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                                         Chakra Vyuha (Wheel or Discuss Formation)

The Chakravyuha is a multi-tier defensive formation that looks like a disc when viewed from above. The warriors at each interleaving position would be in an increasingly tough position to fight. As per this military strategy, a specific stationary object or a moving object or person can be captured and surrounded and rendered fully secured during times of military conflict. The pattern is of two soldiers on both sides with other soldiers following them at a distance of three hands, drawing up seven circles and culminating at the end which is the place where the captured person or object is to be kept. To make Chakravyuha, the Commander has to identify soldiers who will form this formation. The number of soldiers to be deployed and the size of the Chakravyuha is calculated as per the resistance estimated. Once drawn, the foremost soldiers come on either side of the component to be captured, engage briefly, and then move ahead. Their place is taken up by the next soldiers on either side, who again engage the component briefly or then move ahead. In this fashion, several soldiers keep on passing the component and keep on moving in a circular pattern. By the time the last bit of soldiers arrives, the component, oblivious of the design is captured within seven tiers of soldier formation surrounding him from all sides. The last soldiers of the formation give the signal of completing the Chakravyuha. On the signal, every soldier who so far has been facing outwards, turn inwards to face the component. It is only then that the captured component realizes his captivity. The Chakravyuha keeps on moving in a spherical order and can easily lead the component away in captivity as well.

The formation of Chakravyuha is never visible from the ground. But anyone from above can easily decipher the movement. It is a hopeless no escape situation for the captive. This is correct in the formation of Chakravyuha. This strategy was applied during the prehistoric days. The component even if heavily guarded, cannot escape the web of a Chakravyuha.

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. It is the most renowned among the different formations used in the Mahabharata war, simply because this was part of the turning point in the war. Drona made the Chakravyuha with 6 layers under the guard of 6 Maharathis - Karna, Drona, Ashwatthama, Dushasana, Shalya, and Kripacharya. Duryodhana was positioned at the center with different warriors at the various layers. Jayadratha and his army were at the gate of this Vyuha.

Chakravyuha - the deadliest and brilliant military formation

            Drona devised the Chakravyuha on the 13th day of the war with a motive to capture Yudhishthira, the leader of the Pandavas, as a prisoner of war. Such deadly was the trap of Chakravyuha that only a few talented warriors like Krishna, Arjuna, Drona, Bhisma, and Pradyumna knew the way to break in and come out of it. Chakravyuha was a very deadly defensive formation and also an offensive one in which the whole arrangement of soldiers moves continuously across the battlefield, simultaneously attacking the invading warriors. It was like a spinning death machine that consumes everything that came on his path. It rotates along its axis with each layer rotating in alternate directions at different speeds to make it a great defensive formation. Chakravyuha not only rotates but also revolves in its orbit to destroy everything that comes in his path thus making it a very offensive and destructive force. Chakravyuha formation is similar to a typhoon that moves across the battlefield to destroy everything that it encounters. So, the opposition cannot just sit back and needs to quickly devise a strategy to stop the advancement of Chakravyuha. This is why when Drona formed the most renowned Chakravyuha during the Kurukshetra war, despite having inadequate knowledge; Abhimanyu stepped in to stop the casualty rate of the Pandava army.

Fighting inside the deadly spiral formation is very damaging mentally and the psychological impact of Chakravyuha on the body and mind is very huge. Hence, thousands of soldiers were killed in a relatively short span of time due to the psychological impact of the rotating formation.

A layer of Chakravyuha formation 

Usually, there were seven layers, level 7 being the innermost layer consisting of the strongest soldiers. Soldiers of the inner level were technically and physically stronger than the soldiers of the immediate outer level. Infantry formed the outer layers of Chakravyuha and the inner layers were formed by armored chariots and elephant cavalry. At the center of Chakravyuha, are the best of warriors awaiting to kill the invading warrior. Weak and strong warriors are strategically placed in each of the layers, either to inflict the maximum damage to the opposing warriors or to defend the attacks from skilled warriors of the enemy. Each layer has openings that were closely protected by one of the highly skilled warriors and his personal troops. The role of soldiers in outer layers was to only prevent the entry of warrior into the layer. If the layer is broken, outer layer soldiers aim to prevent further entries and not to attack the warriors who already breached the layer.

Role of infantry, cavalry, and archers in Chakravyuha 

The infantry was tightly massed so as not to allow the incoming chariot to breach the layer easily. Skilled archers in armored chariots, cavalry, and elephants on the inner layer would easily fire arrows over the heads of infantry on the outer layer to kill the infantry of enemy warriors. This formation ensured the safety of the infantry from enemy warriors who are trying to breach the Chakravyuha. This defensive formation would be very difficult to breach as any attack by enemy warriors in the outer layer would draw the concentrated attention and attack of all centered archers. To break this formation, a well-planned strategy needs to be formulated to keep the archers engaged so that they are busy defending themselves instead of attacking the enemy.

