The Abhimanyu Archetype - Part 2

At the ripe age of 16, Abhimanyu had fought the Mahabharata war on the side of the Pandavas and killed powerful opponents. Despite his tender age, his valour in war was no less than that of the greatest of warriors. On the 13^th day of the war, the guru of the Pandava & Kaurava brothers, Drona had attacked the Pandava army with the dreaded Chakravyuha formation. Arjuna, the only warrior capable of shattering the formation had been engaged on the far side of the battlefield destroying the lethal chariot-warriors, the Samsaptakas. Given the inability of the Pandava forces to make any dent in the formation, Drona had begun to slaughter their army like a tempestuous fire consuming a forest. With no solution in sight, it was on the insistence of his paternal uncle, Yudhishtira that Abhimanyu had readily accepted his role of breaking into the Chakravyuha, which would allow the Pandava army to escape, but had asked for help to come to his rescue on the way out since he lacked the understanding of breaking out of the whirlpool. Assured of support from Yudhishtira, the young Abhimanyu had plunged in as a moth flings itself into burning fire, single-handedly slaying several warriors who came in his way, including the son of the key antagonist of the Kauravas, Duryodhana.

Upon witnessing the death of his son, Duryodhana had been infuriated and had ordered the entire Kaurava force to attack Abhimanyu. Simultaneously, Yudhishtira’s path was blocked by Duryodhana’s brother-in-law making it difficult for him to return for Abhimanyu’s rescue. Abhimanyu had been left to fend for himself against the entire Kaurava army which had begun to simultaneously attack him against all rules of war. Whilst the eldest of the Pandava brothers, Karna who had been fighting on the Kaurava side, had broken Abhimanyu’s bow & chariot by firing arrows from behind him, the other warriors had surrounded him as hyenas attack an injured lion. Duryodhana’s nephew had engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with Abhimanyu, who had held his own until his sword had broken and was killed shortly thereafter by a mace that had crushed into his skull. However, Abhimanyu had killed Duryodhana’s nephew with his own mace before dying. The Pandavas trapped outside, had only been witness to the on-goings as Abhimanyu had been hacked to death.

At the ripe age of 16, father had been involved in another key project of HeJ, Operation Atanka with a plot to attack the evening assembly at the Wagah border ‘lowering of the flags’ ceremony. By spreading terror among the people of more imminent attacks prior to the Indian elections, the objective had been to de-stabilize the voting process and ensure a hung parliament. Despite his technical expertise in project supervision, father had needed to get himself directly involved in the Operation when some glitches had come to the fore on the day of execution.

Amongst the claps & cheers of “Pakistan Zindabad” & “Jai Hind” of the crowds, as the sentries from either side had danced their aggressive no-touch tango on the geopolitical fault-line venting their deep resentment & mutual hostility, the 15 kg explosive had accidentally detonated on the Pakistan side of the border only 500 meters away from the crossing point killing 60+ people & injuring over a hundred.

As the leader of the group, father had plunged right in to salvage his team. Whilst the rest from the group had fled and escaped, father had personally called upon each one of his team-mates to check on their status in the midst of the chaos, lest any of them land up in the hands of the authorities. Almost half-guilty of killing his own Muslim countrymen, father had felt trapped in his own emotions when he had personally lifted the half-alive body of a close aide, dragging it to an outside shelter. He had sprinted and almost slipped through the cracks on his way out of the border area when the Pakistani authorities had caught up and taken him under custody.

The rough first-degree murder treatment behind bars by the authorities along with the interrogations stretching into long hours all through the day had been back-breaking for father, especially in the initial few years. With his faith in the ways of the HeJ intact, despite strenuous investigation techniques, my hardened father had remained mute not to reveal anything worthy to the authorities - the HeJ had only been a silent witness to the on-goings from the outside.

x---------- End of Part 2 ----------x

The concluding Part 3 shall be uploaded day after