Arjuna’s Oath to Slay Jayadratha

When Arjuna came back from his battle with the Saṃśaptakas on the evening of the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, he learned that his son Abhimanyu had been killed inside the Cakravyūha. The Cakravyūha was the wheel-shaped battle formation built by Droṇa. Arjuna fell to the ground in grief. Then he rose, burning like a second Yama, and swore before all the Pāṇḍavas and Śrī Kṛshṇa that he would kill Jayadratha before the next day’s sunset, or enter fire himself.

Jayadratha was the Saindhava king, the king of Sindhu. He had stopped the Pāṇḍava army from following Abhimanyu into the Cakravyūha, using a vara (boon) from Bhagavān Śiva. The oath sent terror through the Kaurava camp and began the events of the fourteenth day.

Arjuna’s return and the first omens

Arjuna and Śrī Kṛshṇa finished the battle with the Saṃśaptaka forces on the southern field as the sun was setting on the thirteenth day. As they drove the chariot back toward the Pāṇḍava camp, Arjuna met a string of bad omens. His heart trembled. His speech faltered. His left limbs quivered in an unlucky way. His body grew weak. He told Kṛshṇa of his unease, a darkness that would not leave his mind.

Kṛshṇa answered gently but did not say all he knew. He said Yudhishṭhira and the ministers were probably well. But he agreed that the omens pointed to some misfortune.

When they reached the camp, the signs were clear. There were no welcoming drums. No conch-shells were blown. No songs of victory were sung. No crowd of sūtas and māgadhas (bards) was praising the returning hero. The soldiers who saw Arjuna turned away with bowed heads and could not meet his eyes. One more thing was missing. Abhimanyu always ran out with joy to greet his father whenever Arjuna came back from battle, and he was not there.

Arjuna’s lament over Abhimanyu

Arjuna entered the camp and saw his brothers sitting in grief, and he understood. He spoke Abhimanyu’s name, and the words were a question that already had its answer. Then he broke into a lament that showed how deeply he loved his son.

He spoke of Abhimanyu’s looks: the curled locks of hair, the large eyes like a young deer’s, the height like a fresh Mādhī tree, the gentle smile. He spoke of his son’s nature: no jealousy and no hatred, perfect obedience to his elders, courage even as a child, constant warmth toward his family, and ready laughter. He recalled that all had counted Abhimanyu a mahāratha (a great chariot-warrior, one who can fight ten thousand warriors at once), and that he was thought to be one and a half times as strong as Arjuna himself in battle. Śrī Kṛshṇa, Subhadrā, Draupadī and Kuntī all loved him dearly.

Now this same youth, who used to be woken by sūtas and māgadhas singing his praises, lay on the earth with jackals howling around him. Battlefield dust covered the face that had always deserved the shade of a royal umbrella.

Arjuna cried out: “My heart is made of diamond. It has not broken, even though Abhimanyu is gone. How could cruel warriors loose their sharpest arrows on a tender child? Even the devas would not do this.” He blamed himself for leaving Abhimanyu with the other Pāṇḍavas, whom he now called weak and helpless. Then, holding himself in check with great effort, he turned to Yudhishṭhira and said: “Tell me everything. How did this happen?”

Yudhishṭhira’s account

Yudhishṭhira told him everything. He described how Droṇa had built the Cakravyūha that none could break. The Pāṇḍavas had asked Abhimanyu to lead the breach, because he knew the way into the Cakravyūha but not the way out. They had promised to follow right behind him. The boy had agreed without a word of doubt.

Then Yudhishṭhira told how Jayadratha, king of Sindhu, had used the vara that Bhagavān Śiva had granted him after his humiliation at Draupadī’s abduction. Jayadratha stood at the mouth of the Cakravyūha and stopped the whole Pāṇḍava front line from following Abhimanyu inside. Those stopped were Yudhishṭhira himself, Bhīma, Nakula, Sahadeva, Dhṛshṭadyumna and all the others. Bhīma was thrown from his chariot. Yudhishṭhira himself was struck seventy times. Dhṛshṭadyumna’s bow was shattered. No one could push through.

