Duryodhana tricks Śalya into joining the Kauravas

Classical

Śalya, king of the Madras, was the brother of Mādrī, which made him the maternal uncle of Nakula and Sahadeva and a natural ally of the Pāṇḍavas. When he heard that the war was coming, he set out with his sons and a full akṣauhiṇī of troops. His army was so large that its camp stretched across a league and a half, and he led it by slow marches so that the men could rest. The earth trembled under the tread of his troops, and every king along the road took note of it. The Pāṇḍavas knew he was on his way, and they were counting on him.

Duryodhana also heard of the march, and he moved first. Riding out to meet the Madra army, he arranged for fine rest-houses to be built at intervals along the road, in lovely spots, each with garden pavilions, wells and tanks, wines and meat, garlands, and troupes of entertainers. His servants were told to treat Śalya as if he were a god. Śalya, travelling through this surprising hospitality, felt as if he were living in a palace of Indra, and thought little of Indra himself. He assumed Yudhiṣṭhira's men had arranged it all. At one halting place he was so pleased that he called his attendants and said he wanted the organisers brought to him, because he felt he had to reward them.

The attendants were embarrassed and went to Duryodhana, who had been keeping out of sight. He now came forward and showed himself. Śalya understood that it was Duryodhana who had gone to all this trouble, and he was moved. He embraced Duryodhana and told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Duryodhana replied that Śalya's word should hold, and asked for a boon: that Śalya be the leader of his whole army. Bound by his own promise, Śalya agreed, though he must have felt the trap. He said only that he would first go and see Yudhiṣṭhira and come straight back. Duryodhana reminded him again, embraced him, and went home well pleased.

Śalya went on to the Pāṇḍava camp at Upaplavya and was received with water for his feet, a cow, and every honour. He greeted his four nephews warmly and told Yudhiṣṭhira candidly what had happened. Yudhiṣṭhira did not blame him, because a promise cannot be unmade. He asked instead for one service. In the coming fight between Karṇa and Arjuna, Śalya would surely be asked to drive Karṇa's chariot, since he was the only charioteer Karṇa thought Kṛṣṇa's equal. When that moment came, Yudhiṣṭhira asked him to protect Arjuna by speaking harsh, discouraging words to Karṇa until the Suta's son lost heart. It was not a proper request, he admitted, but he made it all the same.

Śalya answered that it was indeed improper, but that he would do it, and he promised to speak to Karṇa words that were bitter and weakening in front of the whole field. He consoled Yudhiṣṭhira for the sufferings of the dice game, the forest and Virāṭa's court, saying that Destiny is all-powerful and that even Indra and his queen had once endured great misery. He then told the old story of Indra's hiding after the killing of Tvaṣṭṛ's three-headed son, and of Nahuṣa's fall. The pledge made here is kept on the seventeenth day of the war, when Śalya takes the reins of Karṇa's chariot.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Śalya, Duryodhana, Yudhiṣṭhira, Nakula, Sahadeva, Karṇa

Bound to

Arjuna and Duryodhana choose between Kṛṣṇa and his army origin

Karna's curses: the beetle, the cow, and the sinking wheel mirror

Yudhiṣṭhira seeks the elders' blessing; the first day boon

Places: Upaplavya

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (read via archive.org copy of the sacred-texts text) Udyoga Parva, Section VIII (the Indra story that follows is in Sections IX–XVII)

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