Sri Rajarajeshwara Temple, Maheshwar - A temple for Kartaviryarjuna

The Rajarajeshwar Temple, Maheshwar

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to visit the Rajwada of Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar in Maheswar. After a sunset boat ride, basking in the beauty of the Narmada by dusk, we visited the temples along the riverfront, the Ahilyeswar temple built by and named after Queen Ahilyabai and the ancient Rajarajeshwar temple, renovated by her. Initially I thought this was yet another temple of Lord Shiva. However, only after going there, did I find that it was a temple where King Kartaviryarjuna had installed a Shiva Linga named after him, an extremely interesting temple with loads of legends attached to it.

The shrine of Rajarajeshwara

As a child, I remembered my grandmother asking us to pray to Kartaviryarjuna to recover or find a lost item. She  would ask us to chant                  

                                              "Om Kartaviryarjuno Nama Raja Baahu Sahasravan 

                                                Thasya Smarana Mathrena Gatham Nashtam Cha Labyathe"

I would always be intrigued why we prayed to him and she would say because he had a thousand arms, he would easily be able to find out what we lost. And every time we eventually would find what we lost, as if by magic. This temple visit really made me know so much more about him.

The Lineage of Kartaviryarjuna

Kartaviryarjuna was a descendent of Yadu, after whom the Yadavas came to be called. Yadu, the son of Yayati, had four sons, Sahastrajith, the grandfather of Haihaya after whom the Haihaya dynasty is named and Krosta, who was the forefather of Lord Krishna, Nala and Nakusha. According to Vishnu Purana, the fifth generation descendent of Haihaya was Mahishman, who founded the city of Mahismathi (the Maheshwar of Today). 

The great-grandson of Mahishman was Kritavirya, who had a son called Arjuna. As the son of Kritavirya, he came to be called Kartaviryarjuna. According to the Narada Purana, the Sudharshana Chakra of Lord Vishnu had become arrogant that he was in fact the most powerful as he was responsible for destroying all the evil on behalf of Sriman Narayana. Angered by his arrogance, Lord Vishnu cursed him to be born as a mortal on earth. Repentent, Sudharshana begged for relief. Lord Vishnu promised him that at the right time, he himself would come down to the earth to retrieve him and hence Sudharshana Chakra was born as Kartaviryarjuna.

As a young prince, Kartaviryarjuna was an ardent devotee of Dattatreya. He spent several days in meditating on him. Pleased with his devotion, Dattatreya blessed him with a thousand arms (depicting the thousand blades on the Sudharshana Chakra), victory in warfare and over all the worlds and finally death in the hands of a Mahapurusha. This led him to be called Sahasrabahu or Sahasrabahu Arjuna.

The shrine of Kartaviryarjuna in the Rajarajeswara Temple

The creation of Sahasradhara and the defeat of Ravana

Kartaviryarjuna started winning over all the worlds and ruled them justly. He is said to have performed 16,000 yagnas. Initially, everything went well. He built temples and choultries. He installed Lord Shiva on the banks of the holy river Narmada and worshipped him with water brought from the river each day. He also built a shrine for his guru Dattatreya. Over time, when he found that there was no one brave or strong enough to oppose him, success, glory and fame got to his head. He turned arrogant, torturing Brahmins, Rishis and sages and anyone who dared to stand up to him.

One day, Kartaviryarjuna was bathing in the river Narmada, with his wives. He was intoxicated and in a mood to have fun. To demonstrate his power, he blocked the flow of the river with his thousand arms. This caused the river to backflow and create thousands of streams, that are even today called Sahasradhara. Just at that time, a young Ravana was trying to do his morning pujas on the banks of the Narmada. Startled by the unusual swelling and reversing of the river, and the thousands of craters it was causing in the river bed, he ran to see what was happening. When he found a drunk Kartaviryarjuna blocking the river with his thousand arms, he fell upon him with an attempt to fight him.

