Krishna Defeats Shalva – Stories from Aranyaka Parva

After the Pandavas settled in Kamyaka forest, Krishna and others came to visit them and express support. Krishna said that he had to defeat Shalva and safeguard Dwarka, and didn’t know about Duryodhana’s evil plan to steal Indraprastha using the dice game. When he gave a short summary of the events, Yudhistira and Arjuna wanted to know how Krishna fought and defeated Shalva. 

King Shalva was a close friend of Sishupala and considered him a brother. When he got the news of Sishupala’s death in Krishna’s hands, he launched an attack on Dwarka. Shalva had an airborne traveling city named Saubha. This allowed him to attack Dwarka from above (as no one could attack Krishna’s kingdom from land). Pradhyumna, Sabha, and other Vrishni warriors defended Dwarka successfully. Pradhyumna killed Vivindhya (Shalva’s favorite asura) and was stopped by the devas from killing Shalva as this was Krishna’s responsibility. 

When Krishna returned to Dwarka, he got the news of this attack and went to challenge Shalva. He yoked his horses, Sainya and Sugriva, to his golden chariot and set out to find the traveling city of Saubha with Daruka as his charioteer. Followed by his fourfold army, Krishna traveled a long distance and crossed mountains, rivers, plains, etc., to reach Marttikavata. However, Shalva wasn’t there. Krishna found out Shalva was near the ocean. At last, they came face to face in the middle of the ocean. 

This wasn’t an easy battle. His arrows somehow failed to reach Shalva and fell short of the traveling city. However, Shalva’s attack was ferocious and soon caused much damage to Krishna’s army. They could see anything clear as Shalva employed maya to create illusions. Krishna couldn’t even see his charioteer Daruka in the fog that surrounded him. Thousands of danavas launched at him and his army, taking advantage of the illusion. 

However, Krishna kept firing his arrows which killed many danavas. Seeing this, Shalva increased his maya to confuse Krishna and gain the upper hand. Krishna countered the attack with his maya. The sky was full of suns and stars. It was hard to know the time (day or night). Krishna used the prajna astra to restore the setting and prevent confusion among his army. Shalva continued to fling hundreds of lances, spears, arrows, clubs, maces, and other weapons at Krishna, which the latter kept destroying. 

Daruka was injured from all over his chest and arms. However, he continued to steer the chariot and control the horses. 

Just then, Shalva went for his master plan with another illusion. A servant named Aruka walked to Krishna’s chariot and asked him to stop fighting. He said that Dwarka was under attack and Vasudeva (Krishna’s father) had been killed. For a while, Krishna was distraught and concluded that all his warriors (Balarama, Satyaki, Pradhyumna, Sabha, etc.) were also dead or they would have saved Vasudeva. Nevertheless, Krishna didn’t stop fighting or turn back. He continued to fire more arrows at Shalva while trying to make sense of the situation. 

Then, Krishna saw Vasudeva’s disheveled form fall from Saubha city. This further confused Krishna. He could see no one, not even Shalva. Everything was hazy. Krishna realized all this Shalva’s maya intended to distract and weaken him. 

Clearing his mind, Krishna tightened his grip on his bow and launched a fresh attack on Shalva and his danava army. He killed the demons in multiple batches. When they disappeared, he released an astra that could hit the target based on sounds. This caused even the invisible danavas to die and fall into the ocean. 

However, the fight wasn’t over. Saubha, the city, kept moving from one place to another. It would disappear from here and appear at another far-off location. Krishna became invisible which terrified his army. He grabbed his vajra astra and reappeared in the sky. Daruka pointed at Shalva and asked Krishna to kill their enemy right away. 

Daruka held the chariot steady as Krishna readied his agneya astra and invoked its powers by reciting the relevant mantras. The astra turned into Sudharshana Chakra and flew across the sky, shining like the second sun. It sliced through the city of Saubha, breaking into two parts. Once done, the chakra returned to Krishna. He sent it again, this time to kill Shalva. The chakra destroyed its target. Shalva was dead. 

Krishna and Daruka, with the remaining army, returned to Dwarka. He saw that his family and other citizens were safe and none of them were dead.