Samudra

Samudra is the deva of the ocean, the ocean in person. He appears in the Mahābhārata, in the Aśvamedhika Parva, when the proud King Kārtavīrya Arjuna shoots hundreds of arrows into the waters. Samudra stands before the king with folded hands and pleads for the beings who live in him. The king answers with scorn. Samudra then sends him to the āśrama (hermitage) of Jamadagni, where Jamadagni’s son Paraśurāma will welcome him in a way that ends in his death.

The meeting with Kārtavīrya

In the Anugītā, which is part of the Aśvamedhika Parva, a Brāhmaṇa teaches his wife in the Brāhmaṇa-Brāhmaṇī dialogue. He uses this event to show that winning over the indriyas (the senses) is the truest śaurya (heroism). It is greater than winning over outside enemies.

Kārtavīrya had already conquered the earth up to the edge of the ocean by his own strength. One day he played on the shore, swollen with pride in his strength (bala-garvita). He loosed hundreds of arrows onto the ocean itself.

Samudra appeared before him with joined hands and pleaded: “O foremost of heroes, do not rain your arrows upon me. These mighty arrows are killing the beings who live within me. Grant them abhaya (freedom from fear).”

Kārtavīrya answered only with scorn. He told Samudra to name any hero anywhere who could meet him in an equal fight.

Samudra gave a sharp and ominous answer: “You have surely heard the name of the great ṛṣi Jamadagni. Go to his āśrama. There his son Paraśurāma will give you fitting ātithya (hospitality).”

The “hospitality” that Samudra promised was death. Kārtavīrya went to the āśrama in fury. Paraśurāma cut off all his thousand arms and killed him.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 29