Abhimanyu's Chivalry

Abhimanyu was the brave son of Arjuna and Subhadra. He was chivalrous and exceptional like his father. Apart from this, he was the nephew of Sri Krishna and Balabhadra. Sri Krishna was very fond of him.

He had learned the art of Chakravyuh while in the womb of his mother Subhadra when Arjuna was narrating it to her. However, when the last and the most important part of the narration was going on, she fell asleep. Thus Abhimanyu could not listen to the way of getting out of the Chakravyuh. Also, he could not get an opportunity to learn it from his father as Arjuna and his brothers were in exile in the forest shortly after the birth of Abhimanyu. And when they returned, the war broke out. Subhadra had stayed with her brothers during the period when the Pandavas were in exile. Abhimanyu was trained by Pradyumna, Balarama, and Abhimanyu was given the Raudra bow by Balarama.

On the 13th day of the war, Arjuna was taken to the south end by Susharma and Trigartas. Taking advantage of the situation, Duryodhana challenged Yudhisthira to fight the war, after Dronacharya formed the Chakravyuh.In the case they did not, then Duryodhana would win the war!

Now it so happened that Abhimanyu knew how to enter it but did not know how to exit!

 He went inside it followed by his paternal uncles. However, all except Abhimanyu were stopped near the front gate of the Chakravyuh by Jayadratha alone!

 Abhimanyu killed Laxmana, the son of Duryodhana. Outraged by the killing of his son, Duryodhana orders Dronacharya to change the plan and to kill Abhimanyu at all costs!

 Initially, Abhimanyu was followed by the remaining four Pandavas. However, the four Pandavas were stopped by Jayadratha who defeated all four of them! Drupada too was stopped and trapped. Ashwathama and Kritavarma defeated Dhrishtadyumna and the Upapandavas, leaving Abhimanyu all alone. 

Before reaching the center, Abhimanyu killed many other warriors like Rukhmartha, Brihadbala, Shon, etc. After Abhimanyu reached the center of the Chakravyuh, he was attacked by Drona, Dushasana, Ashwatthama, Karna, Shakuni, Duryodhana Kripa, Kritavarma Vrishasena and Drumasena (Dushasana's son), and many other warriors at the same time, which was against the rules of the war.

He fought all of them and defeated all in single combat and all-out attack. However, Karna destroyed Abhimanyu's bow. Abhimanyu resumed fight with other weapons like swords, mace, etc. He killed all of Karna's foster brothers, the younger son of Dushasana, and defeated other prominent warriors.

 His weapons were cut off by Ashwatthama, Karna, and Drona. Abhimanyu was fatally injured, but he continued fighting using the wheel of his chariot. He fought valiantly with it until it too was destroyed!

He finally engaged in mortal combat using the mace with Dushashana's eldest son. He was killed by Dushasana's son while he was still rising to his feet. This was also in opposition to the rules of fair war.

Abhimanyu's bravery saved the Pandavas from losing the war. His death was avenged by Arjuna who killed Jayadratha the next day as it was due to Jayadratha only that the other Pandava warriors were unable to get into the Chakravyuh. Had the likes of Bhima, Nakul, Sahadeva, Yudhisthira, Drupada, etc been with Abhimanyu the Kauravas would not have been to break the rules of the war and mortally wounded Abhimanyu.

Abhimanyu was thus the able son of his father. He was a teenager during the time of the war. However, the courage and chivalry shown by him was immense and much beyond his age. He was surely a great hero of the Mahabharata war.