Narad muni the  universal traveller, visited Lord Vishnu the resident of heaven. God Vishnu gracefully welcomed him.  Narad muni praised God Vishnu, the  protector of humanity. He conveyed with the concerned  sincerity and that the earth is in turmoil.  The adharmies and misfits of society were harassing, torturing, and terrorizing the innocent citizens of earth—interfering in their daily lives and worships.

Narad muni earnestly requested that God Vishnu visit earth to destroy this evil doer and restore peace and tranquility.

While God Vishnu was contemplating this matter, the Sudarshan Chakra who adorns the right hand of God Vishnu, addressed here as a Chakra Deva, became filled with 

extreme pride in his own powers—going so far as to boast that without his ability to sever the necks of demons, God Vishnu could not establish peace on earth.

Shanka who adorns God Vishnu’s left hand, addressed here as Shanka Deva, became annoyed by the comments of Chakra Deva causing an argument to ensue. In a heated spirit, Shanka Deva cursed Chakra Deva—stating that “he will be sent to earth to experience a lesson on how to be humble.” 

Quickly returning to his senses Chakra Deva apologized for his prideful remarks with utmost grief.  Shanka Deva informed him that Lord Vishnu, in the avatar of Parashuram, will be the one to bring Chakra Deva back to heaven.

To curb his arrogance, it is said Lord Vishnu sent Chakra Deva to earth without upper limbs.  He was born in the kingdom of Emperor Kritivirya and Sarama Devi as Arjun. The parents were stricken with grief by their child without limbs and prayed to God Dattatreya to bless their child and correct his deformity.

Common folklore in the Khanadesh area is that Kritivirya and Saramadevi prayed to God  Dattatreya daily at the Ganesha temple located on the great lake. Eventually, Dattatreya blessed the baby Arjun with normal hands. Kritivirya and Sarama Devi were immediately filled with joy and saw a glow in baby Arjuna’s face.

The kingdom celebrated Arjuna’s birthday with great joy. Gods from heaven blessed him and showered him with flowers.

 As prince, Arjun had a lovely childhood and was showered with constant affection. His pleasant manners and natural aura attracted the attention of all. He especially enjoyed playing with bows and arrows. 

Keeping with traditions of kings of this time, Emperor Kritavirya sent teen Arjuna to Sage Dattatreya’s ashram to learn the knowledge of Vedas and Puranas—which are the essence of Hindu religion—and train in the basic skills of war. 

Upon his arrival, he was welcomed to the Ashram by Guru Dattatreya’s mother, Anasuya. Young Arjun was a diligent, perceptive, and astute student. He absorbed the Vedas, which hold the essence of Hindu philosophy.

He was also quick to grasp the use of  weapons, mastering thousands of techniques and strategies of war taught by Guru Dattatreya, who was very pleased with his performance.

After completing his studies and training at the Ashram, Youth Arjuna returned to Mahishmati accompanied by Guru Dattatreya and were wholeheartedly welcomed to the palace by Sahasrarjun’s parents. The entire kingdom celebrated the return of Arjun with great festivities. Money, clothing, grains and other material gifts were widely distributed to  Brhamans and  poor deserving citizens of the kingdom.

This aging father, emperor Kritivirya was advised by his ministers and supporters to retire and handover the kingdom to his son Arjuna. Thereupon Kritivirya ceremoniously transferred  his responsibility of kingdom to Arjuna.

Arjuna was crowned on the throne of Kritivirya, with great gaiety. This coronation was a joyous celebration in the kingdom.

Arjuna, however, wanted to further his might and exert his influence on all the rulers of the world.  He took the advice of a sage Gargamuni and went to Sahyadri mountain for preparatory meditation and prayer.

On the mountain  Sahasrjuna prayed to God Dattatreya with deep devotion,  doing so ceaselessly for ten thousand years.

God Dhattatreya was pleased at his devotion, gave an audience and  blessed him. For his devotional dedication, God Dattatreya offered him three boons and a gift.

God Dattatreya blessed Sahasrarjun with one-thousand mighty skilled hands to conquer the earth. These Sahasrarjun’s  hands symbolize the spokes of Vishnu’s Chakra in heaven.

Feeling his many new hands, Arjuna felt extreme joy—floating and raising his hands towards heaven. He was blessed by the Gods of heaven who showered flowers upon him.

