Vṛshka and Acala

Vṛshka and Acala were sons of Subala, the king of Gāndhāra, and brothers of Śakuni. They fought on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra war. On the thirteenth day Arjuna killed both of them with a single arrow. Their death brought deep grief to the Kaurava forces.

Lineage

Vṛshka and Acala were sons of Subala, the Gāndhāra king. This made them brothers of Śakuni, the famous gambler and planner at the Kaurava court. As princes of Gāndhāra, they were on the Kaurava side. Their elder brother Śakuni had long been the chief adviser in Duryodhana’s undertakings.

Their death at the hands of Arjuna

On the thirteenth day, Arjuna killed Bhagadatta, the great king of Prāgjyotisha. Then he turned and moved through the Kaurava right flank.

The two brothers, Subala’s sons, came forward and challenged Arjuna. They surrounded him and struck him with their arrows, and he was hurt.

Arjuna first destroyed Vṛshka’s chariot horses, flag, umbrella, charioteer and bow, and scattered the Gāndhāra warriors around him. Then he killed five hundred Gāndhāra warriors. Vṛshka, with no horses, climbed onto Acala’s chariot. From there the two brothers went on fighting together as one, both on the same chariot, as the twin asuras Bala and Vṛtra once stood against Indra. They struck Arjuna again and again.

Then Arjuna found both brothers side by side on one chariot. He shot a single arrow and killed them both at the same moment. The two brothers had looked alike, with the same features and the same marks of a warrior. They fell from the chariot together. Duryodhana’s sons wept when they fell.

Reunion at the Gaṅgā

In the Āśramavāsika Parva (Chapter 32), Vṛshka and Acala rise among the host of the fallen at the Gaṅgā.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Droṇa Parva
• Mahābhārata, Āśramavāsika Parva, Chapter 32