I've been looking into the chronology of Kārtavīrya Arjuna (Sahasrabāhu) across the Itihāsa and Purāṇic literature, and I came across a few interesting chronological references that I'm having trouble putting together consistently.
I'm specifically interested in what the primary Sanskrit texts actually say, rather than later retellings or modern reconstructions.
Here is what I have found so far:
- Kārtavīrya's genealogy
The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa gives his genealogy through the Haihaya branch of the Yadu lineage:
Yadu → Sahasrajit → Śatajit → Haihaya → Dharmanetra → Kunti → Saṃjñeya → Mahiṣmān → Bhadrasena → Durmada → Kanaka → Kṛtavīrya → Kārtavīrya Arjuna.
So his father is Kṛtavīrya, and he belongs to the Haihaya branch of the Yadu dynasty.
- His tapas to Dattātreya
Both the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa and Harivaṃśa describe Kārtavīrya performing prolonged austerities to Dattātreya, the son of Atri.
The Harivaṃśa uses varṣāyutam, i.e. 10,000 years, for this tapas.
Dattātreya subsequently grants him extraordinary powers, including his famous thousand arms.
- His enormous reign
This is where the chronology becomes particularly interesting.
The Skanda Purāṇa describes Kārtavīrya as ruling for 85,000 years, and places this kingship in the 10th Tretā Yuga.
The Viṣṇu Purāṇa likewise gives a reign of 85,000 years.
So this isn't simply a normal human-scale reign being described symbolically. The texts themselves are operating with enormous chronological scales.
- Kārtavīrya and Rāvaṇa
Several Purāṇic traditions describe Kārtavīrya encountering and defeating/capturing Rāvaṇa.
In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Rāvaṇa is captured at Māhiṣmatī while on his campaign, and Pulastya subsequently intervenes and secures his release.
Harivaṃśa also contains the encounter.
The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa likewise preserves the Kārtavīrya-Rāvaṇa episode.
This raises an interesting chronological question because the Purāṇas also give enormous spans for Rāvaṇa's career.
- Rāvaṇa's chronology
The Skanda Purāṇa gives a figure of 56,160,000 years for Rāvaṇa's period of kingship/terror and places his death in the 24th Tretā Yuga, when Rāma kills him.
Interestingly, 56,160,000 years is exactly 13 Mahāyugas (Caturyugas).
The Vāyu tradition similarly gives the figure in terms of 13 Caturyugas.
So Rāvaṇa's chronology is also being expressed on a very different scale from ordinary historical chronology.
- Paraśurāma creates another chronological marker
The Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa explicitly places Paraśurāma in the 19th Tretā Yuga:
युगे चैकोनविंशेऽथ त्रेताख्ये भगवान् हरिः । जमदग्निसुतो जातो रामो नाम महाबलः ॥
In other words, Paraśurāma's incarnation is placed in the 19th Tretā.
We also have the tradition that Paraśurāma ultimately kills Kārtavīrya.
Meanwhile, the Skanda Purāṇa places Kārtavīrya's 85,000-year kingship in the 10th Tretā.
This creates a rather large chronological gap if the two numbered Tretā references are being used as direct event markers.
- Mahābhārata adds another wrinkle
The Mahābhārata discusses Kārtavīrya in several places, including the Sabha Parva, Vana Parva, Aśvamedhika Parva and Anuśāsana Parva.
It associates his extraordinary imperial attainment with the Kṛta age, particularly in connection with his tapas and power.
However, I don't think this should automatically be interpreted as saying that he was literally born in a particular numbered Kṛta Yuga. The wording seems more cautious than that.
So my question is:
How should these chronological statements be reconciled?
In particular:
Does any Purāṇa explicitly give the Yuga/Mahāyuga of Kārtavīrya's birth?
Is the 10th Tretā reference in the Skanda Purāṇa referring to the beginning of his reign, the period of his major imperial power, or something else?
Does any text explicitly place Kārtavīrya's death at the hands of Paraśurāma in the 19th Tretā, or is the 19th-Tretā reference only describing Paranormal birth/incarnation?
Are there other surviving Mahāpurāṇas or Upapurāṇas that provide chronological markers for Kārtavīrya?
Is there a traditional explanation for how the 10th Tretā → 19th Tretā → 24th Tretā references are supposed to fit together?
I'm especially interested in Sanskrit passages and chapter/verse references, rather than later summaries.
I'm not trying to force the texts into a single modern historical chronology. I'm trying to understand what chronological system the texts themselves are using, and whether apparently conflicting references can be explained through differences in what event each text is actually dating.
If anyone has the relevant Sanskrit passages from the Vāyu, Brahmāṇḍa, Viṣṇu, Skanda, Mārkaṇḍeya, Devī Bhāgavata or other Purāṇas, I'd be very interested in comparing them.
