✡️What is Vyuh(array)?

✡️What is Vyuh(array)?

 In ancient times, a vyuh of military operations was created by the commander in war so that the  easily entered into the enemy army zone and king &chief generals could be captured or killed.

In this, their entire army is arranged in a special shape or property with the name of the vyuh (array). This type of the vyuh composition ,even the smallest army starts to look huge and can face the biggest army.
Vyuh design is called the position of soldiers in a particular order for war. Vyuh is mentioned in the mythological text Mahabharata.  In the war of Mahabharata, many types of "Vyuh"were composed by Pandavas and Kauravas. Vyuh means "a swarm of soldiers" or "a part of the army."

 While creating a vyuh, thats had to keep in mind what the army's spread should be?  How should the various army-departments be divided?  That is, what number of divisions should be located in each place, which commanders should stand and conduct military operations, in which main places, etc.
To much thinks of all these things was to keep an efficient arrangement of both attack and defense operations. It was the main purpose of construct a vyuh. In the war, the armies of both sides created vyuh and each other side by bringing them into the vyuh and defeated the warriors .

The following were the vyuh created by the Pandavas and Kauravas in the Mahabharata war.

 1. Chakravyuh
 2. Vajravyuh
 3. Crouch vyuh
 4. Ardhchandra vyuh
 5. Mandal vyuh
 6. Chakrasakat vyuh
 7. Magar vyuh
 8. Aurmi vyuh
 9. Garuda vyuh
 10. Srinagantaka vyuh
 11. Sarvatomukh vyuh

1.  Chakravyuh

 Everyone has heard about it.  It was composed by Guru Dronacharya on the thirteenth day of the war.  Duryodhana was just in the middle of this chakravyuh. But the seven maharathis were in different layers of this vyuh. Jayadratha was at the entrance of this vyuh.  Only Abhimanyu was able to penetrate this vyuh.  But he could not cross the last gate ... and later he was murdered by 7 maharathis. Some more information about this vyuh will be found later.

2.  Vajra vyuh

 On the first day of the Mahabharata war, Arjuna decorated his army in the shape of this vjra.  It used to be like Vajra of Indradev to see its shape, so this type of vyuh is called "Vajra vyuh"!

3.Crounch vyuh

 Crouch is a bird.  Which is called Demoiselle Crane in modern language. It is a species of stork. This vyuh is shaped like this bird. On the second day of the war, Yudhishthira suggested the Panchal son to decorate the Pandava army with this same crounch vyuh ... King Drupada was on the head of this bird, and Kuntibhoja was in place of its eyes.  Arya Satyaki's army was at its neck.  Bhima and Panchal sons were in place of its wings. The five sons of Draupadi and Arya Satyaki were deployed under the protection of its wings. In this way we can see that this vyuh was very powerful and effective.  Pitamah Bhishma himself decorated his Kaurava army with this vyuh.  Bhurishrava and Shalya were protecting its wings.  Somdatta, Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Kritavarma were handling the various parts of this bird.

4.  Ardhchandra vyuh

 It was composed by Arjuna in response to the Garuda vyuh of Kauravas. Panchal Son assisted Arjuna in creating this vyuh. It had Bhima on its right side. It had armies of Drupada and Virat naresh in its upward direction. Just ahead of them were the Panchal sons, Neel, Dhritaketu, and Shikhandi. Yudhishthira was in the middle of it. Satyaki, Draupadi's five sons, Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha, Kokay Bandhu were to the left of this array and Arjuna were himself with Sachchidananda Swaroop Bhagavan Sri Krishna on the front.

5.  Mandal vyuh

 Bhishma Pitamah had decorated the Kaurava army by this mandal vyuh on the seventh day of the war.  It was formed in circular form.  This was one of the most difficult vyuh, but still the Pandavas broken  it by the Vajra vyuh.

6.  Chakrasakat vyuh

 After the killing of Abhimanyu, when Arjuna was annihilated to take the life of Jayadratha, Guru Dronacharya composed this vyuh to protect Jayadratha on the fourteenth day of the battle!

7.  Magar vyuh

 The vyuh was shaped like a crocodile.  On the fifth day, soon after sunrise, Bhishma, the grandfather of the Kauravas, created this vyuh.  With a large army, they moved towards the Pandavas and started raining arrows.  Satyaki stopped Dronacharya.  Bhishma forced Satyaki to flee the battle

8.Aurami vyuh

 Aurami refers to the sea.  This vyuh looked like the waves of the sea.  In this vyuh , the enemy used to have confusion about the army's actual capability.