Sahasradhara believed to have been created by Kartaviryarjuna 
Photo: Google

But even in his state of intoxication, Ravana was no match to the mighty Kartaviryarjuna. Tying him up like a monkey with his multiple hands, he brought him back to the palace. Local folklores say he was locked up in a cage like an animal, others say he was tied to the cradle of the little prince, with the task of rocking him to sleep. They also say that Kartaviryarjuna lit lamps on all ten heads and the cupped hands of Ravana (11 in all) and made him a human lamp stand behind Lord Shiva in the Rajarajeswara temple. Finally, Sage Pulastya, the grandfather of Ravana, had to approach Kartaviryarjuna to request him to let go of his grandson, to which he readily agreed.

Incurring the wrath of Parashurama

One day, Kartaviryarjuna and his soldiers went hunting in the forest. They went deep into the forest pursuing a tiger and by the time they were done for the day, it had got quite dark. Unable to find their way out, they wandered around, desperate to find some food and shelter for the night. Soon, they found Sage Jamadagni's ashram. The sage welcomed them warmly and fed them a large dinner. Surprised he was able to do so in the forest within such humble dwellings, Kartaviryarjuna asked him how he had done so.

The sage mentioned he was in possession of a divine cow called Kamadhenu, which could grant any of his wishes. The King immediately desired to take possession of the divine cow. He offered ten million cows or even half of his kingdom, in return for the cow. However, the sage refused to part with his cow. So he ordered his minister Chandragupta, to take the cow by force. The minister and his men chopped off the head of Jamadagni and carried the cow and calf to the palace. Not able to find her husband, Renuka, the wife of Jamadagni came to find him and saw what had happened. She wailed, beating her breast twenty-one times, calling out to her son Parashurama, who was none other than an incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself. 

Parashurama rushed to the spot and swore to travel the world twenty-one times, killing all Kshatriyas who came along his path. (Some puranas say Renuka prayed to Sukra, who revived Sage Jamadagni by chanting the Mrtasanjivini mantra and then Shurasena, the son of Karthaviryarjuna, chopped off his head again and carried it away so that he could not be revived)

Parashurama went to the palace to retrieve the cow. He carried the axe given to him by Lord Shiva and confronted Kartaviryarjuna. In the conflict that ensued, Parashurama chopped off the thousand arms of Kartaviryarjuna and finally dealt a heavy blow on his neck.

Knowing he would not be able to survive, Kartaviryarjuna surrendered the Kamadhenu and its calf to Parashurama. He asked to be moved to the temple of Rajarajeshwara, where he sought repentence for his acts to his guru Dattatreya and Lord Shiva. He sought a boon from Lord Shiva that he should always be remembered. Lord Shiva gave him a boon that whenever anyone was in need of finding their lost property they would be able to do so by remembering Kartaviryarjuna which stands true to this day. His soul then is said to have merged with the Lord.

Parashurama killing Kartaviryarjuna to avenge the death of his father
(Photo: Wikipedia -  Unknown author )

 The temple

The centuries-old temple has been revived and rebuilt by Queen Ahilya Bai Holkar. There are seperate shrines for Ganesha, Lord Shiva, Lord Rama, Kartaviryarjuna, Dattatreya, and Suryanarayana and other small shrines. 

Suryanarayana shrine at the Rajarajeshwara temple

The eleven monolithic Akhanda Deepas

The most notable feature of the temple are the eleven ghee lamps (Akhanda Nanda Deepas) burning perpetually behind the Lord Rajarajeshwara in the sanctum sanctorum. They are believed to be burning from the time of Kartaviryarjuna, a reminder of the eleven lamps lit on the heads and hands of Ravana when he was captured. Donations of ghee are received from devotees to keep these lamps burning night and day.

While seven lamps are visible from outside the sanctum, four more are seen with the help of a mirror strategically placed to enable visitors to view them.

The shrine of Rajarajeswara with the Akhanda Deepas burning behind
Photo : Google

Festivals

Shukla Sapthami in the month of Karthigai is considered the birthday of Sahasrabahu Arjuna. The entire city of Maheshwar erupts into festivities every year during this time to celebrate the life and times of their king. Processions are taken out in the streets with his images and a great deal of pomp and show for three days, ending with a huge community feast.

Temple Timings

5 am to 12 pm and 4 pm to 9 pm

Thanks to Mantra Yatra for this lovely visit to Madhya Pradesh temples.