With his thousand powerful hands, Arjuna was invincible to enemies. Facing an enormous army on the battlefield, Sahasrarjun prayed for his boon from God Dattatreya.   Sahasrarjun assumed his avatar—transforming into a giant genie-like form, spreading with each of his thousand arms bearing a weapon.  He stood  tall from earth and heaven. He rejoiced by  raising his fully-armed thousand hands, with  glory to heaven. Each arm represented a spoke of Lord Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra. A light equivalent to one-thousand sun rays radiated from him. His glow of aura reached the four corners of the earth and sky. The enemies went blind. They trembled and scrambled.                                                      

Sahasrarjun conquered all known and hitherto unknown overseas kingdoms. Then onwards he was addressed as Sahasrarjun, Sahasrabhahu, Sahasrabhujadhari, Kritaviryanandan, Parakrami  Arjun, Rajarajeshwar Kartivirya, Haihayaraja, Dashagrivajayi, Nagapal and many other wonderful titles.  Like his father, he too was addressed as Maha Chakravarti, great emperor, and ruled the earth gracefully.                                                

God Dattatreya also blessed Sahasrarjun with the gift of golden ratha (divine chariot). This divine chariot would appear instantly upon his wish and carry him to any place he desired.  Sahasrarjun used his golden ratha to serve his subjects—routinely roaming the streets of Mahishmati assuring and greeting his subjects, who welcomed him wholeheartedly.

With the blessings of God Dattatreya, Sahasrarjun married Kashmira Devi in a huge gathering of kings and nobles with a grand celebration throughout the kingdom. Sahasrarjun had married 500 wives.

Sahasrarjun was a dedicated devotee of God Shiva, diligently performing Shiva puja daily. He was at peace as ruler, and his subjects were happy and content. 

As part of his required duty as a Kshatriya king, he performed numerous Yagnas which involved ritualistic readings and chanting of religious verses and prayers written in Sanskrit by priests and Brahmins, while offering ghee (melted butter), milk, and other  sacred items to the fire.  This religious ritual, commonly referred to as sacrifice, is still practiced by both Kshatriyas and Brahmins throughout the world. Many believe that performing Yagnas wards off evil spirits, builds inner power, and bonds Gods to mortals. Sahasrarjun performed one-thousand Yagnas (sacrifices) in his lifetime.

Following each Yagna, Sahasrarjun would generously share his wealth, grain, and material goods with Brahmins as well as the poor and needy. He donated money, even the Yagna frame made of solid gold to the Brahmans’ poor subjects.

“Thus Sahasrarjun ruled for 85,000 years with unbroken health, prosperity, strength, and valor”.

Sahasrarjun was a generous emperor. One day, hungry Agnideva, the God of fire, approached and pleaded with Sahasrarjun to satisfy his appetite. Sahasrarjun gave permission to Agnideva  to burn the outskirts of the forest and satisfy his appetite. However, Agnideva’s insatiable appetite spread the fire from the forests to the hills and into the cities.

The fire was carried over to the woods by the wind and burned the Ashram of Sage Apava that was located in the same woods. The Sage became enraged and blamed Sahasrarjun for these mishappenings. In his anger, the sage looked to the heavens and spelled the curse aloud “Ye Sahasrarjun for all the miseries you have caused on all of us, one day Parashuram will severe all your hands where your power lies.”  

The story of Sahasrarjun, God Vishnu’s 26th Chakravatar, is directly related to the story of Parashuram, Vishnu’s 6th avatar.

One day, while returning from the battlefield, Sahasrarjun, with his sons and victorious troops, came across the ashram of Sage Jamadagni in the woods. Feeling weary from battle and stricken with thirst, they decided to stop at the ashram for rest.  Seeing the huge masses of troops at their front door, the resident sages immediately ran away scared. However, after Sage Jamadagni recognized Sahasrarjun, he welcomed everyone. 

The thirsty guests quenched their thirst first and rested. They  were then treated with  a lavish  feast and they filled themselves to their heart’s content with the help of  Kamdhenu, the mythological cow goddess of infinite strength and unending source of food. Sage Jamadagni acquired Kamadhen as a gift from God Indra, after long meditation. He had to follow certain ritualistic worship to keep Kamadhenu serving him.

Sahasrarjun’s greedy sons were curious to know how it was that a small ashram could feed an entire hungry army. Once they discovered the power of Goddess Kamadhenu, they requested Jamadagni turn her over to them, to continue feeding their armies as well as their poor citizens. When the sage refused, they forcibly dragged away Kamadhenu against Jamadagni’s will. A struggle ensued, and in the heat of it, Sahasrarjun intervened and killed Jamadagni. Also becoming involved in the struggle, Jamadagni’s wife, Renuka, was injured with twenty-one stab wounds.

