Parva 9

Shalya Parva

The last day of the war, and a duel that ended it against the rules

The killing of Shalya

After Karna, Shalya became commander. He held the post for less than half a day. Yudhishthira killed him, throwing the spear called Shakti. It is his single greatest kill of the whole war, and command passed and vanished almost in the same breath, hardly falling to anyone else at all.

The killing of Shakuni

What remained after that was no longer an army, only scattered warriors with no hope left in them. Shakuni was killed, by Sahadeva's hand, the same Shakuni whose dice had started this entire war. Duryodhana's brothers fell one after another, Bhima had sworn to kill them all, and that vow too was fulfilled, one by one, as though an old list were finally being cleared.

By evening Duryodhana was alone. No commander, no brother, no army stood with him on the field. He left the battlefield and hid inside a lake, beneath the water, by his own illusion, as if the water could keep him outside this war.

Duryodhana in the lake

The Pandavas came searching and found him there. They stood on the bank and called out to him. Duryodhana said from within that everyone was already dead, what use was a kingdom now, he was exhausted, alone. Yudhishthira told him to come out. And then he said something he should not have said. He offered that Duryodhana could choose any one of the five, fight him with any weapon he liked, and if he won, the whole kingdom would be his. Krishna was furious. He pointed out that Duryodhana had spent thirteen years perfecting the mace, and had surpassed even Bhima at that one weapon, and Yudhishthira had staked an already-won war in a single sentence. Duryodhana came out and chose Bhima, and the mace as his weapon.

Balarama arrives

Before the fight began, Balarama arrived. He had been on pilgrimage and had stayed out of the entire war, fighting for neither side, stopping neither. Both Bhima and Duryodhana had been his students, and both had learned the mace from him. He sat down to watch, keeping equal distance from both.

The mace fight

The fight went on long, and Duryodhana began to gain the upper hand, his grip on the mace better than Bhima's. Krishna looked toward Arjuna, and Arjuna slapped his own thigh. Bhima understood the sign. He struck Duryodhana on the thigh with his mace. The rule of mace combat was that no blow was struck below the waist. Balarama rose, called it unjust, and moved to strike Bhima down. Krishna stopped him. He reminded him of the vow Bhima had made on the day of the dice game, the day Duryodhana had shown Draupadi his thigh, a vow every bit as old as this war. Balarama did not agree, but withdrew. Duryodhana lay there, his thigh shattered, alive, alone, in the middle of the field. The eighteenth day ended.

Note: Shalya killed within half a day, the killing of Shakuni, Duryodhana hiding in the lake, Yudhishthira's offer, Balarama leaving and the blow to the thigh are all in the Shalya Parva of Vyasa's Mahabharata. Bhima's vow is from the Sabha Parva and is kept here to the letter. The text does not say the blow was right — Balarama's objection is recorded there, and so is Krishna's answer.

Source: Mahabharata (ascribed by tradition to Vyasa), Shalya Parva

Now — how much stayed with you?

Fact

How long was Shalya commander, and who killed him?

  • The whole day; Bhima
  • Less than half a day; Yudhishthira
  • Two days; Arjuna
  • One day; Dhrishtadyumna
Read the whole story — The quietest brother's only name

Yudhishthira fights through the whole war, is wounded, and even leaves the field once.

But in the list of great names, only Shalya falls to him.

Shalya was the Pandavas' own by relation — Madri's brother, and so uncle to Nakula and Sahadeva.

Two old names are finished in the morning of the eighteenth day — Shalya, and Shakuni, killed by Sahadeva.

Whose son?

I am Subala's son and Gandhari's brother. The game that started this whole war was mine. I was killed on the eighteenth day. Who am I?

  • Shalya
  • Kritavarma
  • Uluka
  • Shakuni
Read the whole story — The man who threw the dice

Shakuni ran the whole game in the Sabha Parva, with Duryodhana sitting behind him.

Sahadeva had vowed in that same assembly that Shakuni would be killed by his hand.

Shakuni's son Uluka is killed in this war too — the Uluka who carried Duryodhana's last message in the Udyoga Parva.

