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Monday, July 19, 2010

HISTORY OF SAHASTRABAHU



The word Sahasra virtually means a thousand. For many it means the dominance of emperor Arjun over the evil. In mythological art, the pictorial expression of the strength of Gods is depicted with multiple hands and brain power with multiple heads. There are other explanations on the expression of strength of Sahasrarjun in the form of fables and mythical tales. It is the subject of this article. The illustrations presented here are designed in the interest of youngsters, who have little or no direct contact with the main core TAMRAKAR community. However, for reading the text the parents guidance may be required. Hopefully it will arouse curiosity in them over the glories of our past. Pictorially we have presented ten pairs of hands to represent the thousand hands of Sahasrarjun following the original painting by Shri Kale of Gadag. He was inspired by the scriptures on Sahasrarjun on the war front described in Bagvat puraan.
Great emperor Sahasrarjun, the patriarch, ruled the kingdom of Mahismati, the region of Maheshwar in the state of Madya Pradesh, India. He was a well-known Kshatriya warrior, who stood out of other brave heroes of puraans, for his great strength. Sahasrarjun stories have been depicted differently in puraans. Many folklore’s and fables describing his greatness have been passed on for generations. It is mostly from word of mouth. Their interpretations, however, vary in different regions. The fables described here have been collected by personal interviews with the few leaders of the TAMRAKAR community by the author.


Our story begins from the heaven.Resident God Vishnu destroyer of evil, is generally identified by the weapon Chakra. This Chakra symbol adorns his right hand index finger. Pictorially it is shown as a very powerful, sharply spiked, spinning wheel. It spins fast This weapon represents God Chakradeva, the destroyer of evil elements of humanity. The Chakra sometimes in the form of wheel is used as a logo to symbolize our Sahasrarjun heritage. The wheel that represents Chakra is symbolically used in the figures or the book covers of the religious books related to Sahasrarjun.


God Vishnu at the appropriate time sent Chakaradeva to earth as one of his 26 avaatars. That is when there was no peace on earth due to turmoil caused by the rakshas or evil disruptors of the society. He descended to earth to eliminate the rakshasas and disruptors and become great emperor Sahasrarjun.



For generations it has been told that young Kartavirya after becoming the ruler of Mahismati, for the betterment of and for expansion of his kingdom to the four corners of the earth, sought the advice of the elders. Then he went on a quest for peace to a mountain top to pray to the God Dattatreya.


He prayed to him for peace and strength with deep devotion. Dattatreya became his mentor as well as his guru (teacher) and guided him during his entire life.



Dattatreya finally appeared and blessed his devotee with a thousand powerful hands. Mighty Sahasrarjun then conquered all the known and unknown oversea kingdoms. In reference to his powerful hands Sahasrarjun is addressed as Sahasrabahu, Sahasrabujhadhari etc.. He is also referred to as Rajarajeshwar, Kartavirya, Kartyviryarjun, Kritaviryanandan, Parakrami Arjun, Haihayaraja, Dashagrivajayi, Nagapal etc. He was known to be one of the seven greatest emperors that had ever lived.
Ganesh Puraan scriptures describe infant Kartavirya at birth as having no limbs.

Thousands of years ago, due to political and social uncertainties, sahastrabahu migrants from Madyapradesh settled in the Erandon area of Khanadesh where this folklore originated. At Erandon Barhanapur Ganesh lake, in the Ganesh temple, the priest pointed at the paintings. He explained that here on the lake front, Kartavirya’s parents were concerned. They carried their baby Kartavirya with no hands and prayed regularly to God Dattatreya, who then blessed the baby with the thousand hands. Kartavirya came to be known as Sahasrarjun.


Many interpret Sahasra represents hands of Sahasrarjun holding many weapons, expressing his knowledge in different war skills,Artist Kale placed imaginary weapons derived from the mythological depictions in Sahasrarjun’s hands. The author Shri Ajore Sinha of Hai Haya descent in his descriptive verses on Sahasrarjun strength also portrayed many weapons.


Sahasrarjun was accompanied by 500 humongous brave body guards serving him around the clock. Their collective 1000 powerful hands represented another source of his power.


Sahasrarjun had 500 spouses. Their thousand hands also represented his greater strength. Undoubtedly he must have been a patient diplomat to shoulder multiple domestic situations.


Thousand hands, presumably symbolic, represented his superhuman strength. It is common sense that he was a thousand times more powerful. As an example in a duel with fierce Ravana, he defeated the demon effortlessly. Ravana had a mighty physique with 10 pairs of strong hands and ten large heads.

31 comments:

  1. ØãÌããà Ôãñ ‡ãŠÖãñ ֽ㠇ãŠÊããÊã, ‡ãŠÊããÀ ‡ãŠÊãÌããÀ Öõý

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  2. garva se kaho kalal kalar kalvar hai

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  3. jai Sahasrarjun bagwan ki .......... The one of the branches of kalar community is Zaria kalar branch... They are mostly residents of Balaghat dist of MP and Bhandara, Gondia and Nagpur Dist of Maharastra. They do have unique dialect which is the combination of Marath, Hindi, Rajasthani, Chhattisgarhi and Bhojpur. The various surnames are as follows
    Borikar, Sonbhadre, Bajanghate, Kekate, Baghmar(Waghmare)Sonwane, Sonekae, Sarvey, Sonbarase, Hirwane, Bagresh, Malghate,etc.

