“What the Chakravyuh Formation teaches us about Strategy”, eSamskruti, 1 Sep 2026.
“Ask any Indian to name one moment from the Mahabharata that still gives them goosebumps, and many will say the same thing. Abhimanyu, trapped alone inside the Chakravyuh, fighting warrior after warrior until he had no strength left. It is one of those stories that we grow up hearing, and somehow it never stops feeling relevant. Even today, people use the word Chakravyuh to describe any situation where someone is trapped in a system with no clean way out.
In this piece, we look at what the Chakravyuh actually was, why Abhimanyu’s story still moves us thousands of years later, and what this old battle formation can teach us about strategy, even in our own lives.
What Exactly Is the Chakravyuh
The Chakravyuh was a battle formation designed by Dronacharya, the guru of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. It was shaped like a spiral, with layer after layer of warriors guarding the way in. The idea was simple but brutal. An enemy who entered would find it very hard to fight their way back out, because every layer closed behind them like a trap.
Only a few warriors on the Pandava side knew how to break into this formation. Arjuna knew it fully, but on the day the Chakravyuh was formed, he had been lured away to a different part of the battlefield. That left the Pandavas in trouble, and it is here that young Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son, stepped forward……………………”
Read the full article at eSamskruti.