Parashuram, the ill-tempered Brahman son of Jamadagni returned from his daily chores  to the deserted ashram. He was shocked to find his injured mother crying over the body of his father and beating over her chest. It is said that she beat her chest twenty-one  times. Already known for his temperamental nature, Parashuram flew into a fit of rage, raising his axe above his head and vowing: “I will destroy all Kshatriyas from this earth for twenty-one generations.”

The irate Parashuram entered Sahasrarjun’s kingdom and challenged him to a duel. Using his divine ax that never required sharpening, Parashuram arouse victorious after severing every one of Sahasrarjun’s one-thousand mighty hands before exacting his vengeance upon the sons of Sahasrarjun, ending every one of their lives.

Once again limbless as he was born, Sahasrarjun returned to God Vishnu at his abode in heaven.

The irate Parashuram entered Sahasrarjun’s kingdom and challenged him to a duel. Using his divine ax that never required sharpening against Sahasrarjun, Parashuram severed every one of his one-thousand hands and came out victorious. He then exacted his vengeance upon the sons of Sahasrarjun, ending every one of their lives.

In other puranas it  is written that  Sahasrarjun forcibly stole Kamadhenu from Jamadagnis ashram. Irate Parashurama challenged Sahasrarjun and killed him and brought back Kamadhenu. Sahasrarjuns sons in turn entered the ashram of Jamadagni and killed him. Irate  Parashuram then destroyed Sahasrarjuns children and other  Kshatriyas for 21 generations.  

Renuka, the wife of Jamadagni and sister of Sukruti (Sahasrarjun’s wife), would bathe in the Malaprabha River each morning and bring back pot of water for  daily puja of Jamadagni.  One such morning, while walking to the river, a joyful noise caught her attention. She decided to investigate further, and was captivated by what she found—the celestial creatures, Gandharvas and Apsaras, in fine clothing and adorned with celestial jewels, were playing by the river. The sight of these creatures caused Renuka, who was once a princess herself, to reflect on her current ascetic lifestyle and she developed a desire to join in their pageantry.

Her desire continued to distract her and disrupt her concentration.  Following her bath in the river waters, she attempted to form a vessel out of sand-mud to fill with water for Jamadagni’s daily puja as she did every day. Her vessel repeatedly failed to form, crumbled into pieces, and disappeared before her eyes. Scared, confused, and ashamed, shaky Renuka had no choice but to return to the Ashram empty-handed.

Jamadagni, through his great spiritual power, comprehended the situation and became enraged at Renuka’s thoughts of passionate desire as he believed such thoughts did not befit the ascetic life. In his fit of rage, he ordered his three sons to sever mother Renuka’s head as punishment. Unwilling to obey such a heinous command and fearful of their father’s anger, his sons attempted to flee, but before they could get away, the anger of Jamadagni burned them all to ashes. 

After a short while, Jamadagni saw Parashuram, his son, returning to the Ashram after completing his chores in the forest and ordered him to sever the head of his mother. Renuka, having heard Jamadagni’s order to his sons earlier, was scared for her life and fled the Ashram to hide in a prostitute’s hut. However, Parashuram tracked his mother down to fulfill his father’s command, first severing the head of the prostitute when she attempted to protect his mother, and then severing Renuka’s.

One day, while Princess Satyavati was passing through the backwoods of her father’s kingdom, she came across sage Richika picking flowers in preparation for his daily puja. Richika happened to look up as she glanced over towards him and as soon as their eyes met, he immediately fell in love with her beauty and decided he would marry her.

To this end, Richika approached Satyavati’s father, King Gadhi, and expressed his desire to marry his daughter.  The king was fearful of bad repercussions from rejecting the offer of the powerful sage.

King Gadhi demanded one-thousand white horses, each as brilliant as sunshine and with black ears. Sage Richika, praying to Varuna, the God of oceans,  watched as one-thousand horses meeting the specifications demanded by King Gadhi emerged from the ocean waters before his eyes. After  he presented these  horses to king  Gadhi, the king kept his promise and offered the hand of Satyavati to Sage Richika. Following their marriage, the couple returned to their ashram in the woods.

One day, Satyavati approached Richika and expressed her desire to have a son as well as a brother. Richika gave her two containers of blessed potions (Charu), one for her mother and another for his wife. A mixture of milk rice and ghee, Charu is typically offered to fire during yagnas. He advised her that one potion was for her to drink as it would cause her to produce a son with Brahminic qualities, whereas the other was for her mother as it would yield a son with Kshatriya characteristics. 

