The mighty warrior - Part 11

Dronacharya could not believe the damage that one boy could cause to such a huge army. He realized that if he wished to save the Kaurava army, or what was remaining of it, the only thing he could do was to attack the seemingly invincible Abhimanyu, from all sides. 
Dronacharya did not care that it was against the rules of the battle. At this stage, the way the Kaurava soldiers were falling, any means seemed justified to bring down the young prince.

He turned to Duryodhana. 'Collect our warriors together...' Dronacharya looked at Duryodhana sharply. 'All of them, do you hear? We attack him together!' he said. 'Don't go marching against him, alone!'

If Duryodhana found the instructions wrong or against the rules of war, he made no comment. He just rallied his Maharathas to attack Abhimanyu together...

And so Dronacharya, Ashwattama, Vrihadvala, Kripacharya, Duryodhana, Karna, Kritivarman and Shakuni together fell on the young boy. Dronacharya had taken a chance and unfortunately for him, he was in for a shock. All of them were beaten back...Every single one. Forget defeating Abhimanyu, none of their weapons were even able to pierce the place anywhere near Abhimanyu's chariot. The air around the battlefield near Abhimanyu was thick with arrows, but then to the Kaurava soldiers it hardly looked like Abhimanyu cared at all. If anything he continued with the massacre of the Kaurava soldiers with more fervour than before...

Lakshmana, the son of Duryodhana could hardly believe what he was seeing in the battle. He really could not believe that his father and Karna were so effortlessly beaten back by Abhimanyu. Foolishly or probably due to his inexperience in fighting any real battles, Lakshmana decided that he was going to be the saviour of the Kaurava army.

As the other Maharathas of the Kaurava army were falling back from the joint fight with Abhimanyu, Lakshmana came forward. Ignoring the others, he challenged Abhimanyu. Just having been beaten by Abhimanyu, the elders were watching the fight listlessly almost sure of what was going to happen.

But then something else happened. Whether it was by luck or by genuine practice on the part of Lakshmana, for the first time since Abhimanyu penetrated the Chakravyugha, he seemed to be failing. Lakshmana's arrows penetrated Abhimanyu's impeccable defences. The Kaurava forces were about to cheer Lakshmana to egg him forth when the inevitable happened. Abhimanyu picked up an arrow in the shape of a snake and shot it straight at Lakshmana.

Duryodhana watched horrified as the arrow found its mark with brutal accuracy and his son Lakshmana lay dead on the battlefield.

'KILL HIM!' Duryodhana screamed as he went towards Abhimanyu. Once again all the Maharathas fell on Abhimanyu. This time, the results were no different than before. Abhimanyu still prevailed.

The Kalingas and the Nishadas fell on Abhimanyu. The battle between them was fierce but then Abhimanyu was still invincible. It almost seemed like as long as Abhimanyu had a bow in his hand, he would win, no matter what...

As if Abhimanyu felt that he was not doing enough damage to the Kaurava army, he took it upon himself to rout the elephant division. The elephants of the Kaurava army started running away from Abhimanyu unable to bear the onslaught from his attack. They trampled of their own soldiers while running away. 
Kratha, one of the warriors of the Kaurava army tried to stand up to Abhimanyu....It was no use. Abhimanyu plodded through him, the same way, he destroyed everything else before him...

Having no other choice, the Maharathas together once more attacked Abhimanyu.

Drona, the teacher of Arjuna, looked completely out of his class when he fought with Abhimanyu. Though he was able to pierce the armour of Abhimanyu on some occasions, it is said that Abhimanyu pierced Dronacharya with fifty arrows and Vrihadvala with twenty arrows. Karna, Kripacharya, Ashwattaman were all great warriors, but then before Arjuna's son they remained as clueless as any other ordinary soldier of the Kaurava army. (It is said that Abhimanyu paralysed Ashwattaman so badly that he could not even move from his chariot) To add to the body count, Abhimanyu killed a warrior – Vrindaraka.

Vrihadvala, the king of Kosala, had his chance to kill Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu killed the king's horses and broke the man's bow and charioteer. Vrihadvala pulled out his sword and angrily marched before Abhimanyu...It made no difference. Vrihadvala was killed in the battlefield that day....Abhimanyu also killed another warrior Aswaketu that day in his blood bath.

