Kṛtavīrya

Kṛtavīrya · kṛta-vīrya, “he whose valour is accomplished”

Karavīra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Karavīra. Kalpa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kalpa.

Kṛtavīrya was a great king of the Haihaya line, ruling at Māhishmatī, and the father of the cakravartī Kārtavīrya Arjuna. The Bhavishya Purāṇa shows him as a just protector of his people and a king of patient upāsanā: when his hundred sons were burned by the śāpa of Cyavana Muni, he took up the upāsanā of Bhagavān Sūrya, who promised him a son. His chief queen Śīladhanā gained that son by keeping the Ananta vrata.

His reign

In the Varāha Kalpa, in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, in the Satya Yuga, there was a king named Kṛtavīrya, the glory of the line of the Haihaya kshatriyas. For seventy-seven thousand years he protected all his people with dharma and nīti. He ruled in the city of Māhishmatī, and among his one thousand queens the chief was Śīladhanā, endowed with all good marks.

The hundred sons and Bhagavān Sūrya

He had one hundred sons, who were burned by the śāpa of Cyavana Muni. Then the king began the upāsanā of Bhagavān Sūrya according to rule. Satisfied with his fasts, vratas, pūjā and stotras, Bhagavān Sūrya gave him darśana and said: “Kṛtavīrya, a handsome, long-lived son named Kārtavīrya will be born to you. But to destroy your earlier pāpas you must perform the vrata called Snapana Saptamī.” Having told the rite, Bhagavān Sūrya withdrew from sight then and there.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 52

The son by the Dharaṇī Vrata

Among those who kept the Dharaṇī Vrata, Śrī Kṛshṇa names Kṛtavīrya, ruler of the Haihayas, who by its power gained as his son the mighty cakravartī king Sahasrārjuna.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 83

Queen Śīladhanā and the Ananta vrata

One day Queen Śīladhanā asked the brahmavādinī Maitreyī how to obtain a son. Maitreyī taught her the Ananta vrata and said: “Śīladhanā, if you desire an excellent son, keep this Ananta vrata with faith, according to rule.” Śīladhanā began the vrata with bhakti. By its power Bhagavān Ananta was content and gave her an excellent son.

King Kṛtavīrya named his son Arjuna, and being the son of Kṛtavīrya, this Arjuna was called Kārtavīrya. So by the power of the Ananta vrata the father had no grief from his son.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 105–106

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapters 52, 83, 105–106