Kārtavīryārjuna, the Thousand-Armed Emperor

Kārtavīryārjuna is also called Sahasrārjuna, “the Arjuna of a thousand arms”. He was the supreme cakravartī (universal emperor) of the Haihaya line and the greatest kshatriya emperor of his age. He worshipped Bhagavān Dattātreya and received a number of varas (boons), among them a thousand arms. He conquered the seven dvīpas (continents), held seven hundred yajñas (fire rituals), captured Rāvaṇa in battle and ruled for fifty thousand years. Paraśurāma, the brāhmaṇa warrior and avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu, slew him.

The Hari Vaṃśa, the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, the Vishṇu Purāṇa and the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa each tell part of his story. Each account is given in turn below.

Lineage in the Hari Vaṃśa

Kārtavīryārjuna comes from Yadu, the son of the great emperor Yayāti. The line runs:

Yadu, Sahasrada, Haihaya, Dharmanītra, Kārtu, Sāhañja, Mahishmanta, Bhadraśeṇya, Durgama, Kanaka, Kṛtavīrya, Arjuna, Kārtavīryārjuna

Kanaka had four sons: Kṛtavīrya, Kṛteja, Kṛtavarma and Kṛtāgni. Kārtavīryārjuna was the son of Arjuna, who was Kṛtavīrya’s son. So he was Kṛtavīrya’s grandson. His clan, the Haihayas, is one of the great branches of the Yādava family tree, with the Vṛshṇi, Mādhava and Yādava clans. The Haihaya capital was the city of Māhishmatī on the Narmadā. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: tapas and the varas of Dattātreya

Kārtavīryārjuna did tapas (austerity) for ten thousand years, worshipping Dattātreya, an avatāra of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. Dattātreya was pleased with this great sādhana (spiritual practice). He appeared before the prince and gave four varas:

Sahasra-bāhu: a thousand arms that come at will, most of all in battle.
The destruction of those who break dharma: the power to remove those who act against dharma.
Conquest of all, with the joy of his subjects: rule over the seven dvīpas while keeping the people content.
Death at the hands of a mighty foe: an honourable end that suits a great warrior.

With a thousand arms he looked in battle like the Sun with its thousand rays. For this he was called Sahasrārjuna. The Hari Vaṃśa also records that Dattātreya gave him a separate promise: “O Kārtavīrya, you will be a king of dharma. No enemy will dare raise his eyes to you.” The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 33 and 41.

The Hari Vaṃśa: a reign of fifty thousand years

Kārtavīryārjuna ruled as cakravartī for fifty thousand years. His reign had these marks:

He conquered all seven dvīpas and set up his rule over them.
He held seven hundred great yajñas across his empire. At every sacrificial ground he raised golden yūpas (sacrificial posts) and golden altars.
At each yajña he gave very great dāna (gifts): gold, gems, animals and lands.
Gandharvas, apsarases and devas came down in their vimānas (flying chariots) to grace his rites.
Nārada, the celestial singer, was made his court bard. He sang his praises at all the great ceremonies.
He was field-guardian, herdsman and rain-cloud to his subjects, using his yogic power for their good.
No lack of any kind was found anywhere in his kingdom through the whole span of his reign.

Nārada declared that in yajña, dāna and tapas, in splendour, wisdom and courage, no one could equal Kārtavīryārjuna. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: Māhishmatī taken from the nāgas

Kārtavīryārjuna defeated the serpent sons of Karkoṭaka and took the ancient city of Māhishmatī from them. It then became the chief capital of his empire. Even the great Narmadā river, swollen and fierce, paid him homage. Mighty serpents did not dare raise their heads towards him. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: Rāvaṇa captured and freed

Among his many conquests, the most striking is that Kārtavīryārjuna captured Rāvaṇa, the lord of Laṅkā and the strongest rākshasa of his time. He took him in direct battle and held him in prison in Māhishmatī. Rāvaṇa was freed only when the ṛshi Pulastya, Rāvaṇa’s grandfather, came himself and made a request to Kārtavīryārjuna on his behalf. Rāvaṇa had himself won victories over the devas. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: his power in battle

