Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu was the son of Arjuna and Subhadrā. He was born at Indraprastha after the marriage of Arjuna and Subhadrā. He was born with the marks of a future cakravartī (a wheel-turning emperor). He is best known for his last stand in the Cakravyūha, the wheel formation, on the thirteenth day of the Kurukṣetra war. There he was surrounded and killed by several mahārathas (great chariot warriors), against the rules of righteous war.

Birth and auspicious marks

Subhadrā gave birth to Abhimanyu at Indraprastha, after her marriage to Arjuna had been celebrated there with great ceremony. The Ādi Parva, Chapter 221, says the child was born with marks of divine destiny:

• On his right hand was the mark of the cakra (discus).
• On his feet were the marks of the padma (lotus).

These were the bodily signs of one who was to be a cakravartī, a wheel-turning sovereign of great stature. Even as an infant he was radiant, and he drew all eyes.

Kṛṣṇa’s special affection

Kṛṣṇa took particular delight in the child from the first day of his life. He personally oversaw all the birth saṃskāras (the rites that mark a child’s entry into dharmic life). The bond between Kṛṣṇa and Abhimanyu was warm and close from the beginning. This is told in the Ādi Parva, Chapter 221.

Name and training

The child was named Abhimanyu, which means one who fights his enemies with great courage and spirit. From childhood Arjuna trained him in every part of dhanurveda, the full science of archery and warfare. He trained with the five sons of Draupadī, the Upapāṇḍavas, under Arjuna’s teaching. In valor and beauty he was said to be equal to Kṛṣṇa himself.

Yudhiṣṭhira gave thousands of cows to brāhmaṇas as dakṣiṇā (a gift) to celebrate Abhimanyu’s birth. This is told in the Ādi Parva, Chapter 221.

Marriage to Uttarā of Matsya

At the end of the Pāṇḍavas’ ajñātavāsa (the year of living in disguise) in the kingdom of Matsya, King Virāṭa offered his daughter Uttarā to Arjuna, in gratitude. Arjuna declined. He had lived as Uttarā’s teacher through the year, so he regarded her as a daughter-in-law and not as a wife. He proposed Abhimanyu instead, and Virāṭa agreed with great joy.

Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma and the great Yādava warriors brought Abhimanyu from the Yādava kingdom. He came with his mother Subhadrā. The marriage was held at Upaplavya, another city of Matsya, with full Vedic rites and great celebration. Virāṭa gave Abhimanyu a thousand swift horses, two hundred elephants and great wealth.

Those present included Kṛṣṇa, Balarāma, Sātyaki, Kṛtavarmā, Drupada, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Śikhaṇḍī, the sons of Draupadī, the king of Kāśī, Śaibya and many others. These were the allies who would stand with the Pāṇḍavas at Kurukṣetra. This is told in the Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 71–72.

From Abhimanyu and Uttarā was born Parīkṣit, the last Kuru king. In his presence Śuka Mahāmuni told the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

Death at Kurukṣetra: the Cakravyūha

On the thirteenth day of the war, Droṇācārya formed the dreaded Cakravyūha. This was a wheel-shaped formation of rotating rings, and only a few warriors in the world knew how to break into it and move through it. Arjuna was the only Pāṇḍava who knew both how to enter and how to leave it. On that same morning the Saṃśaptakas, who had sworn to kill Arjuna or die, drew him away to a distant part of the field. The main Pāṇḍava army was left without its greatest warrior.

Abhimanyu had learned how to enter the Cakravyūha while he was still in his mother Subhadrā’s womb. He heard Arjuna explain it to her. But Subhadrā fell asleep before Arjuna described the way out, so Abhimanyu knew how to enter but not how to break out. The other Pāṇḍavas were held back at the entrance by Jayadratha’s vara (a boon). Abhimanyu offered to go in alone, trusting that the other warriors would follow close behind to support him. Yudhiṣṭhira agreed.

Abhimanyu entered the Cakravyūha and did terrible damage. He cut through rank after rank of the Kaurava army and killed thousands of soldiers, charioteers, horsemen and commanders. Among the Kaurava leaders he struck down inside the formation:

• Rukmāratha, son of Śalya, was killed by a single bhalla (broad-headed arrow) that cut off his jewelled head.
• Lakṣmaṇa, the beloved son of Duryodhana, was felled by a single bhalla through his golden-helmeted head.
• Vṛṣasena, son of Karṇa, had his bow shattered and his horses wounded, and was driven back.
• The Vasātīya king, Kṣatradharman, was killed. Eight thousand chariots, nine hundred elephants and hundreds of commanders met their end at Abhimanyu’s hands.

The Droṇa Parva describes Abhimanyu moving through the Cakravyūha like a flame through dry grass. He was so swift and sure that the senior Kaurava commanders, watching from outside, could only stand amazed.

Six of the greatest commanders of the Kaurava army then broke the law of dharma. They were Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāmā, Bṛhadbala and Kṛtavarman. They surrounded Abhimanyu from every side together. They destroyed his chariot, killed his horses and his charioteer, and shattered his bow. Karṇa struck him from behind to break his bow. The Droṇa Parva marks this as against all the rules of righteous war.

