Arjuna’s Vow
In the twilight of the evening Arjuna was returning to the camp. Suddenly he felt agitated and in a voice broken with emotion he said to his friend Govinda:
“Why, O Keshava, is my heart full of fear, and why is my voice trembling? Look at the signs that come from the earth, from the sky, from everywhere: they portend only the darkest misfortunes. I feel my arms and legs without strength and in my mind there are only thoughts of death. Some calamity is about to happen or maybe it has already happened. Has something happened to my venerable older brother or some of my closest friends?”
“Surely nothing happened to Yudhisthira,” Krishna replied. “But surely something must have happened. Don’t worry, we’ll know everything in a few minutes.”
Arjuna, more and more worried, as he entered the mazes of the friendly tents, he noticed that everyone avoided meeting his gaze, while the omens became more and more terrible. When he entered Yudhisthira’s tent and saw the expressions of the brothers he understood that something very serious must have happened.
“Brothers, do not leave me in this intolerable anxiety. Why those faces? And why did the soldiers and my friends not even greet me or come to party like every evening? Usually my son Abhimanyu comes to see me and tells me his latest feats; why is he not here with you today?”
So much was the pain that gripped him that Yudhisthira found it hard to answer him; but since no one took the initiative, he stepped up.
“As you know, this morning our acarya lined up the padma-vyuha against us, and immediately there was a great slaughter. We couldn’t even attack, as they penetrated our ranks with derisory ease. The only thing to do was to be able to break that line. But you were far away, and Krishna was with you. Only Abhimanyu knew how. So your brave son accepted this assignment. He immediately managed to wedge himself into the enemy ranks. Unfortunately we were not able to follow him, and he found himself alone. We learned the rest from Yuyutsu”.
Perhaps not everyone knows that Yuyutsu was one of the few virtuous sons of Dhritarastra. His mother was from the vaishya caste; he was also part of that large group of Kshatriyas who fought reluctantly on the side of Duryodhana. But when he found himself witnessing the nefarious crime perpetrated against the young Abhimanyu, his indignation exploded and prevented him from continuing to fight alongside people obsessed with the specter of evil. That same afternoon he had passed over to the side of the Pandavas, to whom he had told how things had gone.
As he listened to the tale of that cruel murder, Arjuna could hardly believe it. Then the pain hit him full and he couldn’t hold back the tears.
“But how could you have left him alone?” he said. “Who could have been clever enough to prevent you from following him?”
“It was Jayadratha,” replied the older brother. “The moment your son entered the enemy ranks thus causing a large breach, he ran against us; and we still cannot understand how he alone could repel the attack of all of us put together. Believe me, Jayadratha was completely invincible today. And so Abhimanyu found himself alone and we couldn’t do anything to save him”.
Closed in his grief, Arjuna pondered for a long time and then said:
“All those sinners who participated in the cowardly killing of my son have their fate already sealed; but this Jayadratha who caused the death of my son does not yet know the fate that will befall him. So I swear that tomorrow itself, before the sun sunsets, I will deprive him of life. And if I fail, I give my solemn word that I will leave this world by entering a great pyre of fire”.
As soon as the allies of the Pandavas learned of the solemn vow, they made hundreds of drums, horns and shells vibrate, causing a tumultuous din. Everyone was excited: the Pandava had not taken on an easy task, so they were sure that tomorrow they would see him fight like never before. The Kauravas would have to pay dearly for Abhimanyu’s murder.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 2”.
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