On the eighteenth day of the war with the result becoming clear after the Kaurava camp is reduced to Duryodhana, Ashwatthama, Kripacharya and Kritavarma, Duryodhana goes to a lake to meditate.
pandavas accompanied by Krishna reach the lake where Duryodhana was meditating. Upon seeing them Duryodhana tells them that he wants to gift the Hastinapur Kingdom and Crown to Pandavas. Yudhistir rejects this saying Hastinapur is not Duryodhan's to gift. He instead offers Duryodhana to pick one of the Pandavas for a one-on-one fight with the weapon of his choice. It is a known fact that Duryodhana is very good with mace and would have easily defeated Yudhistir, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. But he prefers to fight his arch-nemesis Bheema who is the one who can match him in a duel with Mace.
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Despite Bhima's physical advantage, Duryodhana had the better technique due to his devotion to his craft (This is why Balarama likes Duryodhana more than Bheema who taught both of them the craft of Mace fighting). After a long and brutal battle between the two disciples of Balarama, Duryodhana begins to exhaust Bhima, and nearly makes Bhima faint.
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Krishna who had been observing the duel, signals to Bheema repeatedly clapping his own thigh. This is a clear violation of the mace fighting but Bheema who is now reminded of the oath he had taken after the game of dice to crush Duryodhana's thighs starts attacking Duryodhana's thighs, mortally injuring him.
Duryodhana bemoans that he was slain by unfair means, given that it was illegal to attack below the waist. He curses Krishna for his deceitful tricks and Pandavas for openly flouting the rules of war.
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