Śalya Parva

The Śalya Parva is the ninth book (parva) of the Mahābhārata. It covers the eighteenth and last day of the Kurukshetra war: Śalya’s command of the Kaurava army and his death, the killing of Śakuni by Sahadeva, Duryodhana’s flight and hiding in the Dvaipāyana lake (the Hrada-praveśa Parva), and the mace fight (the Gadā Parva) between Bhīma and Duryodhana at Samantapañcaka, which ends with Duryodhana’s fall.

Inside the Gadā Parva lies the account of Balarāma’s long tīrtha-yātrā (pilgrimage) along the river Sarasvatī, the Sārasvata Upākhyāna. It fills chapters 35–54 and holds more than a dozen narratives of its own.

Overview

The Śalya Parva is the book of endings. The last commander falls, the last able ally is slain, the Kaurava line comes to an end, and the war itself closes with a single combat with the mace (gadā) between the two great mace fighters of the Mahābhārata.

The parva has three distinct parts:

1. War book (chapters 1–28). The eighteenth day of battle under Śalya as senāpati (commander of the army). Nakula kills Karṇa’s sons. Yudhishṭhira kills Śalya. Sahadeva kills Śakuni and Ulūka. The Kaurava army falls apart.
2. Hrada-praveśa Parva (chapter 29). Duryodhana hides in the Dvaipāyana lake. Sañjaya is captured and released. Yuyutsu takes the royal women to Hastināpura.
3. Gadā Parva (chapters 30–60). Balarāma’s tīrtha-yātrā along the Sarasvatī (chapters 35–54). Duryodhana is drawn out of the lake. Bhīma and Duryodhana fight with maces (gadāyuddha) at Samantapañcaka. Bhīma strikes Duryodhana’s thighs, a blow against dharma, and Duryodhana falls. Balarāma leaves in anger.

Day eighteen: the battle (chapters 1–28)

Śalya as senāpati

After Karṇa fell on the seventeenth day, Duryodhana made Śalya, king of Madra, the last senāpati of the Kauravas. Śalya accepted and set out his forces in a fresh battle formation. The Pāṇḍavas answered under Yudhishṭhira’s command.

The deaths of Karṇa’s sons (chapters 1–16)

Three sons of Karṇa, Citrasena, Susheṇa and Satyasena, fought the Pāṇḍava forces on the eighteenth day. Nakula killed all three, one after another, showing the skill in archery of the younger Pāṇḍava in open battle.

The death of Śalya (chapter 17)

Śalya fought brilliantly on the last day and met the Pāṇḍava forces with desperate courage. The battle came to its height when Yudhishṭhira himself met Śalya in single combat. The dharmarāja (king of dharma), better known for restraint than for skill in war, fought with rare fury. He struck Śalya with a śakti (spear) and then with a javelin that pierced his armour. Śalya fell, the last great commander of the Kauravas.

The death of Śalya’s brother (chapter 18)

After Śalya fell, his brother, whose name is not given, charged at the Pāṇḍava forces to avenge him. Yudhishṭhira killed him too. Seven hundred Madra warriors were slain in the fighting that followed.

The general battle (chapters 19–28)

The Pāṇḍavas destroyed what was left of the Kaurava forces, one part after another. The main events:

• Śālva, the Mleccha king, was killed by Sātyaki after a fierce struggle on elephant-back (chapter 20).
• Kshemadhūrti was killed by Sātyaki (chapter 21).
• Eleven sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra were killed by Bhīmasena one after another: Durmarshaṇa, Śrutānta, Jaitra, Bhūribala, Ravi, Jayatsena, Sujāta, Durvīshaha, Arika, Durvimocana and Dushkradhara (chapter 26). Bhīma also killed Śrutārvan (chapter 26).
• Sudarśana, another son of Dhṛtarāshṭra, was killed by Bhīmasena (chapter 27).
• Suśarman, king of the Trigartas (Prasthala), was killed by Arjuna (chapter 27).
• Satyakarman was killed by Arjuna with a kshurapra (razor-headed) arrow (chapter 27).
• Satyeshu was killed by Arjuna (chapter 27).
• Ulūka, son of Śakuni, was killed by Sahadeva (chapter 28).
• Śakuni was killed by Sahadeva (chapter 28). The man who planned every scheme of the Kauravas met his end at the hands of the youngest Pāṇḍava.

Hrada-praveśa Parva (chapter 29)

When his army was destroyed, Duryodhana fled the battlefield. Using his knowledge of jala-stambhana (the art of making water stand still), he entered the Dvaipāyana lake and hid beneath its waters. The Pāṇḍavas learned where he was from hunters who had seen him. Sātyaki captured Sañjaya after the battle, but Vyāsa stepped in and Sañjaya was released. Yuyutsu, the only surviving son of Dhṛtarāshṭra (born of a Vaiśya woman), took the royal women and the dependants back to Hastināpura. Vidura gave counsel on dharma.

Gadā Parva (chapters 30–60)

Before the gadāyuddha (chapters 30–34)

The Pāṇḍavas faced Duryodhana at the Dvaipāyana lake with taunts and challenges. Duryodhana came out bearing his great mace and offered to fight one Pāṇḍava at a time. Yudhishṭhira accepted his terms, and Bhīmasena stepped forward to fight for the Pāṇḍavas. Balarāma, who had been on tīrtha-yātrā along the Sarasvatī, arrived at that moment to watch the combat between his two great pupils in the gadāyuddha.