'''What makes Chakravyuha the most deadly formation? '''

Let us first understand how the Chakravyuha formation works:-

The soldier at the blue dot is responsible to start the outward oscillatory motion by taking a step to the left. This triggers a chain reaction where each soldier in the same ring will take a step to the left to take up the position emptied by the front soldier.

The soldier in the next ring will take a step in the opposite direction (right) to trigger the chain reaction where every soldier moves to the right to fill up the space emptied by the front soldier. So, there are seven circles of alternate clockwise and anticlockwise rotating soldiers that move so fast that the enemy is completely lost and totally deceived into thinking that the formation is in few numbers as the actual strength of the inner rings cannot be estimated from outside the formation.

How the warrior gets trapped in Chakravyuha 

Firstly it needs to be noted that the formation is not visible from the ground, simply because each of the layers of the maze is not in fact a single row of soldiers, but a huge battalion of the army which has a depth of tens or hundreds of soldiers, and the path between 2 layers is also multifold wide through which a battalion could pass through. So from the ground, it would simply seem to be a big passage on either side of which the enemies' army is busy fighting. Only the inner row is facing the warrior or army that passes through the maze. The outer layer is busy facing the next outer passage.

Now imagine the situation where a warrior tries to enter the maze through its mouth. Let's call him "X". s. Soldiers near the mouth are always stronger and more skilled compared to the remaining regions. So, the warrior is most likely to get killed if entered through the mouth. If "X" is skilled enough to survive the warriors at the mouth, once he enters, the mouth closes to prevent the backup supply to enter with him. Now if "X" tries to proceed through the path, he gets trapped in a maze and keeps running in a circular motion until he ends up at the center. But in most cases, warriors will not service until he reaches the center. As he goes deep inside the formation, "X" keeps getting more and more tired and would end up fighting stronger and stronger soldiers who are fresh and strong. So at the point where the skills of "X" combined with his tiredness are overcome by the skills and strength of a warrior in any of the layers, "X" falls.

Now imagine the situation where a warrior does not try to enter the maze but is just consent to fighting the outermost layer. Let's call him "Y". The Chakravyuha formation keeps revolving around its axis where each solder is replaced by the one on his right, and the formation also rotates around a distance axis (like how the earth moves around the sun). With the magnitude of the formation, "Y" will not be able to realize his relative position concerning the whole formation, and at some point, the mouth of the formation will move around to engulf him, even without his realization. So even if "Y" is static, he is still engulfed by the formation

Now imagine a third situation where a warrior or his army knows that this is Chakravyuha, and he tries to penetrate it by breaking the layers. Firstly it's not that easy to create a gap to enter, since any gap is closed immediately. If somehow he is successful in penetrating one layer, he would end up fighting the stronger soldiers in the innermost layer. If somehow the warrior is successful in killing many soldiers of a particular layer, then he is forced to go inside another layer to get attacked by more ferocious and seasoned warriors. As a result, as he enters deep and deep inside the Chakravyuha, he keeps getting tired both physically and mentally and finally, gets pounded by the enemy.

So irrespective of what one does, the Chakravyuha is designed to engulf the enemy, and either kill him as he goes through the maze, or spare his life, but weaken him until he's taken captive along the route. This makes it one of the deadliest formations.

The Padma Vyuha is the Blooming Lotus Formation often confused with the Chakravyuha, and many writers use these terms interchangeably. There is a considerable difference between these 2 formations though there are quite some similarities as well. Similar to Chakra-Vyuha, this is a multi-tiered defensive formation in the form of a blooming lotus when viewed from above. Again only a handful of warriors knew the technique of breaching this formation.

On a ninth day, Bhishma went for a Vyuha called Sarvatobhadra Vyuha which meant safe from all sides. Bhishma was in the front, Guarded by Kripa, Kritavarma, Shakuni, Jayadratha, Kambhoja, and sons of Dhritarashtra. Trigartas were also there. The Pandavas formed a Vyuha called Nakshatramandal Vyuha in the shape of a constellation. The Pandavas and sons of Draupadi were leading from the front. Shikandi Chekitan and Ghatotkacha were holding important positions to defend. Abhimanyu, Kekaya brothers, and Drupada were guarding the rear.

On the tenth day, the Kauravas army chose, Asura Vyuha and the Pandavas countered it by arranging their army in Deva Vyuha. In the lead was Shikandi with Bhima and Arjuna to protect his sides. Behind him were Abhimanyu and the children of Draupadi. Satyaki and Dhristyadhumna were with them. Virata and Drupada had two charges of the rest of the army. Kikuyu brothers, Dhrishaketu, and Ghatotkacha were in their ranks. The Pandavas had the single-pointed aim to kill Bhishma and were successful in that.

The Kurma Vyuha was formed by Bhishma on the 8th day of the war. The Pandavas countered it with the Trishula Vyuha.

On the afternoon of the 8th day, Bhishma changed his formation to Oormi Vyuha. In this formation, the army is arranged on either side like the waves of the sea. Arjuna chose Sringataka Vyuha to counter-attack this formation.