Suspicious by nature, Satyavati’s mother presumed Sage Richika had reserved the better potion for his wife so she decided to switch the potions. After Satyavati became pregnant with the child to be born with Kshatriya characteristics.  Richika felt something was wrong and through his divine powers came to realize what Satyavati’s mother had done.

After learning the truth, Satyavati became upset. She did not want to have a son who would ruthlessly kill Kshatriyas. She wanted to have a sage-like Brahmin child and requested that Richika intervene in some manner. He offered her the option of the warrior traits destined for her child to skip a generation and affect one of her grandchildren instead. She accepted his offer.

Emperor Sahasrarjun once created a pool of water to entertain his 500 wives by blocking the Narmada River with his thousand mighty shoulders.

At the same time this was happening, Ravana had unknowingly chosen a dry shore of the Narmada, downstream from Sahasrarjun and his wives, to perform Shiva puja. Having built a Shivaling from wet sand with puja materials arranged around it, he was in the midst of performing the puja.

Sahasrarjun’s wives completed their swim and left the water to change clothes which allowed Sahasrarjun to lift his thousand shoulders from the river and rest. The now-dislodged river waters forcefully rushed downstream and flooded the area where Ravana was performing the puja. Ravana was furious,  the rushing waters had disrupted the puja. He screamed with a loud and angry roar from the top of the head,  that whomever was responsible would be severely punished. His roar could be heard everywhere and caused all to tremble.

Upon discovering Sahasrarjun was responsible, Ravana challenged him to a duel.  With his ten heads and twenty fully-armed hands, Ravana brought his army along with him to their fight.  To his surprise, he could not overcome the strength of Sahasrarjun’s one-thousand arms and was easily defeated.

Mighty Sahasrarjun pinned Ravana to the floor and tied his hands with his pasha (long cord).

Sahasrarjun dragged Ravana parading through the streets of his kingdom.

Sahasrarjun  imprisoned Ravana in his fort prison for six months.

To humble the rakshasa-king Ravana, Sahasrarjun made him stand at his Darbar and hold ghee lamps on his heads and hand. Sahasrarjun’s wives  at the Darbar  placed  11 ghee lamps—one upon each of his ten heads and one in his hand. 

Sahasrarjun further humiliated Ravana by tying him to his son’s cradle pole.

After Ravana remained imprisoned for a period, his grandfather, Pulastya, pleaded with Sahasrarjun to release his grandson from his humbling situation. Feeling satisfied that Ravana had learned a good lesson, Sahasrarjun released Ravana to Pulastaya and sent him home to Lanka with many gifts. 

To commemorate this event, the devotees of the Sahasrarjun temple at Maheshwar keep their 11 lamps filled with ghee allowing them to burn continuously. Much of the supply of ghee comes from offerings made by  visiting their temple.

Every SSK person should undertake a pilgrimage to this most sacred Sahasrarjun temple at Maheshwar at least once in his or her lifetime to be inspired by the 11 continuously burning ghee lamps that commemorate Ravana’s defeat and serve as important reminders of our religious heritage. Jaya Sahasrarjun. 

Sahasrarjun ruled the entire earth that had seven known islands (continents) across the seven  oceans for 85,000 years. It was a peaceful time for humanity, his kingdom spanned from shore to shore and abroad. There was international trade.

Accompanying the story of Sahasrarjun there are  related legends, and folklore told for generations  in Pourans. Each  pouran gave their own version. We have presented the most popular ones.

Sahasrarjun  possessed many virtues. He adored elephants. He was known to lead a flock of his seven elephants. Occasionally he used to parade them in the streets of his capital.

Sahasrarjun  was known to be an agriculturist and a farmer. He could bring rain down on demand from the skies with his powerful arrows. Once there was draught The farmers begged Sahasrarjun for obtaining rain. Sahasrarjun performed yagna with rishis and prayed to Dattatreya for his blessing.

Sahasrarjun pulled his arrow with thunderous speed he fired toward the sky. The arrow created dark clouds and thunder. It brought rain down. The farmers danced with joy.

Amrut recovery:It is said that one day Sahasrarjun churned the oceans with his mighty hands seeking the Amrut, the life-giving milk that immortalized  the human soul and changed them to gods. His churning of the ocean through the deep bottom disturbed and upset the underground hell dwelling  powerful demons who fainted at the sight of his aura.

Jai  God Dattatreya

It is written in Puranasa  that if you utter the following lines continuously you will find lost objects and complete any undertaken business or task.

Om karthveeryarjuno nama

Raja baahu Sahasravan

Thasya smarana mathrena

Gatham nashtam cha labhythe