Sahasrarjun, also known as Kartavirya Arjuna, is a famous king mentioned in Hindu Puranas and other scriptures. It is believed that Kartavirya Arjuna had thousands hands. There are numerous versions of the story of Kartavirya Arjuna but all stories have one thing in common and that is that he had thousand arms.
One of the most popular legends regarding the thousand Hands of Sahasrarjun is that he is an incarnation of the Sudarshana Chakra (Discus) of Hindu God Vishnu. Thus he is a manifestation of Chakradeva on earth to annihilate Adharma. Some scholars suggest that the Sudarshana Chakra has thousand spokes and each hand of Kartavirya represented a spoke in the Sudarshana Chakra.
Another legend mentioned in the Ganesh Purana suggests that Sahasrarjun was born without hands. Parents of Sahasrarjun prayed to God Dattatreya for a solution and it is said that Dattatreya blessed the baby with thousand arms.
Another popular view is that the thousand hands is a symbol – it represents the great strength and skills possessed by Sahasrarjun. The easy way to interpret and portray the talent that Sahasrarjun possessed was through numerous hands. It is said that he had superhuman strength and the power, skill and talent of thousand people put together.