Abhimanyu – The Warrior Son of Arjuna and Subhadra

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Abhimanyu is one of the greatest warriors of the Mahabharata and a nephew of Lord Krishna. He was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, the famous couple in epic Mahabharata. He married Princess Uttara, daughter of King Virata of Matsya kingdom.

Abhimanyu was killed on the 13th day of the Kurukshetra war. Abhimanyu was the reincarnation of Varchas, the son of Chandra Dev (Lord Soma). When the Chandra Deva agreed for his son to be incarnated on earth by the devas, he put a condition that Abhimanyu would remain on earth for 16 years. His son Parikshit was born after his death in the Mahabharata war.

Abhimanyu inherited both courage and fighting ability from his father Arjuna and his maternal uncle Sri Krishna. As an unborn child in his mother’s womb, Abhimanyu learned the knowledge of entering the deadly defense formation called Chakravyuha from Arjuna. The Mahabharata epic explains that from the mother’s womb, Abhimanyu overheard the conversation between his mother and father. Arjuna explained the detailed technique of cracking Chakravyuha and entering it. But, when he was about to explain how to exit from the Chakravyuha, he realizes that Subhadra falls asleep and stopped explaining further. Unfortunately, Abhimanyu could not listen about how to emerge out of it successfully.

Abhimanyu’s Training

Abhimanyu gained knowledge while he was still in Subhadra’s womb. He heard Arjuna telling Subhadra the secrets of how to enter, exit, and destroy various battle formations like Chakravyuha. Abhimanyu spent his childhood in Dwaraka, his mother city. He was trained by Pradyumna, the son of Sri Krishna and his great warrior father Arjuna, and brought up under the guidance of Lord Krishna.

Marriage

Arjuna arranged Abhimanyu’s marriage to Uttara, the daughter of King Virata, to seal an alliance between the Pandavas and the royal family of Virata, in the light of the forthcoming Kurukshetra War. The Pandavas had been hiding incognito in the Matsya kingdom during their final year of exile. During that time, Arjuna played the role of dance teacher to Uttara. At the end of the period of exile, upon finding out who the Pandavas were, the king offered to marry Uttara to Arjuna, however, Arjuna had come to think of her as his daughter, so, he asked to have her married to Abhimanyu instead.

A Great Warrior

Abhimanyu

Being a grandson of Lord Indra, Abhimanyu was a courageous and dashing warrior. He was considered an equal to his father owing to his prodigious feats. He was able to hold at bay great heroes like Dorna, Karna, Duryodhana, and Dushsana. He was praised for his audacious bravery and loyalty to his father, his uncle, and their cause. Abhimanyu participated in the Mahabharata war when he was 16 years old and killed important personalities such as Lakshma, son of Duryodhana, and Brihadbala, king of Kosala.

Abhimanyu’s Death

Abhimanyu is well known for his participation in the Kurukshetra war. On the 13th day of battle, the Kauravas challenge the Pandavas to break a circular battle formation known as the Chakravyuha. The Pandavas accepted the challenge. Lord Krishna and Arjuna only know the way of defeating such battle formation. Unfortunately, they were pulled into a war with the Samsaptaka forces led by Susharma.

Abhimanyu enters chakravyuha

Abhimanyu came to rescue the Pandavas and entered Chakravyuha all alone. But he did not know how to destroy the formation once he was inside, as Krishna had stopped the conversation and taken away Arjuna when he was in his mother’s womb. Due to which he was being trapped by Kaurava. Even though Abhimanyu went on killing thousands of Kaurava soldiers inside the Chakravyuha. He defeated great warriors like Drona, Kripa, Ashwatthama, Duryodhana, Salya, Dussasana, Bhurisrava, and killed many prominent heroes.

Death of Abhimanyu

Karna was the last great warrior who could over-power Abhimanyu. But since Abhimanyu was just a 16-year-old teenager, Karna did not use his full might against him and fight in an equal challenge. Finally, a strategy was made and a joint attack on Abhimanyu followed. He was surrounded from all sides and broke his bow by shooting arrows from behind. But before dying, Abhimanyu managed to kill Dusshasana’s son.

Revenge by Arjuna

Arjuna took the revenge the very next day of Abhimanyu’s death, by killing Jayadratha, the king of Sindh. Jayadratha was solely accountable for not giving a chance to Abhimanyu to go out of Chakravyuha resulting in his death in the hands of many warriors like Karna, Duryodhana, etc. when he was weapon-less.

Abhimanyu, the great warrior life story has inspired many in the field of art, creativity, and storytelling. So, we can learn the following lesson from Abhimanyu Stories.

The thought of Revenge only brings Destruction

Life is a Chakravyuha

Always Gain Complete Knowledge of anything

Incomplete Knowledge is too dangerous

Always Respect your Parents and Elders

Don’t lose your Strength During Tough Time

Classes of warrior as per Hindu Mythology :

There are various warriors in our Hindu epics with great power. Some of them are the incarnation of God's, rakshasas or son of various gods. They gained a huge respect in our epics with their ferocious valiant. So today I give my own opinion about some greatest warriors in our Hindu epic.

According to Hindu mythology there are 5 classes of warrior excellence.

Rathi: A warrior capable of attacking 5,000 warriors simultaneously.

Atirathi: A warrior capable of contending with 12 Rathi class warriors or 60,000

Maharathi’s: A warrior capable of fighting 12 Atirathi class warriors or 720,000

Atimaharathi’s: A warrior capable of fighting 12 Maharathi warriors simultaneously

Mahamaharathi’s: A warrior capable of fighting 24 Atimaharathi’s simultaneously

Famous Rathis in hindu mythology are

1. Somadatta – Father of Bhurishrava

2. Shakuni – Kaurava’s maternal uncle and a master mind behind Kurukshetra war.

3. Shishupala – Shri Krishna’s cousin

4. Vrishasena – Son of Karna

Famous Atirathis in Hindu mythology are

1. Shalya – The fourth commander-in-chief of the Kaurava alliance

2. Kripacharya – Teacher and family priest of Kuru dynasty.

3. Yuyutsu – The only son of Dhritarashtra who survived the Kurukshetra war.

4. Drishtadyumna – Commander of the Pandava army during the Kurukshetra War

5. Ghatotkacha – Son of Bhima

6. Angada – Most feared warrior in Ramayana, He was son of Bali and Tara and nephew of Sugriva.

7. Duryodhana, Jayadhradha, Dusassana, Vikarna, all 97 brothers of Duryodhana, Yudhishtir, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva

Famous Maharathis from Hindu mythology are:

1. Parshurama – Sixth incarnation of Lord vishnu.

2. Lord Rama – King of Ayodhya

3. Kumbhakarna -Brother of Ravana

4. Lakshmana – Brother of Lord Rama

5. Ravana – King of Lanka

6. Arjuna – He is the third of the five Pandava brothers

7. Lava & Kusha – Sons of lord Rama

8. Hanuman, Sugriva, Jambavan, Vali, Bhishma, Drona, Ashwatthama, Abhimanyu, Lord Krishna, Balrama, Lord Narasimha.

Famous Atimaharathis from Hindu mythology are:

1. Indrajeet – Son of Ravana

Famous Mahamaharathis from Hindu mythology are:

1. Lord Brahma – The creator

2. Vishnu – The preserver

3. Shiva – The destroyer

4. Durga – The warrior goddess

5. Ganesha & kartikeya – Sons of Shiva and Parvati

You are welcomed to add to the list.

Om Namo Bhagwate Balbhadray

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