Pradyumna

Unable to bear Shalva's invasion, the young Vrishni descendants — Charudeshna, Samba, and Pradyumna — emerge to fight. Samba overcomes the general Kshemavriddhi's maya and kills the daitya Vegavan with a club, while Pradyumna slays the danava Vivindhya with a divine weapon — forcing Shalva to return in Soubha to rally his shaken army.

Shalva returns in Soubha, descending to earth and alarming the entire Dvaraka army. Pradyumna emerges, reassembles the shaken forces, and declares he will destroy Soubha and its king — urging the warriors to stand and fight.

Pradyumna, Rukmini's son, ascends his golden chariot and charges at Shalva with impossible speed, confusing the entire army of Soubha with his rapid archery. Shalva descends from his flying chariot to meet him, and Pradyumna drives an arrow through his heart, felling him unconscious — but Shalva rises, strikes back, and sends Pradyumna senseless in turn.

Pradyumna is struck unconscious by Shalva's arrows in battle. His charioteer Daruki, fearing for his master's life, drives him away from the field. When Pradyumna regains consciousness and finds himself retreating, he demands an explanation — and what he hears does not satisfy him.

Pradyumna, having been carried unconscious from the battlefield, imagines the scorn of every Vrishni hero — Gada, Baladeva, Satyaki, and the women of his clan — if he does not return. He tells Daruki that shame with ridicule is worse than death, and commands the chariot be turned back at once.

Pradyumna awakens on the battlefield to find himself far from the fighting, his charioteer Daruki having retreated while he was unconscious. The son of Rukmini demands an explanation — and Daruki gives one, then proves his skill with the reins in a way that leaves every witness astonished.

Shalva, unable to tolerate Pradyumna's penetration from the right, attacks the charioteer Daruki and then Pradyumna himself. Pradyumna counters every weapon Shalva throws at him — including the terrible maya of the asuras — and strikes him unconscious. But when he nocks a supreme arrow to finish the king of Soubha, the gods themselves intervene.

Shalva rises into the sky and rains down a storm of weapons on Krishna. As Krishna wards them off, a messenger arrives from Dvaraka with devastating news: Shalva has attacked the city and killed Shura's son. Then Krishna sees his own father falling from the sky — and for a moment, the greatest warrior of the age is shattered.

Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that after the Pandavas' defeat at dice, Krishna and their allies visited them in Kamyaka forest. Krishna vowed to kill Duryodhana and his allies, but Yudhishthira insisted on keeping his thirteen-year vow. The assembled warriors then pledged to Draupadi that her oppressors would be destroyed when the time came.