In the previous episode, we’ve witnessed Abhimanyu in absolute beast mode while he single-handedly takes on stalwarts like Karna, Duryodhana, Ducchaasana and Guru Dhronachaarya himself! The hallmark battle to be mentioned here is the one between Abhimanyu and Guru Dhronachaarya, wherein Abhimanyu gives Guru Dhronachaarya a run for his money! Upon seeing Abhimanyu’s prowess and shrewdness in the battlefield, Guru Dhronachaarya is stunned to bits! At the same time, he’s admiring the youngster for his exceptional talent of exhibiting 360-degree warfare! Now, as Abhimanyu advances inside the several layers of the “Chakra-Vyugam”, we’ve seen in the previous episode that Yudishtra and Co. who were supposed to follow Abhimanyu inside the “Chakra-Vyugam” getting stalled by Jayatrada. We’ve seen that Jayatrada had once obtained a boon from Bhagawan Shiva that he can hold the Paandava brothers (except Arjuna) as captives for a brief period of 24 hours. Thus, Jayatrada uses this boon given by Bhagawan Shiva to perfection and he manages to capture the Paandava brothers, in a bid to isolate an overly-aggressive Abhimanyu!
Moving on further thus, Abhimanyu, unmindful of the fact that he’s isolated and nobody is there to defend him, continues his aggression towards the Kaurava army. A total of six important people including Duryodhana’s son are killed by Abhimanyu effortlessly, along with tens of thousands of army men being massacred at the same time! The way in which Abhimanyu is advancing further and further sends alarm bells ringing across the Kaurava camp, with Duryodhana expressing his fear to Guru Dhronachaarya that the war will come to an end by this evening itself if things go this way! As Duryodhana says thus, Karna too joins the conversation with immense anger and frustration. Karna says to Guru Dhronachaarya thus, “Oh Guru Dhronachaarya! Do you remember your pledge that you’ve taken before today’s battle? You’ve promised that you will kill an important person! Is this the way you will keep fighting and prolonging things? It now seems that Arjuna is not even necessary in the battlefield anymore and Abhimanyu can single-handedly take all of us down within the next few minutes! What are you doing? Please act before it’s too late!”
As Duryodhana and Karna express their anguish thus, Guru Dhronachaarya too gets frustrated! He replies thus, “Oh Duryodhana and Karna! Both of you are talking as if you do not know anything! If we fight the war in the straightforward way like this, we are not going to win against him. Now let me tell you one “Upaayam” – Attack him from the back. Destroy his chariot from his backside. Destroy his bow from the backside. Oh Duryodhana and Karna! The only way to stop Abhimanyu is to attack him from behind him and not from the frontal end. With the way he’s fighting, even the Devas cannot win over him easily!” Taking cue from Guru Dhronachaarya’s words, Karna decides to now take the lead. What is going to happen next is gross “Adharma”! Normally a war should be fought under certain rules and regulations, and one of the most important rules is to always fight the war head on and not from the back! This indicates cowardliness and this is exactly what Guru Dhronachaarya is propagating! Thus, we can see how “Adharma” and “Unethical behavior” takes over from here on in the Kaurava camp as they somehow want to target and win over Abhimanyu by hook or crook!
Thus, Karna quickly goes behind Abhimanyu and attacks him from the back! This was something that Abhimanyu would have least expected from a great “Dharma-Atma” like Karna! Unable to bear the pain of Karna’s sharp arrows piercing him, Abhimanyu falls on the ground! Even then, Abhimanyu composes himself and gets up to fight with his bow and arrow once again from the ground. However, Karna was quick enough to break Abhimanyu’s bow, as he has become weak by now. After the bow was plucked off his hands, Abhimanyu takes his sword to fight, only to be plucked away by Guru Dhronachaarya’s sharp arrows targeting his hands! Notwithstanding this blow, Abhimanyu now plucks the wheel of his chariot and rushes towards Guru Dhronachaarya. He now wants to use the chariot’s wheel as a lethal weapon to target the opposition. We can see the “never-give-up” attitude of young Abhimanyu here and his relentless effort to give a fight till the end, no matter whether he loses his life or not! This is something that all of us should applaud Abhimanyu for and learn from his life! As Abhimanyu advances further thus, Guru Dhronachaarya destroys and breaks the Chakra with which he’s trying to fight! Now, Abhimanyu takes his “Gadha” to fight – This time, Abhimanyu puts up a great fight once again and finishes hundreds of armymen and a couple of “Maharathis” in the Kaurava camp. Particularly those who got hit by Abhimanyu were the warriors from Gaandhaara Desham (Present-day Afghanistan), Shubala Desham, etc.
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode we shall continue to witness the spectacular warfare exhibited by Abhimanyu and how he had to meet an unfortunate end to his life! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 