Abhimanyu: Encyclopedia - Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu is a tragic hero in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. He is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, and nephew of Lord Krishna.

Abhimanyu - Birth, Education and War

As an unborn child in his mother's womb, Abhimanyu learns the knowledge of entering the deadly and virtually impenetrable Chakra Vyuha (see Wars of Hindu Mythology) from his father Arjuna. The epic explains that he overheard his father talking about this with this mother from the womb.

Trained by his father, who is the best warrior on earth at the time, he is also raised by Lord Krishna, as Abhimanyu spends his childhood in Dwaraka, his mother's city. His father arranges his marriage to Uttara, daughter of king Virata to seal an alliance between the Pandavas and the royal family of Virata, in lieu of the forthcoming Kurukshetra War. The Pandavas had been hiding in cognito to live through the final year of their exile without being discovered, in Virata's kingdom of Matsya.

Abhimanyu is a dashing and powerful warrior, responsible for killing thousands of enemy heroes and hundreds of thousands of warriors. Considered equal to his father's level by his prodigious feats, Abhimanyu is able to hold at bay great heroes like Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and Dushasana. He is praised for his audacious bravery and absolute loyalty to his father, his uncles and to their cause.

Abhimanyu - Abhimanyu's death

On the 13th day of battle, the Kauravas challenge the Pandavas to break a circular battle formation known as the Chakra Vyuha (see Wars of Hindu Mythology).

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. 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. It is important to note that the plan is hatched well after Arjuna and Krishna have been distracted away by the Sampshaptaka army.

On the fateful day, Abhimanyu uses his skills to successfully break 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 (Jayadratha has previously been granted a boon that allows him to effectively accomplish this). Abhimanyu is left to fend for himself against the entire Kaurava clan.

Abhimanyu fights valiantly single-handedly until his chariot breaks down, the charioteer and horses are killed, and all his weapons are laid to waste. He attempts then to fight off the bow wielding warriors sitting on horses, elephants at the same time with a sword and a chariot wheel as a shield. Ignoring all codes of war, the Kauravas all fight simultaneously with him. He holds his own until his sword breaks and the remaining chariot wheel shatters into pieces. Abhimanyu gets killed shortly thereafter by arrows piercing him from all sides. The Kauravas mock the young lad's dead body and Jayadrath even steps in to spit on the boy.

Abhimanyu - Arjuna's Great Revenge

News of the despicable acts committed on Abhimanyu reached his father Arjuna at the end of the day, who vows to kill Jayadratha the very next day by sunset, and failing to do so, commit suicide by self-immolation immediately. Reports of the vow that Arjuna has taken reach the Kaurava camp the same night, which decides that protecting king Jayadrath is of prime importance the next day since the benefits are two-fold; Jayadrath lives to help swing the war for the Kauravas and more importantly it helps ensure Arjuna's death, which is vital in order to win the war.

The Kaurava side the next day places Jayadrath furthest away from Arjuna, and every warrior attempts to prevent Arjuna from reaching anywhere close to Jayadrath. Arjuna literally hacks through the Kaurava army and kills more than a hundred thousand soldiers and warriors in a single day. However, almost by sundown, Arjuna's chariot is still nowhere near Jayadrath's. Arjun gets despondent because he realizes that failure is imminent, and and starts getting mentally prepared to self-immolate. Krishna realizes this, and uses his godly powers to temporarily cover up the sun with clouds. The Kauravas and Pandavas alike believe that indeed the sun has set and the war stops according to the rules. Both sides come to watch Arjuna self-immolate. In his haste to see Arjuna's death, Jayadrath also comes to the front and taunts Arjuna to complete his vow of self-immolation. Krishna sees the opportunity that he has effectively created, and removes the cloud cover. Before the Kauravas can take corrective action, Krishna points out to Arjuna that the sun has not set, and urges him to go ahead and immediately kill Jayadrath. Arjuna's unerring arrows pierce Jayadrath and his vow to kill Jayadrath by sunset that day, and avenge Abhimanyu's death is fulfilled.

Abhimanyu - Explanation of his Death

The death of such a virtuous and young hero leaves the Pandavas flabbergasted. The fates of most characters are openly prophesized in the epic, but there is none about Abhimanyu.

Arjuna moans of why Krishna did not warn him of this happening, and why he happened on that very day to wear away from the main battle, thus not being at the aid of his son. He also bewails that neither he nor Krishna discovered this earlier, unable to come to his son's aid.

It is however theorized in former versions of the epic, and modern scholarship that Abhimanyu's soul was in fact possessed by a vicious and deadly demon who sought to kill Krishna. Krishna realizes this and arranges Abhimanyu's killing. But then the death of a beloved hero and Arjuna's son is a strong enough cause for Arjuna to eliminate a huge portion of the Kuru army, speeding the fulfillment of Krishna's main divine mission.

His son, Parikshita, born after his death, remains the sole survivor of the Kuru clan at the conclusion of the Mahabharata war, and carries on the Pandava lineage. Abhimanyu is often thought of as a very brave warrior on the Pandava side, willingly giving up his life in war at a very young age.

Abhimanyu - See Also

• • Mahabharata, Arjuna, Krishna, Hinduism
  • Hindu mythology, Wars of Hindu Mythology

Category: Mahabharata epic

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Abhimanyu", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhimanyu, used and available under the GNU Free Documentation License.