9. Garuda vyuh

 On the third day on behalf of the Kauravas, Bhishma created a Garuda vyuh at the battle site.  Instead of the beak in his front, he stood on his own.  Acharya Drona and Kritavarma was in place of both eyes. Ashwatthama and Kripacharya stood in the head.  With this vyuh, Bhishma caused a terrible destruction in the army of Pandavas.  Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to slay Bhishma, but Arjuna was unable to fight with enthusiasm, causing Shrikrishna himself to rush to kill Bhishma.  Arjuna then assures that he will fight the war with full enthusiasm.

10.  Shreengatka vyuh

 Among Pandavas, Arjuna was an expert in creating this vyuh.  This vyuh looked like a building.  It was designed to entice the enemy army into confusion.

11.  Sarvotmukh vyuh

 The Kauravas attacked the Vajra vyuh of Pandavas with sarvotmukh vyuh.  The pandavas suffered heavy losses due to this vyuh built on the orders of Pitamaha Bhishma.  In this vyuh, Pitamah Bhishma himself was at the forefront.
 Kripacharya, Dronacharya, Raja Vahlik, Ashwatthama and Duryodhana at the back with him.

Some more vyuh received from various sources

Shaktavyuh, Garbhavyuh, Suchivyuh, Ardchandravyuh, Sarvottabhadravyuh, Makravyuh, Sarpavyuh, Mandlavyuh, Sheyavanvyuh, Trishulvyuh, Satrachakrachakravyuh, Padmavyuh and Kashyapuvyuh .

1- Shaktvyuh-

  This vyuh is like a square box.  There are five stops in this.  First of all there is a contingent of 20000 foot soldiers.  After that a troop of 5000 chariots. In the midst of this vyuh, the king lived there with his chief minister,commander and chaturangani Sena (Chaturangani army is four types of army in which foot soldiers, horses , elephants and chariots). After this, a contingent of 1000 elephant and 2000 foot soldiers lived there.  At the last stop of this vyuh, there was a contingent of 2100 horses.
 A total of 30100 soldiers were required to build this vyuh. To break this vyuh, if it is attacked simultaneously, it can break the vyuh. This is the only way to break it.

2- Garbhavyuh-

This vyuh is round in shape like a pregnant woman's stomach.  In this vyuh, there would have been 6 rows, but those 6 rows were divided in 3 ways. The first line consisted of 6000 foot soldiers and 4000 horsemen.  There were 10,000 chariots in the second row.  There was Chaturangani army in the third line.  In the last part of the third line, the king and his trusted soldiers lived. In the fourth row, there were 10,000 elephant.  There were 5000 horsemen and 5000 elephant in the fifth row.  The last line consisted of 10,000 foot soldiers. To break this vyuh, a sucivyuh to be created.  If the third line of the garbhavyuh is hit with the help of a suchivyuh, it can be broken. 70000 soldiers were needed to build the garbha vyuh.

3- Suchivyuh-

This vyuh was like a long pointed spear and it had only one line which was made up of an entire Akshohini army. The king used to be right in front of this vyuh, but he was protected by the most feared fighters of the army.  You must be thinking that it would be easier to break this vyuh because the king lives in front of this vyuh. By killing him, the vyuh will be broken but it is not because the most powerful warriors of the army used to protect the chariot in which the king sat.  The only way to break it was that if the horsemen attacked simultaneously on its right and left side, this array would be broken.

4- Ardhachandravyuh -

 This vyuhis one of the most complex vyuhs.  To make this, 6 Akshauhini Army is required.  It consisted of three lines, which remained from the 1-1 Akshauhini Army.
The remaining 3 Akshohini Army used to stay behind it.  Just as an army or someone  headed towards this (half-moon) ardhachandravyuh then the army behind the ardhachandravyuh came in front and surrounded the vyuh or army that entered inside the ardhchandrvyuh. And Ardhchandravyuh became full moon(poornchandravyuh) and killed the army trapped inside.  There was only one way to break this vyuh and that it should be attacked directly from any other side without entering it.

