The Gurus of Hastinapur - Part 23

Duryodhana was actually surprised at how well Dronacharya's plan worked. The Samshaptakas came and led Arjuna away in the form of a challenge.

As he was in the far side of the battlefield, Arjuna faintly saw the outlines of the circular fashion of Duryodhana's fashion. But then he was surrounded by so many Samshaptakas that he had no time to think about it.

*****

Duryodhana jeered as he watched the start of the war. The Chakravyuha was undoubtedly one of the best crafted vyuhas of the guru. The Vyuha offered the Kaurava soldiers almost complete immunity from the Pandava attacks. All the arrows of the Pandavas were either deviated or destroyed before they could reach his troopes. Added to that, the formation also was able to hide from the Pandavas exactly who was firing the arrows and towards whom. Unable to know anything, the Pandava soldiers were falling in large numbers as they were unable to counter the attack of the Kaurava soldiers.

Duryodhana almost smiled as he saw the despair in Yudhishtara's face.

Duryodhana frowned as he saw the eldest Pandava drive towards the youngest Pandava in the army. Duryodhana watched grimly as there was a dialogue between Yudhishtara, Bheema and the sixteen year old Abhimanyu. Duryodhana was slightly shocked as Abhimanyu rode on towards the Vyugha.

'Is...is the great Yudhishtara sending that...boy...towards us?' Duryodhana asked. He was not to know, but these words were to come back and haunt him later today. Karna who was near Duroydhana was also slightly shocked as he nodded.

'Does not Yudhishtara love Abhimanyu? He has sent the boy all alone to face the might of the Kaurava army!' Duroydhana asked trying hard not to grin, a plan already forming in his head. He knew that this particular boy, this Abhimanyu, was special. His grandfather Bhishma considered the boy almost equal to a Arjuna and Krishna in the battlefield. But that was not what was interesting. Abhimanyu was special because not only was he Arjuna's son, he was also Krishna's nephew – the son of Krishna's sister – Bhadra. Duryodhana realized that if he killed the boy today, not only would he have killed a Maharatha from the Pandava army, he would have demoralised both Arjuna and Krishna.

'Abhimanyu is not alone!' Dronacharya told Dronacharya from the other side. 'The other Pandavas are following him!' Dronacharya slowly nodded. 'Yudhishtara wants Abhimanyu to break the Vyugha so that the others may be able to come inside the Vyugha! That is why they have sent such a young warrior inside the vyugha!'

'A soldier is a soldier!' Duryodhana said grimly. He turned to his men. 'Jayadratha! Go to the edge of the Chakravyugha! You said that you would stop the others if Arjuna was not there!' Even as Duryodhana said it, he realized the impossibility of the sentence. It did not seem possible that Jayadratha could stop the four Pandavas. But then Jayadratha had seemed so confident when he said that he could stop the Pandavas, without Arjuna. Even now as Jayadratha drove his horses forward, he did not seem particularly worried. Duryodhana wondered why Jayadratha was so confident. But then, the young Abhimanyu was almost upon them and Duryodhana had a challenger to his Chakravyugha.

'If Abhimanyu is able to break the Vyugha, let him in! We will kill him inside the Chakravyugha!' Duryodhana said with a smile. 'But if Abhimanyu is not able to breach the vyugha, just make sure that the boy is killed today! I am sure that that would hurt Arjuna and Krishna, more than anything else!'

****

Duryodhana was almost sure that Abhimanyu cannot get inside the Yugha. But then he was in for a shock. The boy not only effortlessly breached the vyugha, he made an opening in the vyugha almost wide enough for all the others from the Pandava army to enter.

'Go towards Jayadratha!' Duryodhana shouted. He was suddenly doubtful whether the king of Sindhu could hold off....But then Duryodhana was in for a second shock. Jayadratha did not need any help. As Abhimanyu entered the Vyugha, Jayadratha and his men moved in over to the close the path created by the young warrior.

Bheema, Nakula, Sahadeva and even Yudishtara himself threw all their forces at the man. But Jayadratha seemed unfazed. In fact he seemed like different warrior as he calmly countered everything that the Pandavas were throwing at him.

Jayadratha had pulled off the impossible. He had effectively sealed Abhimanyu inside the Chakravyugha with no means of escape and absolutely no back up.....

********

Duryodhana did not know whether Abhimanyu knew that the Chakravyugha had closed behind him and that he was all alone. But Abhimanyu definitely looked like he did not care. Duryodhana realized that Abhimanyu had not volunteered to break inside the Vyugha, counting on his uncles support. Abhimanyu was inside the Vyugha because he knew that he count handle the Kaurava warriors.

And Abhimanyu was doing it ruthlessly.

Watching Abhimanyu fight, Duryodhana suddenly wondered whether the person who had breached in the formation was Arjuna...It was impossible to tell the difference between Arjuna and Abhimanyu's fighting technique. And the effect was the same. No matter which direction, the boy went, it was followed by the sounds of the rapid twanging of the bow and then the screams of the Kaurava warriors. It went so bad that the Kaurava warriors started running away as they heard the sound of Abhimanyu's chariot.