When Kārtavīryārjuna showed all his thousand arms in battle, he blazed with the light of the thousand-rayed Sūrya. Even the rush of the monsoon ocean was turned back by the strength of his arms. He rode through his lands with sword and bow in hand. To his subjects he looked like a righteous king and yogī moving through the world in perfect order. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: slain by Paraśurāma

The fourth vara, death at the hands of a mighty foe, was fulfilled by Paraśurāma, the brāhmaṇa warrior and avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Paraśurāma came down on Kārtavīryārjuna as he sat in his chariot and struck him to the ground. Kārtavīryārjuna roared like a monsoon cloud and fought on. But Paraśurāma, with his paraśu (axe), cut down all his thousand arms, as a forester fells a grove of golden palm trees. The great emperor fell. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 33 and 41.

This slaying belonged to Paraśurāma’s larger work: clearing the earth of kshatriyas who broke dharma, twenty-one times over. Afterwards Paraśurāma performed aśvamedha yajñas as atonement. He gave the whole earth to Kaśyapa Muni as dakshiṇā (a priest’s gift). He then went on with his tapas on Mahendra Parvata. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 41.

The Hari Vaṃśa: descendants and the Haihaya clans

Kārtavīryārjuna left a hundred sons. His son Jayadhvaja had a son Tālajaṅgha, who had a hundred sons. They were the forefathers of the great Haihaya warrior clans. From the Tālajaṅgha branch came the ruling dynasties of Vītihotra, Sujāta, Bhoja, Avantī, Tāṇḍikera, Bharata and Vikrānta. The Haihayas and Yādavas together make the wide family that comes from Yadu, the forefather of the Vṛshṇi clan of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. The Hari Vaṃśa tells this in the Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapter 33.

The Hari Vaṃśa: the saying about his birth

The Hari Vaṃśa records this saying: whoever thinks on the birth of Kārtavīryārjuna will never lose wealth, and whatever has been lost will be found again.

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa: sent by Garga Maharshi

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa calls Kārtavīryārjuna sarveśvara, the supreme lord, the universal emperor. He is the one who came to Dattātreya with complete surrender. He saw Dattātreya’s divine nature beyond the outer look of māyā (the power that veils), and so received the fullness of his grace.

Kārtavīryārjuna came to Dattātreya’s āśrama on the word of Garga Maharshi. Garga told him of the great avatāra who lived there. Dattātreya’s outer manner, with women and wine near him and the look of worldly enjoyment, might seem otherwise to the unready. Garga assured Kārtavīryārjuna that this was wholly the play of divine māyā, and that the one within was Bhagavān Vishṇu himself. Kārtavīryārjuna remembered this and went to the āśrama with full bhakti-śraddhā (devoted faith).

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa: his service to Dattātreya

Kārtavīryārjuna served Dattātreya with great devotion. He massaged his feet. He brought garlands of flowers, sandal-paste and scented waters, the best fruits and cooked food. He cleaned up after meals, played music on the vīṇā and flute, and attended him at all times. He did not waver. When Dattātreya seemed pleased and offered him a vara, Kārtavīryārjuna first called him “Purāṇa Purusha”, the Original Being who hides himself in māyā. This showed that he knew Dattātreya’s true identity. Dattātreya was deeply pleased and said: “You have spoken the most secret of my names. Choose your vara.”

The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa: the varas

Kārtavīryārjuna asked for these and received them from Dattātreya:

Uttama buddhi and aiśvarya: the highest wisdom and prosperity, so that he could rule by dharma and his kingdom would never fall into ruin.
Parānusmaraṇa jñāna: knowledge of the enemy’s movements and aims, so that he could always track the enemy over any ground.
Victory without equal: no one on the field of battle could match him.
One thousand arms (laghima-guṇa-yukta sahasra-bāhu): a thousand arms with the quality of lightness and quickness, able to act in a thousand directions at once.
Movement everywhere: free movement through sky, water, earth and mountain.
Death only by a superior man: he could be slain only by one greater than himself.
Rule by dharma: he would never become a tyrant, and his kingship would always be marked by the welfare of the people.
Wealth that never runs out for dāna: a treasury that always fills again, for giving and for hospitality.
Universal sovereignty (Īśvara-sambandha cakravartitvam): rule over the whole earth, blessed by divine grace.

