KARTAVIRYA ARJUNA

INTRODUCTION
Kartavirya Arjuna (Sanskrit: कार्तवीर्य अर्जुन, Kārtavīrya
Arjuna; also known as Sahasrabahu Arjuna) was
a legendary king of an ancient Haihayas kingdom
with capital at Mahishmati which is on the banks
of Narmada River in the current state of Madhya
Pradesh. Kartavirya was son of Kritavirya, king of
the Haihayas. This is his patronymic, by which he
is best known; he is also referred to simply as
Arjuna. He is described as having a thousand
hands and a great devotee of god Dattatreya. One
of the several such accounts states that Arjuna
conquered Mahishmati city from Karkotaka Naga,
a Naga chief and made it his fortress-capital.[1]
Arjuna Kartavirya is not to be confused with Arjuna
Pandava, another major character in
the Mahabharata.[2] Kartavirya Arjuna was the
longest ruling chakravati samrat of vedic era.
Arjuna- Birth name
Kartavirya/Kartavirya arjuna- Son of Kritvirya
Mahishmati Naresh- King of Mahishmati
Sahastrabahu/Sahasrarjun/Sahastrabahu
Kartavirya/Sahastrabahu Kartavirya arjuna- One
who had 1000 arms
Sapt Dwipeshwar- Emperor of 7 Continents
Dashgrivjayi- Conqueror of Ravana
Raj Rajeshwar- King of kings
Kartavirya Arjuna had an ally of 1000 Akshauhinis.
This was also a reason of his name Sahasrabahu
where his ally is considered to be his arms.
Kartavirya's power is popularly told in
the Ramayana. He was the contemporary
of Ravana. The story goes that once when
Kartavirya Arjuna was having a bath in the river
Narmada along with his wives, he stopped the
force of the river with his thousand arms from both
the sides. The teenage Dasagriva (Ravana), who
was singing the hymns of Shiva and praying to
him, made him lose his concentration. Enraged, he
challenged the former for a combat in which
Ravana was defeated and was put to humiliation.
Then, on request of his paternal
grandfather Pulastya the great emperor Arjuna
released Ravana.
Another account states that when Ravana came
"in the course of his campaign of conquest
to Mahishmati (the capital of Kartavirya), he was
captured without difficulty, and was confined like a
wild beast in a corner of his city."
The Vayu Purana states that Kartavirya
invaded Lanka, and there took Ravana as
prisoner, but later he was killed by Parashurama
and Ravana was rescued from Arjuna.[3]
In the Mahabharata Vana Parva, according to the
story of Akritavana, Kartavirya Arjuna became
drunk with power, despite all the boons he had
acquired. He lost control of his senses and began
to oppress humans, Yakshas and the very gods
themselves. Kartavirya even had the audacity to
insult Indra in front of Sachi. Around this time,
other Kshatriyas too had become drunk with power
and oppressed innocents for pleasure.
Arjuna once troubled Varuna and asked him if
there was anyone equal to him in
power. Varuna replied that only Jamadagni's son,
Parashurama rivalled Arjuna. Enraged, Arjuna
went to Jamadagni's hermitage to see
Parashurama's power.
The Puranas recount that Kartavirya Arjuna and
his army visited a rishi named Jamadagni, who fed
his guest and the whole army with offerings from
his divine cow Kamadhenu. The king demanded
the cow for the betterment of his subjects;
Jamadagni refused because he needed the cow
for his religious ceremonies. King Arjuna sent his
soldiers to take the cow. As the conflict developed
among the Jamadagni and the King, Arjuna lost
his temper and chopped off the head of
Jamadagni. When Parashurama (Jamadagni's son
and one of the Daśāvatāras of Vishnu) returned to
the hermitage, he was informed of the context by
his mother. In revenge, Parashurama killed the
entire clan of Arjuna and the King with
a battleaxe given to him by Shiva, thus conquering
the entire earth, which he gave to Brahamanas.
[citation needed]

In another legend, Kartavirya Arjuna visited the

hermitage of Jamadagni, and was received by that
sage's wife Renuka with all respect; but he made
an ill return for her hospitality, and carried off by
violence "the calf of the milch-cow of the sacred
oblation." For this outrage Parashurama cut off his
thousand arms and killed him.
In another legend, Kartavirya sent seventeen
Akshauhinis to fight against the alone
Parashurama who was on foot. The Brahmana
single-handedly slew the entire army and spared
no one alive. Kartavirya arrived in his divine
golden chariot which could go anywhere
unobstructed. The King himself was a powerful
archer, capable of simultaneously wielding five
hundred bows and shooting five hundred arrows at
a time. Parashurama broke Arjuna's bows, slew
his horses and charioteer and destroyed the
chariot itself with his arrows.[citation needed]
Arjuna hurled many weapons, rocks and trees at
Parashurama, but the sage parried all these.
Parashurama hacked off his thousand arms with
his arrows and dismembered him with his axe.
In another place a different character is given to
him, and more in accordance with his behavior at
Jamadagni's hut. "He oppressed both men and
gods," so that the latter appealed
to Vishnu for succor. That God then came down to
the earth as Parashurama for the special purpose
of killing him.[4]
The Mahabharata mentions him as one of the best
warriors and introduces his divine origin, attributing
it to the Padmini Ekadasi. It is said that there was
none who could rival him in Sacrifices, Charity,
Learning, Austerity, Battlefield Exploits, Feats,
Strength, Mercy, Generosity or Power.
In the controversy regarding his name the
clarification is given as below; Sahasra[5] is the
correct prefix that means "a thousand", not
SahasTra. However, it is invariably misspelled as
the latter. The same prefix is spelled when
referring to the crown chakra: "Sahasrara Chakra"
or when it occurs in family names (example:
Sahasrabuddhe) without a T. Also see
Sahasralinga. The confusion arises because the
Hindi letter "Sa" (स) merges with "ra" (र) and looks
like "tra".