Johnny's Blog: Enter the "Chakravyuh" - a Juggernaut

Enter the “Chakravyuh” - a Juggernaut -Abhimanyu: Star-Crossed Prince

Abhimanyu was a brave warrior prince from the Indian epic Mahabharata who broke the Chakravuyh - a juggernaut - single handedly but thwarted by ill fate to be cornered by an array of enemies and attacked to death by a multitude of warriors.

Abhimanyu (BC 3083-3067) was the son of Arjuna, a Pandava King and Subhadra, Lord Krishna’s sister. He was a sixteen years old teenager warrior prince who died fighting Kurukshetra war. Kurukshetra was one of the biggest battle lasted eighteen days and an epic fought in the history of mankind and mythology.

Abhimanyu was found to be unconquerable and held at bay great warriors such as Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and Dushasana. It was felt that the only warrior on the Kurukshetra battle field that could best him was Bhishma.

Trained in the martial arts by his father Arjuna and Uncle Shree Krishna, he matured into a great warrior at an early age. Abhimanyu was capable of killing entire Kaurava clan all alone. Before laying down his life, he fought bravely against the greatest of the Kaurava warriors and displayed remarkable heroism.

As the twelfth day of Kurukshetra battle drew to a close, Krishna noticed that just as Arjuna had hesitated to strike down Bhishma, who he considered to be like a father, he hesitated to strike down Drona, who was his teacher. “In battle there are no sons or fathers or uncles or teachers. There are only soldiers who fight for Dharma or Adharma” said Krishna. But Arjuna’s heart was filled with too much regard for his teacher to be so detached.

Drona in the meanwhile, angry at his failure to harm a single Pandava, after two days of intense fighting, came up with a terrifying plan on day thirteen. He had observed that Krishna constantly kept Arjuna away from Karna, who had after the fall of Bhishma, finally entered the battlefield. The reason for this was as follows:

As long as Bhishma led the Kaurava forces, Karna had not stepped into the battle. When it was time for him to finally enter after Bhishma’s death an old man came to him, at dawn, begging for arms. As was his nature, Karna said, ‘Ask and it shall be yours’ The old man immediately asked Karna for his earrings and armour that had been part of his body since the day of his birth. They clung to his body like flesh and were impermeable to any weapon. Giving them up meant giving up his advantage in the battlefield and letting himself be vulnerable. Without a second thought, Karna decided to part with his divine gifts - cutting them out like bark from a tree using a very sharp knife. The old man, who was none other than Indra, king of the gods, and father of Arjuna, acted out of love for his son. As he watched blood gush out of Karna’s ears and chest, he felt overwhelmed by Karna’s selflessness. He revealed his true identity and said, ‘I salute you son of Surya. Your charity has no parallel. I give you a gift. A celestial spear that never misses its mark. But you can use it only once. Use it wisely.’ Karna decided that he will use this spear to kill Arjuna. Divining this, Krishna never let Arjuna come within Karna’s line of sight from the moment the latter stepped into the battlefield.

‘Let your chariot be next to mine,’ said Drona to Karna, thus ensuring that Krishna would move Arjuna to the other end of the battlefield. Drona then organized his soldiers in the dreaded battle formation called “Chakravyuha” where the soldiers encircle and entrap the enemy. Only Arjuna knew how to break this formation but with him on the other side of the battlefield, Drona was able to trap some of the major warriors of the Pandava army within the Chakra with great ease.

Suddenly surrounded by the Kaurava army, Yudhishtira cried out for help, but Krishna blew his conch-shell simultaneously so that Arjuna heard nothing. ‘How do we break this battle formation? How do we escape? Asked a nervous Yudishtira. Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s young son by Subhadra, newly married and barely sixteen, said, ‘I know how to break this battle formation so that you can escape.’ His eyes were wide with excitement to fight great warriors in this great war.

‘How?’ asked Yudhishtira.

I overheard father describe it when I was still in my mother’s belly. But….’

‘But?’

‘While I know how to breach the formation and help all of you escape, I do not know how to escape from it myself. You will have to come back and get me.’

Yudhistira smiled and said, placing his hand on the young lad’s head, ‘You have my word.’

Abhimanyu immediately set about breaching the Chakra formation and to the amazement of everyone around, Drona included, the formation was breached and the Pandava warriors were able to slip out.

Then gathering reinforcements, Yudishtira turned around to rescue Abhimanyu, only to find his path blocked by Jayadratha and his army. Drona, in the meanwhile managed to close the Charka breach and Abhimanyu was trapped inside.

