Kārtavīryārjuna Vadha

Kārtavīryārjuna, also called Sahasrārjuna, was the great emperor of the Haihaya line. Bhagavān Dattātreya gave him four varas (boons). He ruled the seven dvīpas (island-continents) for fifty thousand years. He defeated kings and nāgas, and even took Rāvaṇa prisoner. At the end, Paraśurāma cut down his thousand arms and he fell in battle. The Harivaṃśa tells this in the Harivaṃśa Parva.

The Haihaya line

Kārtavīryārjuna’s line comes from Yadu, the eldest son of king Yayāti. Yadu had five sons, and Sahasrada was one of them. Sahasrada had three sons: Haihaya, Haya and Veṇuhaya.

From Haihaya came Dharmanītra, then Kārtu, then Sāhañja, whose city was Sāhañjanī. After him came Mahishmanta, whose capital was Māhishmatī, then Bhadraśeṇya, king of Kāśī, then Durgama, and then the wise Kanaka. Kanaka had four sons: Kṛtavīrya, Kṛteja, Kṛtavarma and Kṛtāgni. Kṛtavīrya’s son was Arjuna, and from Arjuna was born the great Kārtavīryārjuna.

The four varas of Dattātreya

Kārtavīryārjuna did hard tapas (austerity) for ten thousand years. He honoured Bhagavān Dattātreya with firm devotion. Bhagavān Dattātreya was pleased with this great tapas and gave him four varas:

1. A thousand arms, which appear whenever he wishes, especially in battle.
2. The power to destroy those who act against dharma.
3. Victory over the whole earth, so that his subjects are made glad.
4. Death at the hands of a mighty enemy, so that his end is an honourable one.

By these varas Kārtavīryārjuna had a thousand arms in the heat of war. Each arm blazed like a ray of the sun, and he looked like Bhagavān Sūrya of the thousand rays.

The conquest of the seven dvīpas

With these varas Kārtavīryārjuna went through the seven dvīpas and brought all their kings under his rule. He performed seven hundred yajñas (fire rituals) across the lands he had won. At every yajña ground he set up golden yūpas (sacrificial posts) and golden altars. He gave away great wealth in dāna (gifts) at each yajña.

Gandharvas, apsarases and devas came to his yajñas in their vimānas (flying cars) and added splendour to the rites. Nārada, the son of the Gandharva king Varīdāsa, was set to sing Kārtavīryārjuna’s praise at every one of these great rites. Nārada himself marvelled at the king and said:

In yajña, dāna, and tapas; in splendour, wisdom, and valour — none can equal Kārtavīryārjuna.

Kārtavīryārjuna rode through all seven dvīpas in his chariot, with sword and bow. To the people he looked like a great yogī-king moving in perfect order. His rule lasted fifty thousand years, and in all that time his kingdom had no want or lack. By the power of his yoga he was himself the guardian of the fields, the protector of the herds, and the rain-bearing cloud for his people.

The capture of Māhishmatī and the defeat of Rāvaṇa

Kārtavīryārjuna defeated the serpent sons of Karkoṭaka and took their great city Māhishmatī. He made it his capital. The mighty river Narmadā, dressed in garlands of foam, trembled before him and lapped at his shores in awe. Great serpents did not dare to raise their hoods toward him.

He also captured Rāvaṇa in battle and held him as a prisoner in Māhishmatī. Rāvaṇa was set free only after the ṛshi Pulastya came and pleaded for him. This victory over the lord of Laṅkā is the greatest sign of Kārtavīryārjuna’s power in war.

The strength of his arms in battle

When Kārtavīryārjuna showed all his thousand arms in battle, his body became like a second Meru, huge, unmoving and ablaze with a thousand golden lights. Even the rushing ocean of the rainy season was forced to flow backward against the force of his arms. No serpent, no king and no rākshasa could stand against him when his thousand arms were fully shown.

The slaying by Paraśurāma

The fourth vara had said that a mighty enemy would end his life. That enemy was Paraśurāma, the brāhmaṇa warrior and avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Paraśurāma threw Kārtavīryārjuna from his chariot to the ground. He roared like a monsoon cloud that challenges the sky, and he cut down all one thousand arms, as a forester fells a grove of golden palm trees. Kārtavīryārjuna fell in battle.

This was not only a private quarrel. In the Paraśurāma avatāra, Bhagavān Vishṇu took the form of a brāhmaṇa warrior. Twenty-one times he cleared the earth of kshatriya armies and so lifted from it the weight of rulers who followed adharma. As tapas for this great destruction of kshatriyas, Paraśurāma performed aśvamedha yajñas. He gave horses, elephants, mountains of gold and countless cows to the brāhmaṇas. At last he gave the whole earth as dakshiṇā (the priest’s gift) to Kaśyapa, son of Marīci.

The Haihaya descendants

Kārtavīryārjuna left a hundred sons. Jayadhvaja’s son was Tālajaṅgha, and Tālajaṅgha also had a hundred sons. From them came the great Haihaya warrior clans. The ruling lines of Vītihotra, Sujāta, Bhoja, Avantī, Tāṇḍikera, Bharata and Vikrānta all belong to the Tālajaṅgha branch of the Haihaya family.

The Yādavas and the Haihayas both trace their start to Yadu. From him came the clans of the Vṛshṇis, the Mādhavas, the Yādavas and the Haihayas. The great Śūrasena was the foremost ruler among them.

Whoever thinks on the birth of Kārtavīryārjuna will never lose their wealth, and whatever is lost will return to them.

Sources

• Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, Harivaṃśa Parva, chapter 33
• Harivaṃśa Purāṇa, Harivaṃśa Parva, chapter 41