In the great war of Mahabharat,
although many great warriors fell and a lot of them touch readers, there is one
Abhimanyu who touches one and all like no other. It is because of his age – he
was only 16 years old at the time he was killed fighting – and the manner in
which he was killed by a group of 7 Kaurava warriors while Abhimanyu fought
alone. It is one of the most tragic events of the great war.
Some people ask why did Abhimanyu have
a short lifespan. Why Lord Krishn let it happen to him, why he did not protect
him like he protected Draupadi. I tried to search about it and found the
explanation here.
Why Did Abhimanyu Die Young
In Mahabharat, it is mentioned that
Abhimanyu was the re-incarnation of son of Chandra, the Moon-God. When Chandra
was asked to let his son incarnate on earth, he made a pact that his son will
only remain on earth for 16 years, as he could not bear to be separated from
him any longer than that. So, Chandra's son was born as the son of Arjuna and
Subhadra.
From Mahabharat [Link]:
"And, O monarch,
learn that king Yudhishthira was a portion of Dharma; that Bhimasena was of the
deity of wind; that Arjuna was of Indra, the chief of the celestials; and that
Nakula and Sahadeva, the handsomest beings among all creatures, and unrivalled
for beauty on earth, were similarly portions of the twin Aswins. And he who was
known as the mighty Varchas, the son of Soma, became Abhimanyu of wonderful
deeds, the son of Arjuna. And before his incarnation, O king, the god Soma had
said these words to the celestials, 'I cannot give (part with) my son. He is
dearer to me than life itself. Let this be the compact and let it be not
transgressed. The destruction of the Asuras on earth is the work of the
celestials, and, therefore, it is our work as well. Let this Varchas,
therefore, go thither, but let him not stay there long. Nara, whose companion
is Narayana, will be born as Indra's son and indeed, will be known as Arjuna,
the mighty son of Pandu. This boy of mine shall be his son and become a mighty
car-warrior in his boyhood. And let him, ye best of immortals, stay (p. 144) on
earth for sixteen years. And when he attaineth
to his sixteenth year, the battle shall take place in which all who are born of
your portions shall achieve the destruction of mighty warriors. But a certain
encounter shall take place without both Nara and Narayana (taking any part in
it). ...... Then when numberless heroes and mighty
car-warriors will return to the charge towards the close of the day, my boy of
mighty arms, shall reappear before me. And he shall beget one heroic son in his
line, who shall continue the almost extinct Bharata race.' Hearing these words
of Soma, the dwellers in heaven replied, 'So be it.' And then all together
applauded and worshiped (Soma) the king of stars. p. 145
Message from Abhimanyu’s Story
At the same time, I remember from my
childhood how this story is remembered among the masses. In folk stories among
common people, it is often mentioned that if Subhadra did not sleep, then
Abhimanyu won't have to know only half of the method to handle Chakravyuh. Hence
message is that while listening to Satsang or religious programs, we should not
fall asleep and need to be attentive otherwise half knowledge can be harmful
for us.
Why Shri Krishn Did Not Save Abhimanyu
The reason why Shri Krishn won’t have
saved Abhimanyu may also be simply because he would already know about his fate.
Hence, he won’t have interrupted in it.
There is another reason which explains
how things happened and how different and multiple reasons are responsible for
some event.
How Abhimanyu Was Killed
Kauravas had planned a Chakravyuh to
trap and kill many warriors from the Pandavas army. It is said that among the
Pandav army, only Arjun knew how to handle a Chakravyuh. But on that particular
day, he had gone too far away fighting and hence could not reach there in time.
Then Abhimanyu came forward and volunteered to try and destroy the Chakravyuh
since he had heard about the way to enter it while being in his mother Subhadra’s
womb. Although he had not heard about the way to come out of the trap, since the
story got interrupted as Subhadra had fallen asleep. Hence it was agreed that
while Abhimanyu will take the lead and enter the Chakravyuh, his uncles Beem,
Nakul and Sahdev will follow him and also enter it, so that they could tackle
the difficult part together and ensure safe return.
But while Abhimanyu went inside the
Chakravyuh as planned, Bheem and others were stopped outside by Jayadrath who
was a great warrior from Kaurava’s side.
How could Jayadrath stop these great Pandavas?
Jayadrath was king of the Sindhu
rajya and married to Duryodhan’s sister Dushala. While Pandavas were serving 12
years “vanvas”, once Jayadrath had seen Draupadi in the jungle and tried to take
her as his queen by abducting her. Pandavas got to know about the abduction,
chased Jayadrath down and defeated him. Since he was their relative (Duryodhan’s
brother-in-law), they did not kill him, but Bheem shaved his head as a mean to
disgrace him. Jayadrath wanted to take revenge on Pandavas for this disgrace and
hence did harsh penance to earn a boon from Lord Shiv. He asked for a boon that
he would be able to defeat the Pandavas. But Lord Shiva told him that it was
not possible to defeat Pandavas, but he can give him a boon that for one day,
he would be able to control the Pandavas except Arjuna. It was because of this
boon, that Jayadrath was able to contain Bheem and other Pandavas outside the Chakravyuh
itself.
Therefore, we can see from this
incident that Abhimanyu’s death was an event of a big misfortune. Jayadrath’s
boon came into play due to which Pandavas' plan of Bheem and others entering
Chakravyuh along with Abimanyu did not work. And Arjun was not around that day
otherwise he would have been successful in defeating Jayadrath and saving Abhimanyu.
And then, all this was not possible since it was planned by fate that
Abhimanyu would die young so that he can return to the celestial god Chandra.
Btw, the next day of the fight, Arjun
defeated and killed Jayadrath.
Legacy of Abhimanyu
It is another touching story of how Abhimanyu’s
wife Uttara was expected at the time of this battle and she gave birth to a son
later on - Parikshit. Parikshit goes on to inherit the throne of Hastinapur
after Yudhisthir and expands the kingdom and its civilization immensely. After
Parikshit, his son Janmejaya goes on to rule.
Therefore, Abhimanyu, even if he died
young, in fact shaped the history of our country Bharat Varsha.
Abhimanyu will always be remembered
by one and all for being a great son, a great warrior and someone who
sacrificed his life for his Dharma.
- Rahul Tiwary
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