(Other names: Salya)

Shalya was the king of Madradesh.  His sister Madri was married to Hastinapur King Pandu. Nakul and Sahadev were Madri’s sons and Shalya was their maternal mother. During the war of Mahabharata, Pandavas had sent him an invitation to fight from their side.

On receiving the invitation for the battlefield, Shalya was moving towards the Pandavas with an army equipped with weapons, but Duryodhan very smartly stopped him on the way and gave him a warm welcome and respect and switched him over to their side.

So, during the war of Mahabharta, he fought from the side of the Kauravas and became the charioteer of Karna but he had his sympathies towards the Pandavas that is why at the start of the war he praised Arjun in many different ways and broke Karna’s concentration so that his willpower weakens. After the death of Karna, on the last day of the war, Shalya led the army of the Kauravas and was killed by Yudhishthir.