What is the story of Abhimanyu and the chakravyuh, invoked by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament

Drona’s chakravyuh

Following the fall of Bhishma on the tenth day of the great war, Dronacharya took over the reins of the Kaurava army. After an uninspiring performance in the next two days, Duryodhana, the oldest Kaurava, castigated Drona, reminding him of his vow to vanquish the Pandavas. Drona, embarrassed, decided to deploy the feared military formation of the chakravyuh.

Both sides in the war devised and deployed soldiers in various vyuhs or military formations. The vyuhs were intended to place the most powerful warriors in positions from where they could inflict the most damage, or to meet specific aims of battle. Each formation had specific counters which the other side had to know in order to break through.

The chakravyuh was considered the most difficult of such formations because very few warriors knew how to neutralise it. On the Pandava side, only Krishna, Arjuna, and Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, knew how to penetrate the chakravyuh. When Drona deployed the chakravyuh, he ensured that the attentions of Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna were diverted elsewhere.

Tragedy of Abhimanyu

This left the 16-year-old Abhimanyu as the only one on the Pandava side who could penetrate the chakravyuh. However, Abhimanyu only knew how to get inside the formation, not how to get out.

This was because Abhimanyu had learnt how to enter the chakravyuh while he was in his mother’s womb — Arjuna was telling his wife about it, but because Subhadra fell asleep halfway through the narration, Abhimanyu could hear only how to get in, not how to get out.

Abhimanyu was as accomplished as a warrior as he was brave — he is often referred to as ‘Janmavira’, one who is brave from birth, in the Mahabharata. So, as the chakravyuh swept across the battlefield, ensnaring the Pandava troops in its clutches, Abhimanyu charged into the multi-layered, disc-like formation and managed to reach its centre. The plan was for other Pandava warriors to follow him, and wreak havoc inside the formation. But that did not happen — stiff resistance by the Kauravas, primarily Jayadratha, and some shrewd planning by Drona meant that the likes of Yudhishthira and Bhima were successfully held off while Abhimanyu was trapped inside, alone.

The young warrior fought like a lion, killing many Kauravas, including Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana, and gravely injured Duryodhana and Dushasana. Finally, six Kaurava warriors attacked Abhimanyu all at once, breaking the rules of ethical war. Outnumbered and exhausted, Abhimanyu succumbed.