Breaking the Chakravyuha
Hello, children, guess who is back?! Haha, yes, it's me, Yama. Today, I have another story to tell you. Another story of a death. This time it's from a different book or 'epic' if you would like to call it that- Mahabharata. Different book, different yuga, the same death god ahaha- I mean, we don't really die.
Here's a little introduction to our main character- Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu was born to Arjuna and Subhadra. This boy was Krishna's nephew and Indra's grandson- the power he held, immaculate. He learned about battle strategies in his mother's womb as he heard his father talk about them- talk about being smart. So, the story goes something like this-
One day Arjuna was chilling with Subhadra while she was pregnant with his child, soaking in the sun, spending quality time, you get the point. Arjuna's idea of "quality time" was to tell Subhadra about complex war strategies and how to counterattack them. Subhadra was never really interested in hearing about war strategies, but she understood that Arjuna likes to show off his knowledge, and she liked the spark in Arjuna's eyes when he talked about them. So, she listened.
Little did she know someone else was very interested in hearing those "boring strategies"- the unborn baby Abhi. He had developed a fondness for these war strategies, and his favorite pastime was to play these out in his head later when his father was not there. So, this one day, Arjuna was telling his wife about Chakravyuha formation. Chakravyuha is a multi-tiered spiral-like formation where the enemy soldiers surround you, and it is almost impossible to break. "Pay attention to the almost," Arjuna said, smirking. Arjuna knew how to break it, and so, he explained. He explained how to break the chakravyuha to get inside if your friends are stuck in there and how to open exit paths for them. At this point, it was getting nice and warm, and baby Abhi was yawning in his mother's womb. Abhimanyu decided to take a small nap. He slept through the part where Arjuna explains how to get out of the chakravyuha yourself.
The War at Kurukshetra
Years later, at the Kurukshetra war, the Kauravas formed the Chakravyuha formation around the four Pandavas when Arjun fought other soldiers and could not help them. Abhimanyu could help- or rather- only Abhimanyu could help. He told his uncles that he can break the maze, but he does not know how to get out, and to this, Bhima assured him that they would help him.
Would you believe that kid actually broke the Chakravyuha by only listening his father talk about it once, that too, when he was not even born? Trust me, watching that scene live blew my mind up, and I have seen some pretty crazy things in my life. Anyway, yeah, the kid broke the maze formation up, but somehow he was cut off from the Pandavas, and then he was stuck in it. Kauravas killed Abhimanyu's charioteer, but still, that kid fought. His weapons were destroyed, but still, that kid fought using his chariot wheel as a weapon. A man can only fight as much, you know. Abhimanyu was killed.
I was sitting on top of a tree nearby, and I was heartbroken. I really was cheering for him after all. I waved at the kid and signaled him to come. He walked towards me. He looked back at the battlefield and broke down in tears feeling he let his father down. I wanted to tell him that he didn't disappoint anyone, but that didn't seem like a time for this old man to give him a lecture about Dharma. So, I just hugged him. It felt nice. I think he must've felt nice too, but I can't be too sure. The war continued; we departed.
Author's Note: This was the story of Abhimanyu's death, narrated by the god of death and dharma- Yama. I am not sure if Abhimanyu actually slept through Arjuna's explanation about getting out of the maze, but it was something my dad used to tell me when I was a kid. Also, every time I read a story about Arjuna, he seems a little too proud of himself. In my head, he is someone that likes to show off. That is what I tried to show. I also want to point out that Subhadra is not listening to Arjuna's strategies because she is an "obedient wife," as a lot of Indian stories make the female character be. She is listening to them as she likes to look at Arjuna as he glows when he speaks about them. I did not change the main story, just added background narration by Yama. I also wanted to show the contrast between how Aksha felt after dying and how Abhimanyu felt. Yama, being the god of Dharma, wanted to reassure Abhimanyu that he did not disappoint anyone and how did what he had to do, but did not as he wanted to let Abhimanyu feel what he must. I hope you enjoy reading this!
Bibliography: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs Chapter 147.
First Image: Ravi Varma-Arjuna and Subhadra
Second Image Source: An illustration of Chakravyuha formation
Third Image: Abhimanyu battles the Kaurava brother Duhshasana