Balarāma’s tīrtha-yātrā: the Sārasvata Upākhyāna (chapters 35–54)

When the Kurukshetra war began, Balarāma could not bring himself to fight for either side, because he had trained both Bhīma and Duryodhana in the art of fighting with the mace. He set out on a tīrtha-yātrā along the holy river Sarasvatī, visiting its tīrthas (holy bathing places) from Dvārakā eastward. Vaiśampāyana tells this journey to Janamejaya, with a long run of holy places and the narratives told at each.

The main tīrthas visited, from west to east along the Sarasvatī:

• Prabhāsa, where Soma did tapas (austerity) after Daksha’s śāpa (curse).
• Vinaśana, where the Sarasvatī disappears underground.
• Trita-kūpa or Camasodbheda, where the narrative of Trita, Ekata and Dvita took place.
• Subhūmika, the Gandharva tīrtha and Gargasthota.
• Nāgadhanu, the home of Vāsuki.
• Sapta-Sārasvata tīrtha, where seven Sarasvatīs meet.
• Maṅkaṇaka’s āśrama, the place of the narrative of the dancing ṛshi.
• Pṛthodaka, linked with Rushaṅku and with Viśvāmitra becoming a brāhmaṇa.
• Kapālamocana (Auśanasa), where Mahodara Muni was set free.
• Yāyāta tīrtha, where Yayāti performed his great yajña (fire ritual).
• Vasishṭhāpavāha, where the Sarasvatī flowed with blood during the conflict between Vasishṭha and Viśvāmitra.
• Sthāṇu-tīrtha or Taijasamanda, where Kārttikeya received his abhisheka (consecration).
• Varuṇābhisheka tīrtha.
• Agni-tīrtha, where Agni hid in the Śamī tree after Bhṛgu’s śāpa.
• Brahma-Yoni tīrtha.
• Kaubera tīrtha, where Kubera performed tapas.
• Badara-pācana tīrtha, where Śrutāvatī did tapas.
• Indra-tīrtha, Rāma-tīrtha (of Paraśurāma) and Āditya-tīrtha.
• Sārasvata-tīrtha, where the Sārasvata Ṛshi taught the Vedas to 60,000 ṛshis during a drought of twelve years.
• Vṛddha-kanyā tīrtha, the place of the narrative of the Vṛddha-kanyā (the aged maiden).
• Samantapañcaka, that is, Kurukshetra, whose story the gathered ṛshis told to Balarāma.
• Plaksha-Prasravaṇa, the source of the Sarasvatī on Himavat.
• Kārapavana tīrtha, on the Yamunā.
• The āśrama of Mitra and Varuṇa.

This part holds several major upākhyānas (embedded narratives): the Trita-kūpa narrative, the Baka-Dālbya narrative, the narrative of Śrutāvatī’s tapas (with the narrative of Arundhatī inside it), the narrative of Asita-Devala and Jaigīshavya, the narrative of Sārasvata and Dadhīca, and the narrative of the Vṛddha-kanyā.

Nārada came to Kārapavana tīrtha to tell Balarāma that the gadāyuddha was about to begin. Balarāma at once turned back to watch his pupils fight.

The gadāyuddha (chapters 55–58)

The mace fight between Bhīma and Duryodhana at Samantapañcaka, at Anirīṇa south of the Sarasvatī, was one of the most splendid combats of the whole war. The two warriors were equally matched, and for hours neither could gain the upper hand. Balarāma, who had taught them both, watched closely. Kṛshṇa saw that Bhīma could not win by fair means, because Duryodhana’s skill was greater. He signalled to Arjuna to show Bhīma that he should strike the thigh. Bhīma remembered the oath he had sworn at the dice game. When Duryodhana leapt into the air, Bhīma struck his thighs with the mace. The blow shattered both thighs, and Duryodhana fell.

The aftermath (chapters 59–60)

Bhīma kicked the head of the fallen Duryodhana with his left foot, in contempt for the way Duryodhana had treated Draupadī. Yudhishṭhira rebuked Bhīma for this wrong against a fallen king. Then the dharmarāja spoke to the dying Duryodhana with grief and mixed feelings, and spoke of the karma that had led to the ruin.

Balarāma was furious at Bhīma’s blow to the thighs, which was against dharma and against the rules of the gadāyuddha. He raised his plough-weapon to strike Bhīma. Kṛshṇa held him back with his own hands and won him over with a speech that recalled Bhīma’s old oath and the śāpa of Maitreya. Balarāma was not fully satisfied. He left for Dvārakā, praising in public Duryodhana’s death as a warrior’s death and condemning the way Bhīma had won. Kṛshṇa then spoke to Yudhishṭhira, who was sunk in grief, and brought him back to the weight of his duty as dharmarāja.

Key deaths in the Śalya Parva

Chapters

The chapters of the Śalya Parva, the ninth book of the Mahābhārata, cover the eighteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, the Hrada-praveśa Parva, and the Gadā Parva including Balarāma’s Sarasvatī tīrtha-yātrā.

Part I — War Book: Eighteenth Day (Chapters 1–28)

Part II — Hrada-praveśa Parva (Chapter 29)

Part III — Gadā Parva (Chapters 30–60)

Prelude (Chapters 30–34)

Balarāma’s Sarasvatī Tīrtha-yātrā — Sārasvata Upākhyāna (Chapters 35–54)

The Gadāyuddha and its Aftermath (Chapters 55–60)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śalya Parva, chapters 1–60