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The Story of Kartavirya Arjuna

This is the tale of a powerful ruler of Treta Yuga. Kartavirya Arjuna, son of Haihaya king Kritavirya, was a descendant of Yadu, son of Chandravanshi king Yayati. He was also known as Sahastrabahu for his exceptional prowess on the battlefield. There was a place on the bank of the Narmada, occupied by Karkotak Naga. Arjuna expelled Karkotak and his associates from there and established a city, Mahismati. 

Image by rarestohanean from Pixabay
  
Mahismati soon became a wealthy city and the capital of the Haihaya kingdom. Arjuna was loved by his subjects as a just, benevolent, but powerful king. There was no poverty in his kingdom. He was so strong that even the gods used to fear him. He was a devout follower of Lord Duttatreya, and after long austerity, he received several boons from him. But as time passed, the once just and benevolent king, known for his courtesy, self-restraint, and auterisity, became an egoist, oppressive, and greedy monarch. That led to his fall.

According to the legend, by the grace of Lord Dattatreya, he could have grown one thousand hands whenever required. He could wield five hundred bows to shoot five hundred arrows at a time on the battlefield. One day, he went to take a bath in the river Narmada with his queens. To show them his capability, he blocked the flow of water with his thousand hands. As the water was not passing to the other side, the water level rose upstream of the narmada. Coincidentally there was Ravan, the demon king, worshipping Shiva, being immersed in water up to the neck. As the water level rose, he got completely drowned in it, which broke his meditation. Surprised by this unnatural event, Ravana inquired about the reason and found out that Arjuna had blocked the water flow in Narmada. 

Enraged, Ravan went to Arjuna and warned him not to repeat such an act of stupidity as that hampered his meditation. But Kartavirya Arjuna just ignored him and intentionally blocked the water of Narmada once again. Ravan felt humiliated and challenged him in a duel. Thus, a ferocious fight broke out between Arjuna and Ravan. After a prolonged battle, at last Ravan was defeated, though Arjuna was truly impressed by the strength of Ravan. As Pulastya intervened, Arjuna not only freed Ravan but also gave him lots of gifts. In return, Ravan secured friendship with such a powerful king. 

Once, Arjuna was returning to his realm with his army after winning a great battle. On the way, he reached the ashram of Rishi Jamadagni, who blissfully welcomed Arjuna into his adobe. The muni not only fed the king but his entire army with fresh milk, curd, ghee, and fruits. The king was so impressed that he asked the muni how he could arrange such a feast for such a huge army in the midst of the forest. Jamadagni replied that this was because of Kamdhenu, the celestial cow given to him by Lord Brahma himself. Kamdhenu can yield as much milk as you need. Arjuna became greedy, and he told Jamadagni to hand over the cow to him. Jamadagni got enraged. He not only refused the king's unjust demand but also ordered him to leave his ashram immediately. Arjuna was an egotist. He asked his general to take the cow forcibly. As Jamadagni went to stop him, Arjuna unsheathed his sword and beheaded the muni. The king and his army razed the ashram to the ground and left.

After a few days, the son of Jamadagni, Ram, came back after being out for a few days. He was an incarnation of Vishnu and an ardent devotee of Shiva. Shiva gave him a very powerful divine axe (parashu), so everybody used to call him Parashuram. He was an unparallel warrior. As he learned about what had happened, he got red in anger and decided to end the treacherous king for good. He stormed Mahismati and defeated the king's army single-handedly. Though Arjuna was a formidable warrior, he felt just helpless in front of Parashuram. Parashuram cut his thousand hands with his battle axe before ending his life. Parashuram was so enraged that he annihilated consecutive twenty-one generations of khatriyas (warrior class) with his axe.

In spite of his demise at the hands of Parashuram, Kartavirya Arjuna is always venerated as a great and powerful king. Swayam Sri Krishna, Balaram, and Kunti were among his descendants. In fact, the legendary warrior Arjuna from the era of the Mahabharata was named after the Kartavirya Arjuna, though he surpassed the fame of his ancestor.
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