Kartavirya Arjuna, who had thousand hands, was a popular king in ancient India. Parashuram is the sixth incarnation of Bhagavan Srihari Vishnu. The story of Kartavirya Arjuna and Parasurama is mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana and the Mahabharata.
Kartavirya Arjuna, along with his retinue, once visited the ashram of Sage Jamadagni. Parasurama was the fifth son of Sage Jamadagni and Renuka.
The Sage, with the help of divine cow Sushila (in some texts the cow is Kamadhenu), provided the king and his retinue a banquet fit for a king.
Kartavirya Arjuna now became greedy and forcefully seized the wish fulfilling cow from the hermitage of Sage Jamadagni.
Kartavirya Arjuna killed Sage Jamadagni but failed in his attempt to carry away the divine cow.
Shukracharya arrived at the scene and restored Sage Jamadagni’s life with the Mritasanjeevani Mantra.
The king again attacked the ashram but this time Parasurama was present in the ashram and he exterminated the entire army.
The thousand hands of Kartavirya Arjuna were chopped off by Parasurama. He then killed the king.
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