Kartavirya
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Kartavirya or Kārtavīrya (Sanskrit: कार्तवीर्य) was son of Kritavirya, king of the Haihayas. This is his patronymic, by which he is best know; his real name was Arjuna.
He visited the hermitage of Jamadagni, and was received by that sage's wife with all respect; but he made an ill return for her hospitality, and carried off by violence "the calf of the milch-cow of the sacred oblation." For this outrage Parasurama cut off his thousand arms and killed him.
In another place a different character is given to him, and more in accordance with his behavior at Jamadagni's hut. "He oppressed both men and gods," so that the latter appealed to Vishnu for succor. That God then came down to the earth as Parasurama for the especial purpose of killing him.
Kartavirya was the contemporary of Ravana, and when that demon monarch 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."
Vayu Purana states that Kartavirya invaded Lanka, and there took Ravana prisoner.
[edit] Reference
- Dowson's Classical Dictionary of Hindu mythology
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