Dusshasana's son then decided to try his luck with Abhimanyu. Dusshansana's son pierced Abhimanyu's four horses, his charioteer and even Abhimanyu himself. Abhimanyu pulled out the arrow from his body and threw it aside and then looked at Dusshasana's son with contempt. 'Your father, just ran away from me! Watch what I do with you!' Abhimanyu pulled out a long, beautifully polished arrow and let it fly. Dusshasana's son would have died that day, had it not been for Ashwattaman. Just as the arrow was about to hit Dusshasana's son, Ashwattaman came driving from the left and cut down the arrow. Ashwattama and Abhimanyu fought a short and fierce battle, but then it was not before long when Abhimanyu killed five other warriors named Satrunjaya, Chadraketu, Mahamegba, Suvarchas and Suryabhasa.

Karna watched this and drove towards Drona. 'If this boy keeps this up, I think the war is going to get over today! What are we supposed to do?'

Drona looked at Karna quietly. 'With the bow and arrow in his hands, it is not possible to defeat him! I have studied his fighting style and I have not been able to deduct a single fault in it! The only thing we can do is to cut off his bow!'

Karna would have rolled his eyes in anger had it not hurt him to do it. 'He will pull out another bow! That does not stop him at all!'

Drona signaled Kritvarman and Kripacharya to come close to him. 'Karna will cut off the bow of Abhimanyu and while he does that...I wish you Kritivarman to kill his horses and Kripacharya destroy his chariot!'

Kripacharya looked at Dronacharya sharply. 'At the same time?'

Dronacharya said nothing as he drove away.

And so it was done, Karna cut off Abhimanyu's bow. As Abhimanyu was about to pull out another bow, Kritivarman killed Abhimanyu's horses. Abhimanyu was right in the centre not being able to move, when Kripacharya destroyed Abhimanyu's chariot.

Now Abhimanyu was truly alone. No bow, no chariot and no horses....The soldiers whom he had till now annihilated from the chariot were frighteningly close and they were all looking for blood...his blood. They pounced on him angrily when from the carnage, Abhimanyu angrily pulled out his sword and shield. He fell on the soldiers near him and was killed many of them, when Dronacharya cut the hilt of Abhimanyu's sword. At the same time, Karna also broke Abhimanyu's shield...

Even after this, the warriors never stopped attacking Abhimanyu. 
Having no other weapons, Abhimanyu pulled out a huge chariot wheel from his own chariot as he whirled it around, killing more than he had, when he had his sword with him. It is said that at this stage he looked as handsome as Krishna did when Krishna had the discus Sudarshana with him...Probably the only thing which signified his end was that there was not a single armour on him which was visible...The entire armour was completely wet with blood and so were his robes...But then his attacks never stopped..

The Kaurava army became so exceedingly anxious by the attacks of Abhimanyu with the chariot wheel that they destroyed it too. Unfazed, Abhimanyu pulled out a mace from the ground and attacked Ashwattaman. Ashwattaman saw nothing more than a blur as the mace was swung towards his direction. Completely and thoroughly afraid, Ashwattaman ran from the ground to his chariot. Abhimanyu killed Ashwattaman's horses and destroyed the chariot, while Ashwattaman escaped.

It is said that at this stage of the battle, Abhimanyu had been pierced so many times by so many arrows, that he resembled a porcupine.

This was when Abhimanyu killed a warrior called Kalikeya with his mace and also ten other chariot warriors from the Brahma Vasatiya clan...

Abhimanyu attacked with his mace left and right and this time he was met by Dusshasana's son met him on the field again. 
The two warriors grunted as they tried to pierced each other's defences. Everyone saw that Dusshasana's son was struggling. What they failed to notice was that Abhimanyu was almost nearing his end. Abhimanyu was not able to focus very well and was running on sheer warrior instinct and will power.
The two fought in the field and it was at that time that Dusshasana's son by chance hit Abhimanyu on the crown of his head.

The sun set on the Kurukshetra battlefield as Abhimanyu shaken by the violence of the blow fell on the ground....

The warriors of the Kaurava army were actually shocked to see Abhimanyu fall down. All of them had lost hope that Abhimanyu could actually be brought down. 

But Abhimanyu had been beaten too many times and had lost too much blood. The blow from Dusshasana's son was the last straw. The sixteen year old mighty warrior, fell on the ground, never to wake up again.....

To be continued