In the epic Mahabharata, Abhimanyu is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra. He is married to Uttara, daughter of Virata, who is pregnant by him at the time he dies, aged only 16, in the battle of Kurukshetra. Their son is the sole survivor who carries on the Pandava line. He is often thought of as the bravest warrior on the Pandava side, willingly giving up his life so that the Pandavas won the war.

He is a young and brave lad who out of his curiosity happens to eavesdrop on his father's conversation with Krishna about how to penetrate the battle formation of the Chakravyuha or shield-wall. Later, in the absence of his elders, he uses his knowledge to actually penetrate a chakravyuha in the battle. However, he is isolated there, does not have the knowledge to escape from it, and hence dies there at the hands of his uncle's son Jayadratha. This caused his father, Arjuna, known as the greatest warrior of his time, to vow to kill Jayadratha before sundown otherwise he will commit suicide. Krishna helped Arjuna by lowering the sun, giving it the appearance of sunset, so that Jayadratha would come out. Arjuna quickly beheaded him with his unerring arrow. Without the death of his son, Abhimanyu, it is possible that Arjuna would not have had the passion or motive to win the war.

Literally translated, his name can be broken into 'abhi' and 'manu'. 'abhi' meaning this generation or now and 'manu' being man. So Abhimanyu translates to this generation's man. Manu has a similar place in Indian mythology to that of Adam in the western traditions.

In some literature, there is another character called Abhimanyu, who may also be called Ayana. This man is considered to be a cowherd of Gokula and the husband of Radha the gopi.