5- Sarvottabhadravyuh -

This is also one of the most complex vyuh.  No one was able to build this vyuh till date because 27 Akshohini Army was required to build it. That means a total of 55 lakh 89 thousand soldiers were needed to make this vyuh.  Because this vyuh was never built, it could not be broken.
Sarvatobhadra means a very different way of looking at the constellations.  As we all know that there are 27 constellations.  This vyuh also had 27 parts that moved forward together, in a single line.
Because this vyuh is never used, there is no description of how to break it and how to trap the enemy inside it.

6- Mkravyuh- 

Mkra means spider.  You may be thinking that this will be a very weak vyuh, but it is not so.  It required 6 Akshauhini Army to build it and just like a spider web has seven rows, it also had seven rows. In the front row, 30000 thousand soldiers used to stand with spears and shields and some soldiers used to stand with ropes.  As soon as someone reached near the first line, the soldiers with the rope made a trap and threw it over them and pulled it inside the vyuh.  Spearmen used to kill them.  There were archers in the second line.
If a very large army attacked in one go, they used fire arrows and surrounded the army in a circle of fire and then killed them.  There was only one way to break this array and that was Kashyap vyuh.  It could only be broken by Kashyap vyuh.

7- Sarpvyuh- 

This vyuh was in the shape of a snake.  At least 1 Akshauhini Army was required to build it.  The specialty of this vyuh was that it used to run like a snake, so no one knew in which direction the vyuh was going. Whatever army came to the  in front of this vyuh, it used to swallow it, meaning that  would take it in like a snake and then kill it.  There was only one way of breaking this vyuh, if it is hit on the head same way, then this snake vyuh is broken.

8- Mandalvyuh - 

This vyuh was like the solar system.  Which had 9 houses.  Similarly, there were 9 rows standing in the shape of 9 planets.  9 Akshauhini Army was required to build it. Just as the sun in the solar system is in the middle and all the houses used to revolve around it, the king used to be in the middle of this vyuh and all the other lines used to revolve around it. Another special thing was that this vyuh was can not broken.

9 - Shyen vyuh -

 This vyuh was never used for attack, it was used only to break the snake vyuh.  Therefore, no more details are available about it.

10- Satrah Chakra Chakravyuh- 

This is one of the very complex vyuh and can also be made with less army.  It consists of 17 chakras.  The king is in the middle of the 17th chakras and the remaining 16 cycles surround him. By this, any large army can be divided into 17 parts and killed.  It cannot be broken by any other vyuh.  The only way to break it is that if the weakest chakra is broken, then this vyuh will be broken.

11- Trishulvyuh - 

This vyuh used to be in the shape of a trident. It required 4 Akshauhini Army to make it. Three Akshauhini army made the tip of this vyuh and the rest of the 1 Akshauhini army used to make handle of trident on which the arrow was pointed. The specialty of this vyuh was that it could attack in three directions at once, and even if one of its tip breaks, it could be attacked with the other two points.  If only one point was left in this vyuh, it could attack.The only way to break it was that if all three points were attacked simultaneously, this vyuh would be destroyed.

12- Padmavyuh (Chakravyuh) -

 Chakravyuh or Padmavyuh is one of the many vyuh (military-structure) mentioned in Hindu warfare / scriptures.
The Chakravyuh is a multi-level defensive military structure which, when viewed from the top, looks like a Chakra or Padma, a maharathi warrior stand every doorway for protect it. This vyuh was used in the Mahabharata to arrest Dharmaraja Yudhishthira by Dronacharya, the chief commander of Kauravas.
It is the most complex vyuh in all vyuhs. It consists of seven chakras which rotate continuously and move forward.  Just like a screw.  But its shape is round. If someone is trapped inside this Chakravyuh and he does not know to leave, then he will be killed because the more he enters inside the Chakravyuh, the more difficult it will become.  The only way to break it is to break the way to enter it.
Abhimanyu tried to do this, but as I have written above, the chakra rotates continuously in two ways.  So at the time when Abhimanyu entered the chakravyuh, his exit was ahead and entry gate was behind and he entered the evacuation route, he faced the strongest warriors before which he was killed.

13- Kashyapvyuh- 

This vyuh is in the shape of a tortoise.  This vyuh is closed with large slopes from all four sides, so it does not affect by  any outside attack. And it can hurt enemies a lot.  But this vyuh is open from the top, so if the arrow is fired from above it, then this vyuh can be broken.

After trying so much, I was not able to get the complete information and the article related pictures could not be found either.  Sorry for this  Thank you