The Eighteenth Day: The End of Shalya and Shakuni

Kripa advised Duryodhana, 'Son, make peace now. The Pandavas may still give you a share of the kingdom.' But Duryodhana said, 'I will not bow now and abandon those who gave their lives for me.' He made Shalya, king of Madra, the last commander.

Shalya was a mighty warrior. On the eighteenth day he fell upon the Pandava army. Krishna then told Yudhishthira, 'Only you can stop Shalya.' Everyone had always seen Yudhishthira as calm and gentle, but that day he was transformed. After a long fight he hurled a spear that struck Shalya in the heart, and the king of Madra fell.

That same day Sahadeva faced Shakuni, the same Shakuni whose crooked dice had stripped the Pandavas of everything and whose schemes had led to this war. In the gambling hall, Sahadeva had vowed to kill him.

Sahadeva first killed Shakuni's son Uluka, then fought Shakuni fiercely and cut off his head. The game Shakuni had begun with dice ended on the battlefield.

Of the Kauravas' eleven akshauhini armies, almost no one was left. Alone, wounded and exhausted, Duryodhana fled on foot with his mace. He went down into the Dvaipayana lake and, using a special skill, held the waters still and hid beneath them.