of honor.

Even though defeated, the heroism of Abhimanyu continues to inspire many. Thanks to him, the advance of the Chakravyuha was delayed until Arjuna’s return, and thus King Yudhishthira was saved. He was able to destroy, single-handed, almost an entire Aksauhini division, imposing heavy losses to the Kaurava forces, who retreated for the day after killing him, partly relieved, partly ashamed.

At the time of his death, his wife, Uttara, the princess of the Virata kingdom, was pregnant. In due time she gave birth to Pariksit Maharaja, the celebrated heir of the Pandavas, who later became the emperor of the whole world.