Tattva

Abhimanyu (अभिमन्यु) is a hero in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. He was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, the half-sister of Lord Krishna. Abhimanyu spent his childhood in Dwaraka, his mother’s city. He was trained by his great warrior father Arjuna and brought up under the guidance of Lord Krishna. He fought bravely in the epic war of Mahabharata and single-handedly destroyed many warriors from the Kaurava forces.

 

Considered equal in ability to his father owing to his prodigious feats, Abhimanyu was able to hold at bay, great heroes like Drona, Karna, Duryodhana and Dushasana. He was praised for his audacious bravery and absolute loyalty to his father, his uncles and to their cause.

On the 13th day of Kurukshetra War, the Kauravas challenged the Pandavas to break a circular battle formation known as the Chakravyuha. The Pandavas accepted the challenge since Krishna and Arjuna knew how to defeat such a formation. On the fateful day, Abhimanyu used his skills to successfully break into the formation. The Pandava brothers and allies attempt to follow him inside the formation, but they were effectively cut off by Jayadratha, the Sindhu king, who made use of a boon from Shiva to hold off all Pandavas except Arjuna. Abhimanyu was left to fend for himself against the entire Kaurava army.

Abhimanyu fought valiantly single-handedly slaying several warriors who came his way including Duryodhana’s son Laxman. Upon witnessing the death of his beloved son, Duryodhana was incensed and orders the entire Kaurava force to attack Abhimanyu. Continually frustrated in his attempts to pierce Abhimanyu’s armor, Karna on Dronacharya’s advice shattered Abhimanyu’s bow firing arrows from behind him. Thus disabled, his chariot broke down shortly later, the charioteer and horses were killed, and all his weapons were laid to waste.

He then attempted to fight off the bow wielding warriors sitting on horses and elephants at the same time with a sword and a chariot wheel as a shield. Dushasana’s son engaged in a fierce hand to hand combat with Abhimanyu. Ignoring all codes of war, the Kauravas all fought simultaneously with him. He held his own until his sword broke and the remaining chariot wheel shattered into pieces. Abhimanyu was killed shortly thereafter when Dushasana’s son crushed his skull with a mace. Abhimanyu was 16 years old when he died in the war.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhimanyu

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