Inside, six mahārathas surrounded Abhimanyu: Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpācārya, Aśvatthāmā, Bṛhadbala and Kṛtavarmā. He fought all six and gave no ground. Then Karṇa struck from behind and shattered his bow. Kṛtavarmā killed his horses. Kṛpācārya killed his bodyguards. Without a chariot, a bow or horses, Abhimanyu still fought on. He picked up a chariot wheel and used it as a weapon until the wheel too was destroyed. At last the son of Duḥśāsana struck him on the head with a mace, and he fell.

Yudhishṭhira also told how much Abhimanyu had destroyed before he died: eight thousand chariots, nine hundred elephants, two thousand princes, and thousands of other warriors whose names were not given. Before he fell, Abhimanyu also killed Bṛhadbala, the king of Kośala.

“He went to the world of the blessed,” Yudhishṭhira said. “He was a worthy warrior. He died as all warriors must. But Arjuna, how do I face you?”

The oath

Arjuna heard it all in silence. Then he fell to the ground with the cry “Hā putra!” (O my son!). The whole company fell silent. Only Kṛshṇa and Yudhishṭhira could bring themselves to go near him.

When Arjuna rose again, he was a changed man. His grief had gone to its full depth and come out the other side as something colder, harder and more terrible. He took up his bow and his sword together and stood. No one could look at him straight. He blazed like Yama himself. Then, before all the assembled kings, he made his vow:

“Tomorrow, before sunset, I will kill Jayadratha. If he takes shelter with the sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, if he goes for refuge to Droṇācārya or Kṛpācārya, if he comes to me and surrenders, it makes no difference. I will kill him. If I cannot, if the sun sets before I have done it, I will enter fire myself.”

Then he named those who face the worst naraka (hell): those who kill brāhmaṇas, who lie, who betray people who trust them, who seduce other men’s wives. He said he would share their fate if he failed in his oath. The vow was complete, the list of pāpa (sins) was long, and the declaration was total.

He added a second clause: “If I fail to reach Jayadratha before sunset, I will enter fire on this very battlefield, here, in public.” This made plain the danger to Arjuna himself.

The effect of the oath

The sound of Arjuna’s vow rose above the Pāṇḍava camp and reached the Kaurava forces. A wave of terror swept through the enemy. Jayadratha heard the oath and was gripped by deadly fear. He went at once to Duryodhana and Droṇa and begged them to send him away and let him flee. Droṇa and Duryodhana comforted him. They promised that the eleven akshauhiṇīs (armies) of the Kauravas would stand between Arjuna and his target. Droṇa declared he would build an unbreakable Śakaṭa-Cakra Vyūha, so that Arjuna could never reach Jayadratha.

Meanwhile, in the Pāṇḍava camp, Śrī Kṛshṇa organised the preparations for the night. He had Arjuna perform Śivapūjā, reciting the divine names of Śiva and meditating on Bhagavān Parameśvara for the success of the task. He also told Arjuna that the Kauravas meant to place Jayadratha at the very back of their formation, surrounded by their greatest warriors. The next day would mean fighting through the whole Kaurava army. This was almost impossible, and could be done only by divine grace and by Kṛshṇa’s own plan.

What followed

The oath made the fourteenth day the most remarkable day of the war. On that day Arjuna fought through the whole Kaurava army. By Kṛshṇa’s māyā (power of illusion) the sun seemed to set early. Jayadratha came out, falsely relieved. Arjuna’s arrow then cut off his head and carried it through the air, so that it fell into the lap of his father Vṛddhakshatra.

In the Mahābhārata, the Pratijñā Parva is the sub-parva of the oath. In the Droṇa Parva it marks the turn from sorrow to resolve.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 72–73 (the return, the lament, Yudhishṭhira’s account and the oath)
• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 74–75 and 79 (the Kaurava reaction and Kṛshṇa’s preparations for the night)