Abhimanyu is a character of the ancient Indian epic
Mahabharata. He was the son of third Pandava prince
Arjuna and Yadava
Origin
Abhimanyu was the re-incarnation of son of the Moon-God
Chandra.
When Chandra was asked to let his son incarnate himself on earth, he
made a pact that his son will only remain on earth for 16 years, as he
could not bear to be separated from him any longer than that. So,
Chandra's son was born as the son of
Arjuna and
Subhadra. Abhimanyu was the 3rd son of Arjuna. Abhimanyu was the most loved of all sons of the Pandavas, so much so that
Draupadi
was said to love him more than her own sons. Draupadi once said that if
the Pandavas are not willing to wage war, then her sons led by
Abhimanyu will attack and get justice for her. After the Virata war,
King Virat offered princess
Uttara
to Arjuna in marriage. But Arjuna replied to Virat that he taught dance
to Uttara, and a teacher could treat his/her student as a child, but
not as a spouse. Arjuna accepted the offer instead by recommending to
Virat that he could accept Uttara as daughter-in-law by marrying her
with his son, Abhimanyu. King Virat was pleased and agreed to Arjuna's
proposal, as Abhimanyu's greatness had already spread all over the Earth
by that time
Virat Parva
In
some folktales, versions of stories and Telugu dramas; it is said that
Abhimanyu has a major role in Virata Parva. Abhimanyu and Uttara were
already in love as Abhimanyu already met Uttara while he was in search
of his parents who were in exile. This was noticed by
Draupadi and
Yudhishtira.
Convinced by them, Abhimanyu planned to leave Matsya kingdom. Because
if Abhimanyu had identified his parents, their exile would have become
waste and they would have supposed to go in exile for another 13 years.
Just before this incident,
Kichaka was killed by
Bhima.
Hearing about the death of Kichaka, Duryodhana surmises that the
Pandavas were hiding in Matsya. A host of Kaurava warriors attacked
Virata, presumably to steal their cattle, but in reality, desiring to
pierce the Pandavas' veil of anonymity. Taking this as advantage,
Susharma attacked Matsya kingdom. Full of bravado, Virata's son Uttar
attempts to take on the army by himself while the rest of the Matsya
army has been lured away to fight Susharma and the Trigartas. At the
same time
Draupadi was kidnapped by Kichaka's 100 brothers.
Bhima,
Nakula &
Sahadeva went in search of her.
Yudhishtira
suggested King Virat to stay in palace and defend the kingdom by
sending soldiers of Matsya kingdom to battlefield. While Abhimanyu was
leaving to
Dwaraka, Uttara asked Abhimanyu to help. Abhimanyu led the Matsya army and defeated Susharma. After defeating
Susharma,
Abhimanyu promised Uttara that one day he would definitely visit Matsya
kingdom after completion of their parents' exile. As suggested by
Draupadi, Uttar takes Brihannala with him, as his charioteer. When he
sees the Kaurava army, Uttar loses his nerve and attempts to flee.
There, Arjuna reveals his identity and those of his brothers'. Switching
places with Uttar, Arjuna takes up the Gandiva and Devadatta. Eager to
defend the land that had given him refuge, Arjuna engaged the legion of
Kaurava warriors. All the warriors including
Bhishma,
Drona,
Karna,
Kripa and
Ashwatthama
together attacked Arjuna to kill him but Arjuna defeated all of them
multiple times. During the battle Arjuna also killed Sangramjit the
foster brother of
Karna and instead of taking the revenge of his brother,
Karna took heroic flight in order to save his life from
Arjuna.
Kurukshethra war
On the very first day, Abhimanyu faced legendary
Bhishma
and engaged in an archery duel with him. The battle was so intense that
both of them were almost equal. Bhishma didn't want to kill his great
grandson, so he didn't use celestial weapons. When Abhimanyu's arrows
injured Bhishma, Bhishma asked Abhimanyu to get-out from his sight.
Abhimanyu replied that he was son of
Arjuna and the student of
Krishna. If he would have escaped due to fear; it would become an insult to both of them.
Bhishma felt proud on hearing this. Abhimanyu breaks
Bhishma’s
bow. Then they involve in a sword duel just before the sunset. Bhishma
appreciated Abhimanyu since Bhishma failed to defeat Abhimanyu. On 3rd
day; Abhimanyu attacked
Ashwatthama and drew
Drona's attention.