Abhimanyu found himself surrounded by all his uncles and cousins, Duryodhana, Dushashana, Lakshman, Kritavarma, Kripa, Karna, Drona, Ashwadhama, each one armed each one moving menacingly towards him. ‘But is it not against the rule of war for many warriors to attack a single warrior simultaneously?’ asked Vikarma. ‘They broke the rule first by getting a woman to fight Bhishma’, said Drona, justifying his decision.

Abhimanyu fought back bravely. They broke his bow, so he raised a sword. They broke his sword, so he picked up a spear. They broke his spear, so he picked up a chariot wheel. He was able to kill Duryodhana’s son, Lakshman. But Dusshasanas son was able to strike him on the head with a mace. Before he could recover his senses, the other warriors jumped on him like wild dogs on a young antelope and cut him to pieces mercilessly.

Outside the Charka all Yudhishtira could do was to hear Abhimanyu’s piteous cries for help. He could do nothing except glare at Jayadratha who smiled in triumph.

There are many folktales attempting to explain why Krishna allowed Arjuna’s son to die so. One states that in his former birth, Abhimanyu was a demon and had escaped being killed by Vishnu by taking birth as Arjuna’s son. Another state that Abhimanyu was actually the son of Chandra, the moon-god, who had been allowed by his father to stay on the earth for sixteen years.

At various times during the battle, the supreme commander organized his troops into special formations known as vyuhas. Each formation had a specific purpose, some were defensive while others were offensive. Furthermore, each formation had specific strengths and weaknesses.

The formations that were encountered are as follows:

· Krauncha vyuha – Heron formation

· Makara vyuha – Dolophin formation

· Kurma vyuha – Turtle formation

· Trishula vyuha – Trident formation

· Chakra vyuha – Wheel or Discuss formation

· Padma vyuha – Lotus formation

Retaliation of Abhimanyu’s death by Arjuna -

When news of the despicable acts committed on Abhimanyu reached his father, Arjuna, he vowed to kill Jayadratha the very next day by sunset, and failing to do so, would commit suicide by self-immolation immediately.

The Kaurava army the next day placed Jayadratha furthest away from Arjuna, and every warrior including the Samshaptakas or “suicide squads” (mercenaries who vow to return from the battlefields only upon victory, or die) attempted to prevent Arjuna from reaching anywhere close to Jayadratha. Arjuna literally hacked his way through the Kaurava army, killing more than a hundred thousand soldiers and warriors in a single day.

As sundown approached, Arjuna's chariot was still nowhere near Jayadratha's. He became despondent, realizing that his failure was imminent, and started getting mentally prepared to self-immolate. Krishna, being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, used His powers to temporarily to create an eclipse. The Kauravas and Pandavas alike believed that indeed the sun had set, and the war stopped according to the rules. Both sides approached to watch Arjuna self-immolate. In his haste to see Arjuna's death, Jayadratha also came to the front. Krishna gained the opportunity He had effectively created, as the sun came out again. Before the Kauravas could take corrective action, Krishna directed Arjuna to pick up his Gandiva and behead Jayadratha. Arjuna's unerring arrows decapitated Jayadratha, thus his vow to kill Jayadratha by sunset that day and avenge Abhimanyu's death was fulfilled.

The reason Krishna having created the eclipse is suggested at many places as having been a plot to save Arjuna from death, because Jayadratha had gotten a boon from his father that whoever would cause Jayadratha's head to fall onto earth would also die immediately. Lord Krishna wanted everything to happen in this way, so that Jayadratha would be on an easy aim. When Arjuna beheaded Jayadratha, he did so skillfully, so that the head fell straight into the lap of his father who was a sage and was sitting under a tree. His father being greatly shocked stood up, causing Jayadratha's head to fall to earth, thus the father was killed immediately.

Abduction and marriage – History repeats

Aside from the battlefield stories, in which the history of Abhimanyu's activities is so bittersweet, the best-loved of his pastimes are those surrounding his marriage to Vatsala. Vatsala was a daughter of Balarama, who had great affection for Duryodana. Before the birth of Abhimanyu, he wanted his sister Subhadra to marry Duryodana, instead of Arjuna. Hence, Krishna, who was aware of this, saw to it that Arjuna abducted Subhadra and they got married. In the case of Abhimanyu, that same scenario repeated a generation later.

Lakshmana was the son of Duryodana, and Balarama wanted his daughter Vatsala to marry Lakshmana instead of Abhimanyu. Hence, Krishna advised Abhimanyu to seek help from Ghatothkacha to solve this problem. Ghatothkacha abducted Vatsala so that Abhimanyu could wed Vatsala.

