page_title: Kartavirya Arjuna
section_title: Encounter with Ravana
hierarchical_section_title: Kartavirya Arjuna / Encounter with Ravana
caption_attribution_description: English: "Ramayana of Valmiki (The Freer Ramayana), Vol. 2, folio 301; recto: Arjuna fells Ravana with his mace and advances to capture him with his thousand arms"
context_page_description: Kartavirya Arjuna was a legendary king of an ancient Haihayas kingdom with capital at Mahishmati which is on the banks of Narmada River in the current state of Madhya Pradesh. Kartavirya was son of Kritavirya, king of the Haihayas. According to the Puranas, Haihaya was the grandson of Sahasrajit, son of Yadu. This is his patronymic, by which he is best known; he is also referred to simply as Arjuna. He is described as having a thousand hands and a great devotee of god Dattatreya. One of the several such accounts states that Arjuna conquered Mahishmati city from Karkotaka Naga, a Naga chief and made it his fortress-capital.
  Arjuna Kartavirya is not to be confused with Arjuna Pandava, another major character in the Mahabharata. Kartavirya Arjuna was the longest ruling Chakravati Samrat of Vedic era.
context_section_description: Kartavirya's power is popularly told in the Ramayana, Uttara Kanda, which is not often considered to be the part of the original Valmiki Ramayana and its constituent 6 adhyayas (अध्याय), since the original Ramayana speaks of the number of verses and the shlokas in Ramayana - Verse 2 of Chapter IV of Baala Kaanda of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana reads as under:
  चतुर्विंशत्सहस्त्राणि श्लोकानामुक्तवानृषिः |
  तथा सर्गशतान् पञ्च षट्काण्डानि तथोत्तरम् ||
  This epic contains 24,000 verses split into 500 chapters in Six Cantos. (Baala Kaanda: refer Ch IV:2) [The six cantos are Baala Kaanda, Ayodhya Kaanda, Aranya Kaanda, Kishkinda Kaanda, Sundara (Lanka) Kaanda and Yuddha Kaanda.]. 
  Kartavirya is considered to be the contemporary of Ravana. The story goes that once when Kartavirya Arjuna was having a bath in the river Narmada along with his wives, he stopped the force of the river with his thousand arms from both sides. The teenage Dasagriva (Ravana), who was singing the hymns of Shiva and praying to him, made him lose his concentration. Enraged, he challenged the former for combat in which Ravana was defeated and was put to humiliation. Then, on request of his paternal grandfather Pulastya the great emperor Arjuna released Ravana.
  Another account states that when Ravana came "in the course of his campaign of conquest to Mahishmati (the capital of Kartavirya), he was captured without difficulty, and was confined like a wild beast in a corner of his city."
  The Vayu Purana states that Kartavirya invaded Lanka, and there took Ravana as prisoner, but later he was killed by Parashurama and Ravana was rescued from Arjuna.
caption: Kartavirya Arjuna defeats young Ravana (right)
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