Shalya Parva

The eighteenth and final day, under the brief command of Shalya, king of Madra, who is killed by Yudhishthira before noon. The Kaurava army disintegrates, Sahadeva kills Shakuni, and Duryodhana flees alone to hide beneath the waters of a lake. Balarama returns from a long pilgrimage along the Sarasvati, and the book pauses to retell the legends of every ford he visited. It closes with the mace duel between Bhima and Duryodhana, decided by a blow below the waist that Balarama condemns as a breach of the code.