Brave Abhimanyu

Told in English, Telugu.

Long ago, in the city of Dwaraka beside the shining sea, a princess named Subhadra sat with her husband on a quiet evening. Subhadra was the sister of Krishna, and her husband was Arjuna, the greatest archer of his time. Subhadra was expecting a baby, and to pass the slow hours, Arjuna began to tell her about the hardest puzzle in all of warfare. It was called the chakravyuha.

Imagine a wheel that keeps turning, with rings inside rings inside rings. Now imagine those rings made of soldiers, chariots and elephants, all moving together, closing in around anyone who dares to enter. That was the chakravyuha. It was easy to get trapped inside and very, very hard to get out.

Arjuna explained how a warrior could break through the first ring, then the second, then the third, going deeper and deeper. Subhadra listened, but the evening was warm and her eyes grew heavy. Before Arjuna could explain how to come back out, she fell asleep. Arjuna smiled and stopped talking.

The old storytellers say that the baby inside her was listening the whole time. He learned the way in. But he never heard the way out.

That baby was Abhimanyu.

Abhimanyu grew up in Dwaraka with his mother, while his father and his uncles, the five Pandava brothers, spent long years living in forests far away. He practised with his bow every single day. He grew strong and quick and bright-eyed, and people who watched him said, he shoots just like his father. When he was still very young, he was married to Uttara, a gentle princess, the daughter of King Virata.

But a dark cloud was gathering over the land. The Pandavas and their cousins, the hundred Kaurava brothers led by Duryodhana, could not settle their quarrel. Krishna himself tried to make peace, and Duryodhana refused. And so the two families met for a great war on the field of Kurukshetra.

War is not like the games we play. It is full of loss, and even the bravest people feel afraid. Keep that in your heart as we go on.

On the thirteenth day of the war, the old teacher Drona, who led the Kaurava army, made a clever plan. He knew Arjuna was the only one on the Pandava side who could break the chakravyuha. So a group of warriors challenged Arjuna to fight them far away, on the other side of the battlefield. Arjuna went, with Krishna driving his chariot.

Then, in the morning light, Drona arranged his army into the great spinning wheel.

The eldest Pandava, Yudhishthira, looked at it and his heart sank. If no one could break it, their whole army would be lost. He turned to the young warriors around him, and his eyes rested on his nephew.

Abhimanyu stepped forward. He was only about sixteen years old.

Uncle, he said, I know how to break in. My father taught me, in a way, before I was even born. But I must be honest with you. I do not know how to come out.

What would you have done, if you were Abhimanyu? It would have been easy to say, it is too dangerous, wait for my father. No one would have blamed him. But he looked at the soldiers around him, the men who had fought beside his family, and he knew they needed someone.

Bhima, the strongest of the Pandavas, put a big hand on his shoulder. You open the door, child, Bhima said. We will be right behind you. We will all come through together, and we will bring you home.

Abhimanyu nodded. Inside, his heart was beating fast. Being brave does not mean you feel no fear. It means you feel the fear and still do what is right.

His charioteer, Sumitra, looked worried. Prince, he said softly, those are the greatest warriors in the world, and you are so young. Abhimanyu smiled at him. Do not worry, Sumitra. Drive on.

The horses leapt forward. Abhimanyu's arrows flew like a storm, and the first ring of the chakravyuha broke open. He was through!

But then something went terribly wrong. A king named Jayadratha rushed to the gap that Abhimanyu had made. Long before, Jayadratha had prayed hard to Lord Shiva and received a special blessing: for one day, he could hold back the Pandava brothers, all except Arjuna. On this day, he used it. Bhima, Yudhishthira and the others fought with all their might, but they could not get past him. The gap closed.

Abhimanyu was inside the wheel. Alone.

And yet he did not lose heart. He fought on through the long day, ring after ring, with such skill that the Kaurava warriors could hardly believe their eyes. Great heroes came at him one by one, and one by one they had to fall back. Even Duryodhana's own son, Lakshmana, fell before him. Old Drona, who was fighting against him, could not help saying, I have never seen anyone fight like this boy. He is truly Arjuna's son.

The Kaurava leaders grew worried. They knew that they could not defeat Abhimanyu one at a time. So they did something that warriors were never supposed to do. Many of the greatest fighters, Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashwatthama and others, all turned on him together. It broke the rules of fair fighting, and deep down they knew it.

Karna came from behind and broke Abhimanyu's bow. Then his horses and his charioteer were lost. Abhimanyu jumped down with his sword and shield, and fought on, until those were broken too.

With nothing left in his hands, he lifted a heavy wheel from his broken chariot and held it high, still facing them all, still refusing to give up. Standing there in the dust, alone against so many, he looked brighter than any of them.

But one boy cannot stand against an army forever. At last, as the day was ending, Abhimanyu fell, and he did not rise again.

The sun went down over Kurukshetra, and a great silence spread over the field.

That night, the Pandava camp was full of tears. Yudhishthira sat with his head in his hands. I sent him in, he whispered. He was just a child, and I sent him in. Bhima, who had promised to follow, could not speak at all.

When Arjuna returned and heard what had happened, his heart broke. He had been far away, and he had not been there to protect his son. Krishna sat beside him through the long night. Krishna had lost his nephew too, and his eyes were wet. He did not tell Arjuna to stop crying. He simply stayed close, the way a true friend does when sorrow is too heavy to carry alone.

And Subhadra, Abhimanyu's mother, and Uttara, his young wife, wept together. But even in that sad night there was a small light. Uttara was expecting a baby. Abhimanyu's child would be born, and one day that child, named Parikshit, would grow up to become a good and wise king. Abhimanyu's story did not end that day. It carried on through his son.

Arjuna made a vow that night, a very serious promise, that he would make Jayadratha answer for closing the door on his son before the next sun set. That is another story, for another evening.

Thousands of years have passed since then, and still people remember Abhimanyu. Not because he won, but because of the choice he made. He knew the danger. He was honest about what he did not know. And still he stepped forward for the people who needed him.

So, the next time you feel small in front of something big and difficult, think of Abhimanyu. Think of the boy who was afraid, and went anyway, and stood tall until the very end.