Abhimanyu came down from his broken chariot and fought on. On foot, he took up a chariot wheel as a weapon and used it like a discus, and he destroyed warriors on every side. Then he fought with a mace. At last Duḥśāsana’s son came at him from behind and struck him with a mace while he was surrounded and without a weapon. Abhimanyu fell.

He died on the battlefield without ever retreating, and so fulfilled the highest duty of a kṣatriya. Arjuna came back in the evening and found the camp in mourning. His lament for Abhimanyu describes his son’s beauty, his gentle nature and his matchless valor. It is one of the most sorrowful passages of the Droṇa Parva. Yudhiṣṭhira and all the Pāṇḍavas were also struck with grief. Later Vyāsa Mahāmuni comforted Yudhiṣṭhira. He described Abhimanyu’s present home in the highest worlds, where he shines like the moon in his eternal form.

This is told in the Droṇa Parva, Chapters 32–53.

Strī Parva: Gāndhārī’s lament and Uttarā’s grief

In Chapter 20 of the Strī Parva, called the Strī Vilāpa Parva, Gāndhārī looked upon the body of Abhimanyu on the battlefield. His face still shone even in death. His wounds were all on the front of his body, which showed that he had pressed forward without fear. She mourned him as a warrior who had died on the vīra-śayana, the bed of heroes. He had not fled and had not surrendered. He had stood to the very end. She spoke of the great wrong of his death: six great warriors had killed him together, against the rules of righteous single combat.

Uttarā was the daughter of Virāṭa and the young wife of Abhimanyu. She was carrying the child who would become Parīkṣit. Gāndhārī found Uttarā beside Abhimanyu’s body, weeping. Uttarā was a new bride, who had known her husband only a short time before the war took him. Gāndhārī’s lament in this scene was not only for Abhimanyu. It was also for the young widows, women like Uttarā who were hardly past girlhood, who stood grieving around the battlefield.

Aśvamedhika Parva: grief remembered at Dvārakā

Some time after the war, Kṛṣṇa returned to Dvārakā. His father Vāsudeva asked him to tell the whole story of the great war. Out of tenderness for his father, Kṛṣṇa left out the death of Abhimanyu. But Subhadrā overheard. She cried out, asking for the truth, and fell down. When Vāsudeva saw her fall, he himself fell senseless with grief for his grandson.

Vāsudeva then asked Kṛṣṇa directly. He asked whether Abhimanyu’s face had been disfigured in battle, and whether he had turned his back on the fight. A grandfather could not bear to hear either of these things.

Kṛṣṇa answered that Abhimanyu’s face had not been disfigured and that he had never fled. Abhimanyu had killed hundreds and thousands of kings. He fell only because Droṇa and Karṇa together acted with treachery, and he came into the power of Duḥśāsana’s son. Kṛṣṇa assured his father that Abhimanyu had surely gone to svarga (heaven). Vāsudeva and Balarāma, with Sātyaki, then performed a very lavish śrāddha (the rite for the dead) for Abhimanyu. The text says they fed sixty lakh brāhmaṇas. This is told in the Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 60–62.

The birth of Abhimanyu’s son after his death follows from this grief. It includes the stillbirth and revival of Parīkṣit.

Āśramavāsika Parva: revealed as Candra, and the reunion at the Gaṅgā

At the Gaṅgā, Vyāsa revealed who Abhimanyu was. He called him “born of Pārtha, source of supreme joy to all, slain by six mahārathas together”. Abhimanyu was Candra himself, who by the power of yoga lived at the same time in two forms, one in svarga and one on earth.

Abhimanyu rose from the sacred waters, restored to youth and splendour. He was reunited with Subhadrā, Arjuna and the whole Pāṇḍava household for one joyful night. Then he returned to his loka (world). This is told in the Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 31–33.

A brief mention in Chapter 15

In Chapter 15 of the Āśramavāsika Parva, Parīkṣit, the son of Abhimanyu, is named with Uttarā among those who set out from Hastināpura with the vānaprastha (forest-going) procession of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. This is the only mention of Abhimanyu’s line in this part of the Āśramavāsika Parva.

Svargārohaṇa Parva: Varcas, son of Soma, merges into Candra

Yudhiṣṭhira saw the heroes in their divine stations. He saw a matchless warrior as bright as the moon, undefeated and radiant, living in the company of Candra. Indra told him who this was. He was Varcas, the son of Soma, the deva of the moon.

The devas had asked Soma for help when the burden of the earth was to be lifted. Soma gave his own beloved son to go down for only a short time, because he could not bear a longer separation. That son was born as Abhimanyu, the child of Arjuna. Varcas carried out the fierce deeds of a kṣatriya that were laid down for him and fell in righteous battle. When his task was done, he cast off his mortal body and went back into Candra, of whom he was a part. In this way the hero whom the whole Pāṇḍava army mourned returned to his father in svarga and became one with the moon. This is told in the Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 4–5.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 221
• Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 71–72
• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva, Chapters 32–53
• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 20
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 60–62
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 15
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapters 31–33
• Mahābhārata, Svargārohaṇa Parva, Chapters 4–5