Drona and
Arjuna
were involved in a fight. When Drona heard that his son was attacked by
Abhimanyu, he immediately left that place and went to save his son.
Drona and Abhimanyu soon engaged in an intense battle which made a clear
way to
Arjuna in assisting
Bhima to reach
Duryodhana
and kill him. But their plans of killing Duryodhana and ending the war
failed due to some reasons. Even Drona failed to defeat Abhimanyu.
Thirteenth Day
Abhimanyu showing his talent in Battle
The Kaurava commander-in-chief
Dronacharya planned to divert
Arjuna and
Krishna
away to chase an army of the samsaptakhas whom Arjuna defeated that
very day. The Kaurava army was grouped into the giant discus formation,
which caused great loss for the Pandavas. If the formation continued
till end of that day, the pandavas would have no army by sunset. The
only two people on the Pandava army who completely knew about how to
enter and break this formation were Arjuna and Krishna, who were away.
Abhimanyu's story came to prominence when he entered the powerful
Chakravyuha battle formation of the
Kaurava army.Abhimanyu claimed that he could decimate the entire Kaurava army.
[3]
Abhimanyu was trained in all types of warfare by Lord
Krishna and
Balrama themselves, and later by
Pradyumna
(Sri Krishna's son). Abhimanyu learnt the art of breaking into the
Chakravyuha when he was in Subhadra's womb. It was then Arjuna was
narrating the art of breaking into Chakravyuha to Subhadra. But he did
not know how to destroy the formation once he was inside, as Subhadra
fell asleep while listening to the story and (Abhimanyu in her womb)
could learn only half of the technique. This is the reason why he was
only able to enter and break but not come out of the Chakravyuha.
[4]
As soon as Abhimanyu entered the formation,
Jayadrath,
the ruler of Sindh blocked the other Pandavas, so that Abhimanyu was
left alone. Inside the Chakravyuha, the trapped Abhimanyu went on a
killing rampage, intending on carrying out the original strategy by
himself and killing tens of thousands of
Kaurava soldiers. Abhimanyu killed many prominent heroes including Duryodhana's son
Lakshmana, Salya's son, younger brothers of
Karna , and many advisers of
Karna,
Rukmaratha, Kritavarma's son Matrikavata, Salya's brother, Shrutanjaya,
Ashavketu (From Magadha), Chandraketu, Mahavega, Suvarcha, Suryabhasa,
Kalakeya (Shakuni's brother), Vasatiya, and rathas from the
Brahma-Vasatiyas and Kekayas,King of Kosala -
King Brihadbala,
King of Amvashtas and his son and many others. Abhimanyu defeated the
mighty warriors of kauravas Side including the great Drona, Kripa and
Karna.
[5] No Kaurava warrior could escape his arrows. Abhimanyu killed all the remaining foster brothers of
Karna due to which
Karna became angry and attacked Abhimanyu but Abhimanyu defeated
Karna easily. Abhimanyu refused to kill
Karna because he knew that his father had taken oath to kill
Karna. Abhimanyu defeated
Karna 4 times in the war. It is said that
Karna flew away from Abhimanyu.
[6]. In this way, Abhimanyu defeated all the warriors.
Duryodhana
became so threatened that Abhimanyu could break Chakravyuha easily.
Hence, a strategy was formed and a joint attack on Abhimanyu followed.
On Duryodhana's advice, Karna broke Abhimanyu's bow from behind since it
was impossible to face armed Abhimanyu. 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
Ashwatthama
(though in other versions of the story, the perpetrators change while
the acts remain the same). Abhimanyu then took up a chariot-wheel and
started fighting with it, but
Kripa
cut the wheel. In this way, many warriors attacked the sixteen year old
Abhimanyu when he was unarmed. Abhimanyu's body was pierced by dozens
of arrows. But Abhimanyu faced all of the Kaurava warriors and still
managed to kill many enemy soldiers. At last all warriors at once stab
Abhimanyu from all sides which leads to his death. In this way,
Abhimanyu was killed unfairly by many warriors including
Karna,
Duryodhana,
Vrishasena,
Banasena,
Ashwatthama,
Drona,
Shakuni,
Dushasana,
Kritavarma,
Shalya.
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