Editing Kartavirya Arjuna (section)

==Encounter with Ravana==

Kartavirya's power is popularly told in the [[Ramayana]], Uttara Kanda, which is not often considered to be the part of the original Valmiki Ramayana and its constituent 6 adhyayas (अध्याय), since the original Ramayana speaks of the number of verses and the shlokas in Ramayana – Verse 2 of Chapter IV of Baala Kaanda of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana reads as:

चतुर्विंशत्सहस्त्राणि श्लोकानामुक्तवानृषिः |

तथा सर्गशतान् पञ्च षट्काण्डानि तथोत्तरम् ||

This epic contains 24,000 verses split into 500 chapters in Six Cantos. (Baala Kaanda: refer Ch IV:2) [The six cantos are Baala Kaanda, Ayodhya Kaanda, Aranya Kaanda, Kishkinda Kaanda, Sundara (Lanka) Kaanda and Yuddha Kaanda.].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Beauty of the Valmiki Ramayana by Bibek Debroy |url=https://penguin.co.in/thepenguindigest/the-beauty-of-the-valmiki-ramayana-by-bibek-debroy/ |website=Penguin |date=29 January 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Why Ramayana's 'Uttar Kanda' should not be overlooked? |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/why-ramayana-s-uttar-kanda-should-not-be-overlooked-116122200432_1.html |newspaper=Business Standard India|date=22 December 2016 |agency=Press Trust of India }}</ref>

Kartavirya is considered to be the contemporary of [[Ravana]]. The story goes that once when Kartavirya Arjuna was having a bath in the river Narmada along with his wives, he stopped the force of the river with his thousand arms from both sides. The teenage Dasagriva ([[Ravana]]), who was singing the hymns of Shiva and praying to him, made him lose his concentration. Enraged, he challenged the former for combat in which Ravana was defeated and was put to humiliation. Then, on request of his paternal grandfather [[Pulastya]] the great emperor Kartavirya Arjuna released [[Ravana]].

Another account states that when Ravana came "in the course of his campaign of conquest to Kunnamkulam (the capital of Kartavirya), he was captured without difficulty, and was confined like a wild beast in a corner of his city."

The [[Vayu Purana]] states that Kartavirya invaded [[Lanka]], and there took [[Ravana]] as prisoner, but later he was killed by Parashurama and Ravana was rescued from Arjuna.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dowson|first=John|title=A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, and Religion, Geography, History|publisher=Rupa & Co.|pages=151–2|location=Calcutta|year=1984}}</ref>