<P> On the sixteenth day, Karna was made the supreme commander of the Kuru army . Karna fought valiantly but was surrounded and attacked by Pandava generals, who were unable to prevail upon him . Karna inflicted heavy damage on the Pandava army, which fled . Then Arjuna successfully resisted Karna's weapons with his own and also inflicted casualties upon the Kaurava army . The sun soon set and with darkness and dust making the assessment of proceedings difficult, the Kaurava army retreated for the day . </P> <P> On the same day, Bhima swung his mace and shattered Dushasana's chariot . Bhima seized Dushasana, ripped his right hand from shoulder and killed him, tearing open his chest and drinking his blood and carrying some to smear on Draupadi's untied hair, thus fulfilling his vow made when Draupadi was humiliated . </P> <P> On the seventeenth day, Karna defeated the Pandava brothers Nakula, Sahadeva and Yudhishthira in battle but spared their lives . Later, Karna resumed duelling with Arjuna . During their duel, Karna's chariot wheel got stuck in the mud and Karna asked for a pause . Krishna reminded Arjuna about Karna's ruthlessness unto Abhimanyu while he was similarly left without chariot and weapons . Hearing his son's fate, Arjuna shot his arrow and decapitated Karna . Before the battle, Karna's sacred armour (' Kavacha') and earrings (' Kundala') were taken as alms by Lord Indra when asked for, which resulted in his death by Arjuna's arrows . </P> <P> On the 18th day, Shalya took over as the commander - in - chief of the remaining Kaurava forces . Yudhishthira killed king Shalya in a spear combat and Sahadeva killed Shakuni . Realizing that he had been defeated, Duryodhana fled the battlefield and took refuge in the lake, where the Pandavas caught up with him . Under the supervision of the now returned Balarama, a mace battle took place between Bhima and Duryodhana . Bhima flouted the rules (under instructions from Krishna) to strike Duryodhana beneath the waist in which he was mortally wounded . </P>

Who was the last commander of kaurava army