Kartavirya Arjuna In Hinduism , Kartavirya Arjuna ( Hindi : कार्तवीर्य अर्जुन , IAST : Kārtavīrya Arjuna ) , was king of ancient kingdom during Ramayana period with capital at Mahishamati . Mythical story tells that Kartavirya Arjuna and his army visited a rishi named Jamadagni , who fed his guest and the whole army with his divine cow . The king demanded the cow ; Jamadagni refused because he needed the cow for his religious ceremonies . King Kartavirya Arjuna sent his soldiers to take the cow . Parashurama ( Jamadagni 's son and Avatara of Vishnu ) killed the entire army and the king with the axe given to him by Shiva . In return , the princes beheaded Jamadagni . In revenge , Parashurama killed the entire clan of Kartavirya Arjuna , thus conquering the entire earth , which he gave to Kashyapa . Kartavirya Arjuna belonged to the dark period when the Kshatriyas forgot their duties and behaved very arrogantly , blinded with lust and power. [ citation needed ] Parushurama was one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu , who has assumed the human form to put an end to this Kshatriya menace . Kartavirya Arjuna is believed to have a thousand arms . Historical facts Historians have other version to tell . The historian Thakur Deshraj has explained about the reasons of tension between Brahmans and kshatriyas prevalent in India during Ramayana period . During this period all four varnas had come into existence in Aryans . The duties of each varna were defined but they could change varna . Brahmans had come into a dominant position and had full control over kings and the society . Some kshatriyas like Kartavirya Arjuna had become rebellions against the increased influence of Brahmans . In Sarswati ashrama a big organization under the leadership of Parashurama was constituted by Brahmans to penalize such kshatriyas . Brahmans suppressed kshatriyas like Kartavirya Arjuna and deprived these kshatriyas from their status . Not only this they dpicted warriors like Hanuman and Sugriva as monkeys . Thakur Deshraj has mentioned that the Aryans by this time had crossed Vindhyas and moving towards south . Vanars were inhabitants in southwest Vindhyas . Pampa sarovar was their main center . Vanars were not monkeys but either aboriginal inhabitants of that area or people of Aryan groups who had come from Iran via Bombay and reached south of Vindhyas . Encounter with Ravana His power is popularly told in a folklore . Once when Kartavirya Arjuna was once having a bath in a river along with his wives , when he stopped the force of the river with his thousand arms from both the sides . Ravana ( the Lord of Lanka ) who was camping by the banks of the river was furious over this . Enraged , he challenged the former for a combat . Ravana was comprehensively defeated and was put to humilation . Such was the power of Kartavirya Arjuna . But his arms could not withstand the massacre of Parashurama 's axe in the end . Reference ^ Thakur Deshraj : Jat Itihasa ( Hindi ) , Maharaja Suraj Mal Smarak Shiksha Sansthan , Delhi , 1934 , 2nd edition 1992 ( Page 15-19 ) Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Itihasa Female Deities : Gayatri | Saraswati | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more ... Male Deities : Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Kartikeya | Hanuman | Lakshmana | Indra | Surya | more ... Texts : Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata This box :   view • talk • edit  This Hindu mythology-related article is a stub . See the WikiProject Hindu mythology for article coordination . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : Articles with unsourced statements | Hindu mythology stubs | People in Hindu mythology 