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Puranic encyclopaedia

by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222

This page describes the Story of Kartaviryarjuna included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).

Story of ٲīܲԲ

(ĀմĪ۴). A renowned King of the Hehaya dynasty.

Genealogy.

From Ѳ屹ṣṇ were descended in the following order: AtriCandraBudhaʳܰūĀܲ۲پYaduSahasrajitŚٲᾱ첹ī�(󲹲ⲹ)�Dharma—Kṇi�BhadrasenaDhanakaṛtīⲹٲīܲԲ.

Hehaya Dynasty and Dynasty.

The Hehayas were ṣaٰⲹ and the were 󳾲ṇa. The sages were the family preceptors of the Hehaya Kings. The Hehayas who were generous and charitable, used to give plenty of wealth to the . Consequently in course of time, the grew wealthy while the Hehayas gradually declined. In order to tide over their difficulty, the Hehayas decided to borrow some money from the . But the refused to oblige, on the plea that they had no money. The enraged ṣaٰⲹ (Hehayas) began to persecute the ṛgܲ (). The ṛgܲ left for the ᾱⲹ after burying all their treasures under the floor of their Āś. The ṣaٰⲹ pursued them and hunted them even there. At last a 󳾲ṇ� who belonged to the race, gave birth to a sage named Aurva through her thigh. With his birth the Hehayas began to lead a less aggressive life. After the lapse of many years, the mighty ٲīܲԲ was born in the Hehaya dynasty and the mighty sage Jamadagni was born in the ṛg dynasty. Both of them nourished their hereditary feud. With his capital in the city of ṣmī on the banks of the river , ٲīܲԲ began his reign. (See under Aurva I).

Thousand Hands of ٲīܲԲ.

Once when ٲīܲԲ was living in his capital ṣmī, the sage happened to come there. The King greeted him with due reverence and asked him what course of action was to be followed for attaining ǰṣa (salvation) and at the same time for enjoying worldly pleasures. 岹 replied that by performing the rite known as "Bhadradīpa ʰپṣṭ", both these objects could be achieved. Accordingly, Kārtavīrya went to the banks of the river with his wife and began the observance of Bhadradīpa ʰپṣṭ. Kārtavīrya’s guru was ٲٳٰⲹ, the son of Atri. At the conclusion of the Yāga rites, ٲٳٰⲹ who was pleased, asked ٲīܲԲ what boons he wished to have. Kārtavīrya with joined palms asked him many boons one of which was that he should have a thousand arms. ٲٳٰⲹ granted him the boons, and Kārtavīrya who became proud of his new possession, ruled at ṣmī for 86, 000 years. (ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, Chapter 44).

’s Warning.

ٲīܲԲ who returned triumphant after receiving the boon from ٲٳٰⲹ heard a mysterious voice warning him in the following words:�"You fool! Don't you know that a 󳾲ṇa is superior to a ṣaٰⲹ? A ṣaٰⲹ governs his subjects in alliance with the 󳾲ṇa". On hearing this, Kārtavīrya became angry. He understood that , the divine messenger was behind the mysterious voice. He despised and argued that a ṣaٰⲹ was superior to a 󳾲ṇa. gave him a warning that a 󳾲ṇa would curse Kārtavīrya. (Ѳٲ ԳśԲ Parva, Chapter 152).

Kārtavīrya cursed by the sage.

Once Agni (fire-god) approached Kārtavīrya and begged for food. The King allowed him to feed upon mountains and trees from any part of his Kingdom. So Agni began to devour the woods and hills. This led to the burning down of an Āś owned by a sage called Ā貹. The enraged Sage came to know that ٲīܲԲ was responsible for the havoc and pronounced a curse that ʲśܰ峾 would chop off all the thousand hands of ٲīܲԲ.

ٲīܲԲ and 屹ṇa.

In the course of his triumphal march, after conquering the whole world, 屹ṇa once arrived with his forces on the bank of the river . Enjoying the smooth flow of the crystal clear stream of the and the pleasant sand banks in the river-bed, he spent a night there with his followers. Early next morning he took his bath in the river and setting up the idol of Ś on the sand bank, began to worship it.

Just then ٲīܲԲ and his wives came to the place and began their water sports, a few yards down the river from the place where 屹ṇa was sitting. As part of his amusements, Kārtavīrya stopped the flow of the river by making a dam with his thousand arms. This caused the level of the water to rise and 屹ṇa with his materials of worship was submerged in the flood. Enraged at this disturbance to his worship, he sent two of his men down the river bank to find out what was happening. They traced the source of the trouble to ٲīܲԲ and his water-sports and reported the matter to their master. At once 屹ṇa armed himself with his bow rushed to ٲīܲԲ and began a fierce fight. At last 屹ṇa fell down under the heavy stroke of Kārtavīrya’s mace and was bound in chains and imprisoned. He lay there for one year. 屹ṇa’s father sage Pulastya came to know of this and he went to Kārtavīrya’s palace. He was received with due respect and at his request, Kārtavīrya released 屹ṇa and after that they remained friends for life. (Uttara 峾ⲹṇa).

Kārtavīrya and ’s Death.

One day when ʲśܰ峾 was fourteen years old, his father sage Jamadagni went to the forest to fetch some Samits (sacrificial twigs). Jamadagni’s wife, swept and cleaned the Āś and went to the river to fetch water and ʲśܰ峾 was left behind in the Āś. When she reached the river bank, she saw ٲīܲԲ indulging in amorous pleasures with his wives in the water. She waited unobserved on the bank for some time and after they had left the place, she stepped into the river. But since the water was muddy, she had to go to another place in the river to get clear water. There also she lingered for a few minutes, looking at the amorous amusements of Citraratha, King of , with his wives. It was only after they had departed that she was able to return to the Āś with water. Meanwhile Jamadagni who had returned to the Āś earlier was angry at her delay and was waiting impatiently for her arrival. As soon as she reached the Āś, the sage, in a fit of fury, ordered ʲśܰ峾 to cut off her head and the latter obeyed him. (ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, Chapter 58).

