Padmavyuha

A depiction of the Padmavyuha or Chakravyuha formation as a labyrinth.

The Padmavyuha (Sanskrit: पद्मव्यूह) or Chakravyuha (चक्रव्यूह) refers to a Military formation narrated in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

Background

The Chakravyuh or Padmavyuh, is a multi-tier defensive formation that looks like a blooming lotus (padma, पद्म) or disc (chakra, चक्र) when viewed from above. The warriors at each interleaving position would be in an increasingly tough position to fight. The formation was used in the battle of Kurukshetra by Dronacharya, who became commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army after the fall of Bhishma Pitamaha.

The various vyuhas (military formations) were studied by the Kauravas and Pandavas alike. Most of them can be beaten using a counter-measure targeted specifically against that formation. It is important to observe that in the form of battle described in Mahabharata, it was important to place the powerful fighters in those positions where they could inflict the maximum damage to the opposing force, or defend the attacks from key warriors of the opposition.

Formation

The Chakravyuha/Padmavyuha was a special formation and only a few exclusive Pandava warriors, namely, Abhimanyu, Arjuna, Krishna and Pradyumna knew how to crack and penetrate this vyooha. However to the Pandavas disappointment, Pradyumna did not participate in the Mahabharata war. Additionally, Arjuna's son Abhimanyu knew how to penetrate the Padmavyuha but not how to exit the formation. He learned the techniques to enter the formation when he was still inside the womb of his mother, Subhadra since her Husband, Arjuna was discussing the formation and its conquest with her. Ironically, Subhadra fell asleep while Arjuna was explaining, and Arjuna was called away by Krishna for the Khandava forest extermination in the middle of his lesson. Thus, Arjuna could not finish explaining Subhadra how to escape from the Padmavyuha.

Consequently, Abhimanyu was unaware as how to escape from the Padmavyuha. He was thus killed in the Kurukshetra War while trying to break free this formation. Mahabharata also has references wherein the rules of war were broken by Kauravas to kill Abhimanyu. After Abhimanyu penetrated the sixth tier of spiral formation, all the Kaurava warriors attacked him in unison, though the main killer was Jayadratha. It was against the rules of Dharmayuddha, which stated that multiple warriors should not attack a single warrior.

The thirteenth day of Mahabharat war--Different perspectives

Intricate rock carvings show, Abhimanyu entering the Chakra vyuha.

The thirteenth day of Mahabharat war is remembered for the construction of Chakravyuha by Dronacharya. It is a very special day both for Kauravas and Pandavas. On this day, Jayadratha from the Kauravas side and Abhimanyu from the Pandavas side played a pivotal role. Jayadratha was very effective in stopping all the four pandavas from entering the chakravyuha (by making use of a boon granted to him by Lord Shiva); Abhimanyu was very effective in holding all the Kaurava maharathis (Great Charioteers, colloquially Great Warriors) at bay and thereby preventing the advancement of Kaurava forces towards the Pandavas.

See also

• Karna
• A possible solution to Padmavyuha
• The game of kabbadi is claimed by some to have originated from the Padmavyuha [1]