As per the epic Mahabharata, King Shalya was the brother of Madri and the emperor of the Madra kingdom. Shalya, was a great warrior and was very efficient in handling with powerful weapons in the battle field, has helped Duryodhana and fought on the side of the Kauravas.
Once the Hastinapur King Pandu met Shalya, and due to his request, he had married his sister Madri, and took her to Hastinapur along with him.
After the death of pandu and his sister Madri ,Shalya tried to make Nakula and Sahadeva, who were the noble sons of Madri, to make them as his heirs. They have accepted his proposal, but stayed only with the Pandavas and helped them throughout their life.
When Shalya was on the way to meet the pandavas to help them in the war, Duryodhana, arranged a grand feast for Shalya and praised him by his pleasant words. Impressed by that, Shalya agreed to join with kauravas and fought with the pandavas, and he killed prince Abhimanyu, a noble boy, who was the son of the great Arjuna. But later he was killed by Yudhishtra in the Kurukshetra war. After Shalya, Nakula becomes the king of Madra kingdom.
IMPORTANCE
He was a man of good qualities, and contains great wisdom, energy, knowledge and braveness. Even though he has joined by the side of Kauravas due to the cunning act of Duryodhana, he felt sorry for that, and done his duty, and finally killed in the war.
He was an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna and realized him that he was an avatar of Lord Vishnu, and gave much respect and treated him properly. He ruled his kingdom in a proper manner, and treated all of his people with kindness and gentleness and provided all the facilities to them. He also constructed several resting places throughout the kingdom for the sake of travellers, and built annadan mandaps for providing free food to the poor people. During his period, no one has complained about any problems, and all of them were lived peacefully and happily in their life and his rule was considered as a GOLDEN RULE.
Let us worship the great king and be blessed.
“OM SRI SHALYA MAHARAJAVE NAMAHA”
“JAI KRISHNA”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR
