you alone can do.
We shall do the rest and in the Kaurava ranks which bent under his
smash the Kaurava army."
Abhimanyu thought of his father and
Krishna. Feeling encouraged by what had
been said by Bhimasena and
Yudhishthira, and impelled by his own
gallant nature, undertook the adventure.
"I shall please my great father and uncle,"
he said with enthusiasm. "Let my valor be
staked on this."
"May your prowess grow," said
Yudhishthira and blessed the youth.
"Sumitra, see Drona's flag flying there!
Drive straight and fast to that point," said
Abhimanyu to his charioteer.
"Faster, faster!" urged Abhimanyu as they
sped along.
"May the gods protect you!" said the
charioteer. "Yudhishthira has placed a
very great burden on your young
shoulders. Think well before you pierce
Drona's array and enter. The acharya is
unrivalled in skill and experience, while
you, though his equal in valor, have not
his long years to back it."
Abhimanyu smiled and replied: "Friend, I
am Krishna's nephew and son of Arjuna,
am I not? Which other has that advantage?
Fear dares not approach me! These
enemies here have not a sixteenth part of
my strength. Drive fast towards Drona's
division. Do not hesitate."
The charioteer obeyed.
As the golden chariot to which were
yoked beautiful young horses approached,
the soldiers in the Kaurava army shouted:
"Abhimanyu is corning! He has come!"
The Pandavas followed Abhimanyu close
behind him.
The Kaurava warriors were perturbed as
they saw Abhimanyu's chariot approach
them with great speed.
"Here is one greater in valor than Arjuna,"
they thought and began to lose heart.
Like a young lion on a herd of elephants,
Abhimanyu rushed on. There was a ripple
headlong onslaught.
The bend soon became a break and under
Drona's very eyes, the formation was
breached and Abhimanyu entered. But the
breach closed under the inspiration of
Jayadratha, king of the Sindhus, before
the other Pandava warriors could force
their way in according to plan and
Abhimanyu was alone!
Kaurava warriors opposed him, but they
fell like moths in the fire, one after
another. Abhimanyu's shafts searched the
weak points in the armor of his enemies.
And the bodies of soldiers lay strewn on
the field like Kusa grass on the sacrificial
platform.
Bows, arrows, swords, shields, javelins,
pieces of harness, chaiot canopies, axes,
maces, spears, whips, conchs, along with
severed heads and limbs of slain warriors,
covered the field.
Seeing the destruction wrought by
Abhimanyu, Duryodhana was wroth and
rushed in person to oppose the youthful
warrior. Drona, having leant that the king
himself was engaged in battle with
Abhimanyu, became anxious and sent
veterans to protect Duryodhana.
With great difficulty, they managed to
rescue the king from the boy-hero who
greatly disappointed at the escape of
Duryodhana, vented his anger on the
warriors that had come to rescue him and
put them to headlong flight.
Then, throwing away all sense of shame
and chivalry, a large number of veteran
warriors made a combined and
simultaneous attack on the hero, who
found himself alone, surrounded by
enemies on all sides. But, even as on all
sides a rock receives the rising tide of the
sea, Arjuna's son withstood this united
ouslaught.
Drona, Aswatthama, Kripa, Karna,
Sakuni, Salya and many other great