At least that is how the saying goes and many of us really think so! But not so in a war that was meant to be a war of righteousness – or Dharmayuddha.
Well before the Mahabharata war started, both sides had agreed on some fundamental war conventions. These conventions were guided by righteous practices. Let me mention some of these.
1. The fight should only be between equally equipped. A person sitting on a chariot could only attack another who is also sitting on a chariot. One on the horseback could attack only the one on horseback. A foot soldier could only attack another of his kind.
2. The opponent should be chosen considering parity in mutual strength, fitness, willingness to fight, and so on. What it means is that the fight should only be between equals.
3. One should not attack a person who is already engaged in fighting with another. A group of warriors attacking one individual was not allowed.
4. If the opponent was unprepared or panic struck, or his weapons are rendered unusable, he should not be attacked.
5. If for some reason someone desired to retire from the war field, he should not be attacked.
But unfortunately, as the war progressed all war rules were violated one by one, first by one side and then by the other side in retaliation. The so called ‘war of righteousness’ was turned into a war of opportunism and deceit. Both sides slipped into this low ebb, albeit each had their own reasons.
As we discussed in a previous episode, though the plan was to capture Yudhishthira, Drona and his cohorts failed in capturing him since Yudhishthira fled from the war field.
The next day, Drona made a well-orchestrated plan to capture Yudhishthira. As planned earlier, Arjuna was kept away engaged in fighting with the Samsaptakas.
Drona arranged his army in a circular formation called ‘Chakravyooha’. These formations are like live forts with various soldiers and warriors placed at strategic locations making it impossible for the enemy to enter in and attack the main warriors, who normally operated from within. The entire array moved together attacking the enemy.
As I said earlier, Drona’s primary objective was to capture Yudhishthira.
But the Pandavas were in trouble. On one hand, Arjuna was away, busy fighting the Samsaptakas in a distant part of the war filed. On the other hand, none of them knew the technique of breaking into a Chakravyooha.
Each formation needs a specific strategy to break into it. And only Arjuna knew how to break into a circular formation.
But Arjuna had a son – Abhimanyu, a teen ager, who had learnt this art partially from his father. But he was too young to face the hostile enemies. Yudhishthira was initially reluctant to allow Abhimanyu to try breaking Drona’s formation. But he had no choice.
Finally, it was agreed that Abhimanyu would barge ahead opening fissures in this impenetrable formation created by Drona, while rest of the Pandava brothers followed him. giving him protection.
Abhimanyu succeeded in doing what he intended, and entered the formation and approached the main warriors who were inside. He was face to face with Drona and other Kaurava warriors.
But the wicked Kauravas took every care to seal off the fissures opened by Abhimanyu, preventing the other Pandavas from entering deep inside. King of Sindhu, namely Jayadhrita kept the Pandavas engaged outside the formation, trapping Abhimanyu inside, all alone!
Abhimanyu was very young – hardly 16. But he was very courageous and well versed in warfare. He fought very bravely, though with no support from his people. He wreaked havoc on the Kaurava army. No Kaurava warrior could face Abhimanyu single handedly.
At last, six of the Kaurava warriors led by Drona surrounded Abhimanyu and started attacking him from all sides – thus breaking one of the important war conventions.
But Abhimanyu was not the one who would give up so easily. He kept fighting all of them single handedly. It appeared as if Abhimanyu was soon going to eliminate all the Kaurava warriors and destroy their army.
There was no choice for the Kauravas but to resort to deceit. Drona remained a silent spectator to whatever wrong was being done. They deceitfully broke the bow of Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu was for a moment unarmed. But the Kauravas kept attacking him from all sides.
Abhimanyu was severely injured and was bathed in blood. But he did not give up. He picked up a sword and continued to fight. But soon he had to give to the devious methods of the Kauravas. They killed his charioteer and the horses. Toppled his chariot.Abhimanyu had no option left, but to jump down from the chariot. He picked up the chariot wheel, and using that he was about to attack the Kauravas. But alas, one of them hit his head with a heavy mace and Abhimanyu was crushed to death. He lay in a pool of blood, while the Kauravas shouted with joy of vanquishing him.
There was celebration on the Kaurava side for the great ‘victory’ they had. They had finally killed the invincible Abhimanyu. In the process, all war conventions were given a go.
Another day ended in a horrible way. Kauravas managed to protect themselves from the valiant Abhimanyu, though their primary plan to capture Yudhishthira did not materialize.
When both warring parties returned to their respective tents for the day, there was an atmosphere of fear, guilt, remorse and panic on both sides.
The Kaurava elders including Dhritarastra and Drona were apologetic about the way Abhimanyu was killed mercilessly, breaking all war rules and tenets of righteousness. The rest of the Kauravas were elated but feared the consequences of whatever heinous crime they had committed.
On the Pandava side, there was unending gloom. Yudhishthira blamed himself for permitting Abhimanyu to enter the formation built by Drona. The rest of the Pandava brothers cursed themselves for their inability to safeguard him.
What happened next? We will see that in the next episode.
That was Mahabharata episode 12
Based on the 5000 year old Indian Epic namely Mahabharata. © Dr.King 2019.
If only the present war rules were as fair and righteous as it was then........
ReplyDeleteVery true
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