Pradyumna Defeats Shalva but Spares Him
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 could not tolerate Pradyumna's penetration from the right. He suddenly unleashed three arrows at the charioteer Daruki. But Daruki gave no thought to these swift arrows and continued to drive the horses.
Then Shalva shot many arrows at Pradyumna himself. But before they could strike, Rukmini's son, the destroyer of enemy warriors, exhibited his lightness of touch and smilingly sliced them off with his own sharp arrows.
On seeing all his arrows sliced down, the king of Soubha resorted to the terrible maya of the asuras — the dark sorcery of the demons — and unleashed his arrows. Knowing that daitya (demon) weapons had been released, Pradyumna sliced them off by unleashing enormously powerful brahma arrows — weapons of divine origin that drink the blood of other weapons. Driving the demonic weapons away, those brahma arrows pierced Shalva in the head, chest, and face, so that he was knocked down unconscious.
Thus oppressed by arrows, the mean Shalva fell.
To destroy the enemy, Rukmini's son fixed another supreme arrow to his bow — an arrow that all the bulls of the Dasharhas used to worship, as radiant as the sun and the fire. On seeing it fixed to the bow, sounds of lamentation were heard in the sky.
The masses of gods, together with Indra and the lord of riches, sent Narada and the immensely strong god of the wind. These two went to Rukmini's son and delivered the message of the gods:
"O brave one! You should never kill King Shalva. Restrain the arrow, because he is not to be killed by you in battle. There is no man who cannot be killed by this arrow. But it has been destined by the creator that he will be killed in battle by Devaki's son Krishna, and that should not become false."
At that, Pradyumna was extremely delighted. He withdrew that supreme arrow from the excellent bow and returned it to the quiver.
Then Shalva arose, in an extremely miserable frame of mind. Oppressed by Pradyumna's arrows, he swiftly retreated with his troops. Vanquished by the Vrishnis, the cruel one left Dvaraka. He ascended his flying city Soubha and went up into the sky. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 317