Dattātreya confirmed all of these and declared: “What you have asked for, all shall come to you. By my grace, universal sovereignty blessed by divine grace shall be yours.” The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa tells this in Chapters 35–39.

In the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, Kārtavīryārjuna’s story shows what devotion to Dattātreya can bring in pravṛtti (worldly life) and rule by dharma. Alarka is Dattātreya’s disciple on the jñāna-mārga (the path of knowledge).

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa: the visit to Jamadagni’s āśrama

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells of Kārtavīrya Arjuna’s visit to Jamadagni’s āśrama in its Madhyama Bhāga (Chapters 26–28). Kārtavīrya came to Jamadagni’s āśrama on Mahendra-parvata while hunting with his great army. Jamadagni at once called on Kāmadhenu. She gave a magnificent feast to the whole army, soldiers, horses and elephants alike, in an act of easy hospitality. Kārtavīrya was overcome with desire for the divine cow and demanded her. Jamadagni refused. The quarrel over Kāmadhenu became the occasion for one of the great acts against dharma of the Vaivasvata Manvantara: the killing of a brāhmaṇa ṛshi in his own āśrama. It was also the cause of Paraśurāma’s work of destroying the kshatriyas.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa account

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 15, tells of Kārtavīryārjuna and his conflict with Paraśurāma and the wrong that brought it on.

Kārtavīryārjuna was the ruler of the Haihaya dynasty, a cakravartī of vast power. He had worshipped Dattātreya and by that devotion gained a thousand arms, a rule that no enemy could defeat, the eight great yogic siddhis (powers, such as aṇimā and garimā), the radiance of Indra, wealth and tejas (brilliance) without end, and the vara that he would die only at the hands of a man greater than himself. Filled with the power of a yogeśvara (master of yoga), he moved through the worlds with the speed of the wind, with nothing to stop him.

The capture of Rāvaṇa

One day Kārtavīryārjuna was playing in the waters of the Narmadā, with a great company of women around him. He wore the Vaijayantī garland of nine kinds of gems. In his might and pride he stopped the flow of the Narmadā with his thousand arms and turned it back. The great Rāvaṇa, ruler of Laṅkā and known for his pride and his own power, was camped near that bank. The reversed river flooded his camp. Rāvaṇa could not bear that another’s power should show itself so plainly and overwhelm his camp, and he challenged Kārtavīryārjuna. Kārtavīryārjuna seized Rāvaṇa without effort, in front of the women, as one might catch a monkey. He shut him up in the city of Māhishmatī. Later he set Rāvaṇa free.

The theft of Jamadagni’s Kāmadhenu

At another time Kārtavīryārjuna was hunting in a thick forest. As if by divine will, he came to the āśrama of the great ṛshi Jamadagni. Jamadagni had a kāmadhenu, the divine cow that fulfils all wishes. By her grace the ṛshi received the whole royal party, the army, the ministers and all the vehicles with full hospitality. Kārtavīryārjuna saw that the welcome of this brāhmaṇa, rich in tapas, went far beyond what his own vast kingdom could offer. Desire for the kāmadhenu rose in him. He had been received and fed with royal honour, yet he ordered his men to take the cow by force. They dragged away the kāmadhenu and her calf, still crying aloud, to the city of Māhishmatī.

Battle with Paraśurāma and death

Paraśurāma came back to the āśrama and learned of Kārtavīryārjuna’s wrong. He was angry as a serpent whose tail is trodden on. He took up his terrible paraśu, his bow and arrows and his shield. He went after Kārtavīryārjuna with the speed of a lion chasing an elephant.

Kārtavīryārjuna entered his city and saw Paraśurāma bearing down on him. He sent out a vast army of seventeen akshauhiṇīs (great army divisions) of elephants, chariots, cavalry and foot soldiers, armed with every kind of weapon. Paraśurāma alone, with one bow and his paraśu, destroyed the whole force.