The Triumphal March of Kārtavīrya.

All the Kings in the world acknowledged the supremacy of Kārtavīrya. In ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, Chapter 16, we find that Kings of the Solar dynasty like Trayyāruṇa, ᲹśԻ, dz󾱳ś and Cuñcu were defeated by ٲīܲԲ. In his golden chariot he went about defeating Devas, ۲ṣa, Ṛṣis and others. He challenged even վṣṇ. He insulted Indra in the company of Իṇ�. (Ѳٲ Vana Parva, Chapter 115).

Intoxicated by his successes, Kārtavīrya went to the sea-shore and challenged the ocean and began to destroy the animals in the sea by shooting them with his arrows. God ղṇa appeared before him and asked him what he wanted. Kārtavīrya asked the god to name a man who had the capacity to fight with him. ղṇa answered that Jamadagni’s son ʲśܰ峾 was the person who satisfied that condition. Kārtavīrya accepted the challenge and went in search of ʲśܰ峾. (Ѳٲ ԳśԲ Parva, Chapter 29).

Killing of Jamadagni.

Once Kārtavīrya went to hunt in the forest with his followers. They were roaming in the Vindhya forests in search of game. At noon after a refreshing bath in the clear waters of the river when they were preparing to return, they saw Jamadagni’s Āś. After asking his men to wait at the river-bank, Kārtavīrya went alone to the Āś. He paid his respects to the sage and after their usual greetings, Jamadagni asked him to call his followers also to the Āś. When all of them arrived the sage gave them a sumptuous feast. Kārtavīrya wondered how the sage managed to do it. They spent the night there and when they returned home next morning Kārtavīrya’s minister Candragupta told him that he saw a cow in Jamadagni’s Āś and that it was from that divine cow that the sage was able to get all the rare articles of food which he supplied to the guests. He also offered to get the cow from the sage. So the King sent Candragupta to the Āś to beg the cow from the sage for him. Candragupta accordingly went with a few followers to the Āś and begged for the cow. At that time ʲśܰ峾 was not in the Āś. Jamadagni told them that the cow was 峾Գ’s sister, śī and that it was not possible to give her. Candragupta tried to seize the cow by force but she suddenly vanished into the sky. The King’s men tried to capture her calf. Jamadagni who came forward to prevent them, was beaten to death by Candragupta. (ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, Chapters 67 to 70).

Jamadagni’s Restoration to Life.

ʲśܰ峾 returned soon to the Āś with the disciple ṛtṇa. At the sight of his father lying dead on the floor, ʲśܰ峾 cried aloud. beat her breast twentyone times. Seeing this, ʲśܰ峾 took a solemn vow that he would go round the world twentyone times and extirpate the ṣaٰⲹ Kings. The sage Śܰ appeared there with śī who had vanished. After restoring Jamadagni to life Śܰ went back.

Death of ٲīܲԲ.

Paraśu Rāma who had turned himself into the very embodiment of Revenge, accompanied by ṛtṇa, took his stand at the gates of the city of ṣmī and challenged ٲīܲԲ to a fight. Kārtavīrya came out with a huge army. In the terrible fight that followed, ʲśܰ峾 himself with his axe (貹ś) chopped off all the thousand arms of ٲīܲԲ. All his sons were killed. Kārtavīrya himself fell down beheaded. This was the end of the pillar of Hehaya dynasty. (ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, Chapter 81).

Kārtavīrya’s sons.

Kārtavirya had one hundred sons. All of them were killed in the battle by ʲśܰ峾. Their names, as given in Chapter 76 of ṇḍa ʳܰṇa, are given below:�

Nirmada, Rocana, Śṅk, Ugrada, Dundubhi, Dhruva, Supārśī, Śٰᾱ, ñ, ŚԳٲ, Nirdaya, Antaka, Āṛt, Vimala, Dhīra, Nīroga, Bāhuti, Dama, Adhari, Vidhura, Saumya, ѲԲī, ʳṣk, Buśa, ղṇa, Ṛṣ, Ṛkṣa, Satyaka, Subala, ī, Ugreṣṭa, Ugrakarmā, Satyasena, Durāsada, īdhanvā, ī󲹲, Akampana, ܲ, Dīrghākṣa, Vartulākṣa, Cārudaṃṣṭra, Gotravān, Manojava, Ū󱹲, Krodha, Satyakīrti, ٳṣp󲹰ṣaṇa, Satyasandha, ѲԲ, Sulocana, Raktanetra, Vakradaṃṣṭra, ܻ岹ṃṣṭr, Kṣatravarmā, Manonuga, ٳūś, Piṅgalocana, ⲹṅg, ṭi, ձ곾, Գ, śṇi, Anuddhata, Duranta, Kapila, Ś, Ananta, վś, , ṛt, ṣaٰᾱ, ٳ󲹰ī, ղ岵, ҳṣa, Adbhuta, ʳܰñᲹⲹ, ṇa. 岵ī, ī, 鲹ٳī, Govihvala, ṅg峾ᾱ, Suparvā, 岹, Satyaketu, Śī첹, ṛḍܻ, Citradhanvā, Jayatsena, վūṣa, Bhīmakarmā, Śatrutāpana, Citrasena, Durādharṣa վḍūrٳ, Śū, Śūsena, ٳṣaṇa, Madhu, and Jayadhvaja.

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