Abhimanyu

The moon's son

When the gods agreed to take human birth to lighten the burden of the earth, Soma, the moon, would lend his son Varchas only on terms. The boy would be born as Arjuna's son, outshine warriors twice his age, and fall in battle in his sixteenth year, then come home to the sky. He was born at Indraprastha to Subhadra, Krishna's sister, and named Abhimanyu for his fearless and fiery spirit; he is also called Saubhadra, son of Subhadra. Arjuna taught him the bow.

When the Pandavas lost everything at dice and went into the forest, Subhadra took the child to her brother's city of Dwaraka. He grew up there among Krishna's sons, training with Pradyumna, until the thirteen years of exile were over.

The wedding at Upaplavya

At the end of the year in disguise, King Virata offered his daughter Uttaraa to Arjuna, who as the dancer Brihannala had been her teacher. Arjuna refused, saying she had been like a daughter to him, and asked for her as a bride for his son. Abhimanyu married Uttaraa at Upaplavya, and the wedding sealed the alliance between the Pandavas and the Matsya kingdom on the eve of the war.

Into the wheel

On the thirteenth day Drona drew up the Kaurava army in the Chakravyuha, the circular array, to capture Yudhishthira, while the sworn warriors of Trigarta drew Arjuna away to the far end of the field. Abhimanyu said he knew how to break into the formation but not how to come out. The popular story that he learned this in his mother's womb, hearing Arjuna explain it before she fell asleep, is a later addition. The elders promised to follow him through the breach, but Jayadratha of Sindhu, strong that day with a boon from Shiva, held the gap against them all.

Alone inside, Abhimanyu killed Duryodhana's son Lakshmana, King Brihadbala of Kosala and many others. At Drona's suggestion Karna cut his bow from behind, and the great Kaurava warriors together destroyed his chariot, horses and charioteer. He fought on with a sword, then a chariot wheel, then a mace, until the son of Dushasana struck him on the head as he rose from the ground.

The vow and the heir

That night Arjuna swore to kill Jayadratha before the next sunset or burn himself, and kept the oath. Uttaraa was already carrying Abhimanyu's child. After the war Ashwatthama's weapon killed the baby in the womb, and Krishna brought him back to life. The boy, Parikshit, became king of Hastinapura, and it was to his son Janamejaya that the whole epic was first recited.

The broken rules

His death is where the rules of war break decisively on the Kaurava side, and later Pandava stratagems are often defended by pointing back to it. It is also a story about promises the elders could not keep. Readers remember his courage at sixteen, and the epic remembers that the moon had lent him only for that long.