Another version Uttara the daughter of King Virata from the Matsya kingdom was the wife of Abhimanyu and she was pregnant at the time of Abhimanyu’s death. She gave birth to Parikshit after Abhimanyu’s death. Parikshit’s son Janamejaya was first recited the Indian epic Mahabharata.

The epic is made of one hundred thousand verses, making it an epic longer than the Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey put together.

It was Vaisampayana (vaiSampaayana), the disciple of Vyasa, who had narrated the Mahabharata story to Janamejaya, the grandson of Abhimanyu. Often, during the course, the narration falls on several other characters, all in the original words of Vaisampayana. The birth of the son of Abhimanyu is, as on several other occasions, in the words of the sage to the Pandava king, the grandson of Abhimanyu.

The gifted quacks - Abhimanyu and Ashwatama :

Abhimanyu is often discussed in the context of his partial knowledge about Chakravyuha, which he knew how to penetrate, but not how to exit from. Similarly, Ashwatthama had partial knowledge in the context of Brahmastra. He knew how to invoke it, but did not know how to withdraw it. This contributed to his being cursed by Krishna during the end of Mahabharatha war. It was only Arjuna who had complete knowledge of both Chakravyuha (to break into and exit from it) and Brahmastra (to invoke it and withdraw it).

Abhimanyu was actually an incarnation of Kalayavan and was capable of killing Krishna at a later point. In this pastime, however, he had taken birth in a very good family, so Krishna was aware of this and being the guru of Abhimanyu (via Pradyumna) in Dwaraka, saw to it that Abhimanyu was ignorant about how to exit from Chakravyuha. Hence, even though Abhimanyu wished to know how to exit from Chakravyuha, Krishna did not tell this secret, but instead wished that Abhimanyu seek that knowledge from Arjuna. Abhimanyu never got a chance, however, because he was in exile.

Abhimanyu was such a hero that none from the Kaurava side (except Bhisma) could kill him in one-on-one combat (dwandva yudha). Hence, the 13th day on the battlefield, when the Chakravyuha is launched by Dronacharya, he defeated all the Maharatis in one-on-one battle. Abhimanyu caused great losses to the Kaurva forces on that day. However, the jinxed number 13 was a bad omen for our great hero Abhimanyu as well. In retaliation, the Kaurava Maharatis merged together to kill him after making him weaponless. This was the only way in which Abhimanyu could attain moksha. Hence, he plays a very great role on the 13th day of the Mahabharata war.

In the case of Ashwatama, Dronacharya did not trust Ashwatama in the same way that he trusted Arjuna. Hence, he taught Ashwatama to only invoke Brahmastra, but not how to withdraw it. If an archer is aware of both the invocation and withdrawal of Brahmastra, then he can invoke it as many times as he wants. So to avoid Ashwatama from invoking Brahmastra multiple times, Dronacharya only gave partial knowledge about it.

The Mahabharata in its current form has eighteen sections, of which the first section establishes the context of rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The next three build up to the war. Then comes six sections describing the war in detail, followed by eight sections describing the emotional, material and spiritual consequences of the war.

A third of the verses are devoted to the war. The verses before the war are devoted to the tales of romance, sex, childbearing and other worldly issues, while the verses after the war dwell on the meaning of it all and tilt towards spirituality.

In the Hindu tradition, purushartha or the validation of human existence has four aspects, dharma, artha, kama and moksha, that is, social conduct, economic activities, pleasurable pursuits and spiritual activities. Through the tales of the Mahabharata, Vyasa draws equal attention to all four aspects of human existence, making it a complete epic.

Mahabharata is populated by only by Manavas or humans but also a variety of beings such as Devas who live in the sky, Asuras who live under the earth, Apsaras or nymphs who live in rivers, hooded serpents who talk called Nagas, forest spirits called Yakshas, warrior-musicians of the woods called Gandhavas and brute barbarians called Raskhasas. Some like Asuras and Rakshasas were hostile to humans and hence deemed demons, while others like Devas and Gandharvas were friendly and worshipped like gods and demi-gods.

The Devas are sky-gods, the enemies of Asuras who live under the earth. Their fights are endless. Their alternating victory and defeat ensure the rhythmic change of seasons.

The phrase ‘jaya ho’ is a greeting and the phrase ‘jaya he’ is a part of Indian National anthem.

Abhimanyu the teenage prince took a risk by entering Chakravyuha and succeeded in slipping out scores of Pandvas from the trap of Chakravyuha. Knowing well about his half-knowledge that he possessed about breaching the Chakravyuha an excited Abhimanyu fought a single handed war only to be trapped and slain by the Kauravas. It is said his death attained him moksha.