Kārtavīryārjuna then shot five hundred bows at once at Paraśurāma, each loaded with arrows. Paraśurāma broke every arrow with a volley from his single bow. Kārtavīryārjuna then rushed forward, tearing up mountains and trees as weapons and hurling them at Paraśurāma. Paraśurāma cut off all his thousand arms with sharp strokes of his axe. He then cut off Kārtavīryārjuna’s head as one cuts off the peak of a mountain. At this, Kārtavīryārjuna’s ten thousand sons fled the field. Paraśurāma took back the kāmadhenu, brought her and her calf back to the āśrama and gave her to his father.

Jamadagni’s rebuke

Jamadagni heard from Paraśurāma what he had done and rebuked him: “O Rāma! You have slain the king, who is the embodiment of all the devas. This is a great pāpa (sin). A brāhmaṇa who has kshamā (forbearance) is honoured even above Brahmā. By kshamā Brahmā himself reached the supreme Satyaloka. The tejas of a brāhmaṇa who knows the Veda shines like the sun through the quality of kshamā. Bhagavān Śrī Hari is pleased most quickly with those who have kshamā. You must now go to the holy tīrthas (pilgrimage places) and purify your mind by thinking on Bhagavān Acyuta. To slay a king consecrated by the rājasūya is worse than brahma-hatyā (killing a brāhmaṇa).”

Paraśurāma accepted the command. He set out on a year of pilgrimage and returned purified. The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells all this in the 9th Skanda, Chapter 15.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa account

The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 11, gives a full account of Kārtavīryārjuna in the Haihaya branch of the Yadu line. It shows him as the greatest devotee of Dattātreya. From Dattātreya he gained a thousand arms (sahasra-bāhu) and the five great varas that made his rule possible.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa states that he ruled for 85,000 years. It also tells the episode of Rāvaṇa at the Narmadā. Kārtavīrya was playing in the river, and his thousand arms held back the current. The water flooded Rāvaṇa’s camp. When Rāvaṇa challenged him, Kārtavīrya captured him with ease in front of all his women and shut him up in Māhishmatī. Paraśurāma slew Kārtavīrya in the end.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa says plainly that in the whole reign of Kārtavīryārjuna there was no loss of the sacred fire (agni-nāśa), no epidemic, no drought, no crime and no famine anywhere in his kingdom. It names sāttvika (pure) devotion to Dattātreya as the source of this.

The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa account: a birth without limbs

The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa (Chapters 72–73), tells how Kārtavīryārjuna came to have his thousand arms.

His father Kṛtavīrya had kept the Saṅkashṭa Caturthī vrata (vow) in a faulty way. As a result, when a son was born to him, the child had no limbs at all. He had no arms and no legs and could do nothing for himself. This was a personal sorrow and also a crisis for the royal house.

Bhagavān Dattātreya came to the household. He saw the child’s state and the cause of it in his karma. He gave the limbless child the Ekāksharī Gaṇeśa mahāmantra (the great one-syllable mantra of Bhagavān Gaṇeśa) and told him to do tapas for twelve years. The child could not do any bodily ritual. He turned to tapas within. He chanted the Ekāksharī mantra without a break for twelve years, with his mind fixed on one point.

At the end of this tapas, Bhagavān Gaṇeśa appeared in a splendid coral-red (pravāḷa) form. He rose from the surface of a holy lake near the place of the tapas. He entered the limbless child’s body. In that divine entry, one thousand arms appeared where there had been none. The child became Kārtavīryārjuna, the thousand-armed king.

In thanks, Kārtavīryārjuna set up the mūrti of Pravāḷa Gaṇapati, the coral-red Gaṇeśa, at that place. He built the city of Pravāḷanagara around the shrine. The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells this in the Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 72–73.

Sources

Hari Vaṃśa Purāṇa, Hari Vaṃśa Parva, Chapters 33 and 41
Mārkaṇḍeya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 35–39
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 9th Skanda, Chapter 15
Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 26–28
Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapter 11
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 72–73