So the family it all started with is wiped out entirely on the eighteenth day.

Who am I?

My army was finished and my ninety-nine brothers were dead. I walked away alone with my mace and hid inside a lake. Who am I?

  • Duryodhana
  • Ashwatthama
  • Kritavarma
  • Duhshasana
Read the whole story — Water that was made to hold

The text says Duryodhana held the water by his own power and lay down inside it.

He said himself that he was not afraid but tired — and that there was no point fighting now, since the people he had wanted the kingdom for were gone.

This is the last form of the man who refused to give up as much land as a needle's point.

The Mahabharata does not show him as a coward here. It shows him as empty, which is perhaps harder.

What happened?

What did Yudhishthira offer Duryodhana, standing on the bank of the lake?

  • That he surrender
  • That he would be let go alive
  • That he choose any one of the five, fight with the weapon of his choice, and take the whole kingdom if he won
  • That both sides make a settlement
Read the whole story — A won war put back on the table

Krishna later called this Yudhishthira's greatest foolishness, and said so openly.

Eighteen days of victory were set on a single duel, and with the other man's choice of weapon at that.

Duryodhana chose the mace and chose Bhima — and with a mace he was no worse than Bhima.

It is the same habit Yudhishthira showed in the Sabha Parva. He always leaves the terms of the game in the other man's hands.

Who said it?

After the mace fight, who called Bhima crooked and left in anger?

  • Krishna
  • Balarama
  • Dhritarashtra
  • Kripacharya
Read the whole story — The teacher of both men

Balarama had refused to stand on either side in the whole war, because both fighters were men he had taught.

He had gone on a pilgrimage to the fords of the Sarasvati, and came back on exactly that day.

The rule of mace fighting is no striking below the navel. Bhima struck the thigh.

Balarama picked up his mace and started for Bhima, and Krishna stopped him. He stopped, but he was not persuaded — he called Bhima crooked and went.

Why is that?

Bhima broke the rule and struck Duryodhana on the thigh. What was his reason?

  • He was tired and had no other way
  • Krishna had ordered him
  • The rules had already been broken
  • The vow from the day in the assembly, when Duryodhana showed Draupadi his thigh
Read the whole story — A signal and a vow

The fight was even and Bhima was tiring. Krishna looked at Arjuna, and Arjuna slapped his own thigh.

Bhima understood the signal, though he hardly needed reminding — the vow was thirteen years old.

Lying on the ground, Duryodhana counted out that Bhishma, Drona, Karna and now himself — every major Pandava victory had come by breaking some rule.

Krishna did not deny it. The Mahabharata does not let the winners out clean here.

Riddle

I fought for neither side in this war, though I was the teacher of both men who fought at the end. For those eighteen days I walked along riverbanks. Who am I?

  • Vidura
  • Balarama
  • Vyasa
  • Parashurama
Read the whole story — A separate book inside the parva

A large part of the Shalya Parva is the account of that journey — the fords of the Sarasvati one by one, each with its own story.

So in the middle of the eighteenth day the text stops and goes off entirely elsewhere.

This is not unusual in the Mahabharata. The story pauses wherever it wants, and the listener waits.

Coming back, Balarama arrives exactly where his two students stand with maces, and his anger arrives with that return.

Put it in order

Which is the right order of these events in the Shalya Parva?

  • Shakuni's killing → Shalya's killing → the mace fight → Duryodhana hiding in the lake
  • Shalya's killing → Duryodhana hiding in the lake → Shakuni's killing → the mace fight
  • Shalya's killing → Shakuni's killing → Duryodhana hiding in the lake → the mace fight
  • The mace fight → Shalya's killing → Shakuni's killing → Duryodhana hiding in the lake
Read the whole story — A last day that did not last half

The fighting on the eighteenth day is nearly finished before noon. The rest of the day goes in the pursuit and the argument at the lake.

Only three men are left on the Kaurava side by that day — Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Kritavarma.

In the evening the three come to the wounded Duryodhana, and before dying he makes Ashwatthama commander.

So a commander is appointed after the war is over, over an army of three men. The next parva is that same night.