Kartavirya Arjuna

• 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
• Sudarshan Chakravatar- Incarnation of Lord Sudarshan Chakra (The Celestial disc of Lord Vishnu)
• 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 Arjuna defeats young Ravana (right)

Kartavirya's power is popularly told in the Ramayana, Uttara Kanda, which is not often considered to be the part of the original Valmiki Ramayana and its constituent 6 adhyayas (अध्याय), since the original Ramayana speaks of the number of verses and the shlokas in Ramayana - Verse 2 of Chapter IV of Baala Kaanda of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana reads as under:

चतुर्विंशत्सहस्त्राणि श्लोकानामुक्तवानृषिः | तथा सर्गशतान् पञ्च षट्काण्डानि तथोत्तरम् ||

This epic contains 24,000 verses split into 500 chapters in Six Cantos. (Baala Kaanda: refer Ch IV:2) [The six cantos are Baala Kaanda, Ayodhya Kaanda, Aranya Kaanda, Kishkinda Kaanda, Sundara (Lanka) Kaanda and Yuddha Kaanda.][3][4].

Kartavirya is considered to be 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 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 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.[5]

Parashurama killing King Arjuna.

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 Shachi. 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.

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.

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.[6]

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[7] 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".