Shalya

King of Madra, brother of Madri

Shalya ruled Madra, a kingdom in the north-west beyond the rivers of the Punjab, where a princess was given in marriage for a bride-price. When Bhishma sought a second wife for King Pandu, he paid that price without complaint, and Shalya's sister Madri went to Hastinapura as Pandu's junior queen. She bore the twins Nakula and Sahadeva by invoking the Ashvins and later followed Pandu onto his funeral pyre, which left Shalya as the twins' nearest kin on their mother's side.

He was a great warrior in his own right. At Draupadi's swayamvara in Kampilya the bow threw him to the ground, and in the brawl that followed Bhima lifted him bodily and threw him down.

Tricked on the road to Upaplavya

When war became certain, Shalya raised a full akshauhini and marched east to join his nephews. Duryodhana had rest houses built at every halt, with water, food, garlands and singers, and Shalya, assuming his nephews had arranged it, offered a gift to his host. Duryodhana stepped forward and asked for Shalya and his army, and Shalya, bound by his own offer, agreed.

He still went on to Upaplavya to tell Yudhishthira in person. Yudhishthira asked one secret favour: if Shalya were made Karna's charioteer against Arjuna, he should wear down Karna's courage with words. Shalya promised, and told his nephew the story of Nahusha, the mortal who took Indra's throne and was ruined by it.

Charioteer to Karna

In the fighting Shalya was a dangerous opponent. On the first day of Drona's command Bhima met him in a mace duel that left Shalya senseless until Kritavarma carried him from the field.

After Drona fell, Duryodhana knelt in Shalya's tent and begged him to drive Karna's chariot, since only Shalya matched Krishna as a charioteer. Shalya was outraged at being asked to serve a charioteer's son and gave way only on condition that he could say whatever he liked. On the seventeenth day he kept his promise to Yudhishthira. He praised Arjuna, mocked Karna's boasts and told him the fable of the crow who raced the swans, and Karna answered by abusing the Madrakas and their customs.

The fourth commander

Karna's death left the Kauravas leaderless. Ashwatthama proposed Shalya, and Duryodhana poured the consecration water over his head in front of the troops. In the Pandava camp Krishna told Yudhishthira that only he could kill Shalya, and that he must not spare him as an uncle.

On the eighteenth day Shalya led what was left of the Kaurava army and fought superbly, wounding Yudhishthira, the twins and Satyaki and driving a lance through Bhima's armour. At last Yudhishthira, with Nakula and Sahadeva guarding his wheels, hurled a spear into Shalya's chest and killed him at midday. The Kaurava ranks broke, and Sahadeva killed Shakuni soon after.

A man bound by his word

The epic does not treat Shalya as a villain. He gave a promise before he knew its cost and kept it, while keeping a second, secret promise to the other side. He fought his nephews with his full strength, undermined their greatest enemy with words, and died at the hand of the nephew he had tried to help: a good king bound by obligation to the army his heart opposed.