As a foetus in his mother’s womb, he had heard enough stories about how to enter, exit and destroy various battle formations. He had also heard about the famed Chakravyuha formation albeit only as to how to enter it. His uncle Krishna had prevented his father from explaining how to actually destroy this particular formation.
And when he was sixteen, the war began. His role here would be spoken of for centuries to come.
On the twelfth day of the war, fighting for his life in the Chakravyuha, Abhimanyu felt more alive than he had ever felt before, truly alive.
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This post has been written for the Write Tribe – 100 Words on a Saturday – 4 prompt, albeit this has been written on a Wednesday 😀 The prompt was to write a 100 word post for the concept “truly alive“.
Mahabore's Mumblings 
😀
@Santulan, I will take that as a compliment 😀
err.. the whole comment didn’t come.. I wrote in angular brackets that this is should be read with Staying Alive by beeGees as background music
@Santulan, 🙂
Excellent. It is very nerve-cracking to even think how Abhimanyu must be thinking at that momenet.
@Diwakar, so true, all his senses must have been acutely aware, he must have felt truly alive during his last few moments…
I still don’t understand why Krishna stopped Arjuna from explaining the complete procedure of Chakravyuha. Please do let me know if there’s a valid reason for that.
@Reks, one version of the epic has that if Abhimanyu had the knowledge of destroying and exiting the Chakravyuha, that would have tilted the balance entirely in favor of the Pandavas and that is why Krishna distracted Arjuna and prevented him from narrating this when his son was in the womb.
Another version has that Subhadra fell asleep when Arjuna was narrating this portion and that is why Abhimanyu was not aware of this part.
I find the first part more convincing, it’s not like the baby sleeps when the mother sleeps, right 😀
Absolutely. The first version looks more convincing. Not sure about Abhimanyu, but both my girls were hyperactive while I slept. 😀
@Reks, yes, even my lil daughter kept my wife awake quite a bit, she used to kick around in the nights 😀
😀
Love your slice of history/mythology. Hope one day I can write this way.
@Kalpana, you already write better than I do, but anyways thanks for the compliments 🙂
I have never been able to understand or even imagine what would have been playing in his heart when Abhimanyu set out to destroy the Chakravyuha, Did he know that it was a battle from where he would never return alive? Did he think he could crack it and save his people?
I loved how you brought mythology into the prompt. Looking forward to reading more of these kinds 🙂
@Bhavya, the situation was such that Abhimanyu was forced to attack and try to destroy the Chakravyuha to avoid giving the Kaurava army a huge advantage in the battle. So although he knew that he probably would get killed while trying to do so, he did not have a choice given that he was the only person who knew how to enter the formation and that his father was on another side of the battlefield.
If you liked this, then please do read the posts under https://mahabore.wordpress.com/category/ramayana/ You will surely enjoy those as well 🙂 And yes, I will keep writing more such posts in the future as well 😀
This is the first time I am commenting, but I really love your mythological tales!
@Ruch, thanks a lot 😀
wow!! loved your post…first time reading and writing for 100 words on Saturday!! 🙂
@preethiprasan, thanks and all the best for your attempt
Wow, as usual!
Does the Mahabharata throw any light on Abhimanyu’s thoughts/feelings after he’d entered the Chakravyuha?
@Proactive Indian, I am not aware off the top of my head, but I will do my reading and get back to you on this…
Rich in knowledge. Thanks for this one:)
@Vishal, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I love your take on this! Awesome story.
@Kathy, thank you so much
Nice one jam.
@Paddy, thank you man 😀
The warrior Abhimanyu would have felt truly alive at that time…
a mythological excerpt in only 100 words….WoW
@Shelly, welcome to the blog, and thanks 🙂
Sometimes, I think you get to appreciate life when you are close to death… I would interpret this write up that way, at least 🙂
@Swetha, spot on 🙂
I ‘ve with time, forgotten a number of Mahabharatha anecdotes that I knew and remembered so fondly. This one though, stays fresh despite all of it. My favorite.
I am going to follow your blog very frequently to resurface all those hidden memories. Thanks for this post 🙂
@Ashwini, glad that you could rejog some of your old memories with this post 🙂
Just loved it! 🙂 This is one of my favorite stories!
@Vidya, thank you so much 😀
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