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  4. jai Sahasrarjun bagwan ki .......... The one of the branches of kalar community is Zaria kalar branch... They are mostly residents of Balaghat dist of MP and Bhandara, Gondia and Nagpur Dist of Maharastra. They do have unique dialect which is the combination of Marath, Hindi, Rajasthani, Chhattisgarhi and Bhojpur. The various surnames are as follows
    Borikar, Sonbhadre, Bajanghate, Kekate, Baghmar(Waghmare), Sonwane, Sonekar, Sarvey, Sonbarase, Hirwane, Bagresh, Malghate,etc.

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  5. Epic post dear brother, keep up the good work.

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  6. haihaivanshi tamrkar samaj


    jai shastrajun maharaj k

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  7. Amit tamrakar main market birsinghpur satna mp.

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  8. satyam verma : i feel very glad to know above given....

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  9. I am glad you find it good and informative..

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  10. i wish you all on Sahastrarjun Jayanti

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  11. The tamrakar community is brother community of Somvanshi Sahastrarjun Kshatriya community which is in large number in south India. Especially, in Karnataka, Maharashtra , Andra. We also worship sahastrarjun. We are locally called by the name "savji". Email me if you need to know more. I think the tamrakar and the savji ( Somvanshi Sahastrarjun Kshatriya) community were same familes many years back and separated during the Muslim rule. We are mostly settled in south India.

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  12. if any help some one for his/her dauther marrige thn pls contact us

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    Replies
    1. We are looking for a bride from Sahastrabahu vansaj community.

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  13. can anybody clarify me ,if sahashrabaahu is a great emperor so why parashuram kill him and all his sons ,,,,,.....see the link given below


    http://hi.bharatdiscovery.org/w/index.php?title=%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%81_%E0%A4%94%E0%A4%B0_%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AE&redirect=no

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  14.       हैहय कुलश्रेष्ठ महाराज श्री सहस्त्रबाहु का जन्म कार्तिक शुक्ल पक्ष पूर्णमासी चंद्रवार को कृतिका नक्षत्र में हुआ था। आपकी जन्म - जयन्ती समाज में अगहन सुदी अस्टमी को मनाये जाने का प्रचलन है। इस कारण आपकी जन्म तिथि पर और शोध करने की आवश्यकता है। आपके हैहय कुल भूषण ही श्री मदभागवत के स्कन्द 09 अध्याय 15 में निम्न प्रकार से वर्णन है:- 

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  15.       हैहय कुलश्रेष्ठ महाराज श्री सहस्त्रबाहु का जन्म कार्तिक शुक्ल पक्ष पूर्णमासी चंद्रवार को कृतिका नक्षत्र में हुआ था। आपकी जन्म - जयन्ती समाज में अगहन सुदी अस्टमी को मनाये जाने का प्रचलन है। इस कारण आपकी जन्म तिथि पर और शोध करने की आवश्यकता है। आपके हैहय कुल भूषण ही श्री मदभागवत के स्कन्द 09 अध्याय 15 में निम्न प्रकार से वर्णन है:- 

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  16.    यमाहुर्वाषु देवांश हैहय नां फुर्लात्कम।

          हैहया नामी धिपतिरर्जुन :क्षत्रियर्षम।।

    भावार्थ :- महाराजा ययाति के यहाँ वासुदेव के अंश से हैहय नामक पुत्र हुआ। जिनके वंश में कार्तवीर्यार्जुन क्षत्रिय हुए है।
                   श्री कार्तवीर्यार्जुन ने दस हजार वर्षो की कठिन तपस्या के पश्चात् श्री भगवान् दत्तात्रेय से दस (10) वरदान प्राप्त किये, वे वरदान निम्न प्रकार से है:-

    1-ऐश्वर्य शक्ति प्रजा पालन के योग्य हो, किन्तु अधर्म न बन जावे।
    2- दूसरो के मन की बात जानने का ज्ञान हो।
    3- युद्ध में कोई समानता न कर सके।
    4- युद्ध के समय सस्त्र भुजाएं प्राप्त हो, उनका तनिक भी भार न लगे।
    5-पर्वत, आकाश, जल, पृथ्वी और पाताल में अव्याहत गति हो।
    6-मेरी मृत्यु अधिक श्रेष्ठ के हाथो से हो।  
    7-कुमार्ग में प्रवृत्ति होने पर सन्मार्ग का उपदेश प्राप्त हो।
    8-श्रेष्ठ अतिथि नी निरंतर प्राप्ति होती रहे।
    9-निरंतर दान से धन न घटे।
    10-स्मरण मात्र से धन का आभाव दूर हो जाये एवं भक्ति बनी रहे।

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  17. Can anyone tell abt our Rajasthan connection?

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  18. Can anyone tell abt our Rajasthan connection?

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  19.    यमाहुर्वाषु देवांश हैहय नां फुर्लात्कम।

          हैहया नामी धिपतिरर्जुन :क्षत्रियर्षम।।

    भावार्थ :- महाराजा ययाति के यहाँ वासुदेव के अंश से हैहय नामक पुत्र हुआ। जिनके वंश में कार्तवीर्यार्जुन क्षत्रिय हुए है।
                   श्री कार्तवीर्यार्जुन ने दस हजार वर्षो की कठिन तपस्या के पश्चात् श्री भगवान् दत्तात्रेय से दस (10) वरदान प्राप्त किये, वे वरदान निम्न प्रकार से है:-

    1-ऐश्वर्य शक्ति प्रजा पालन के योग्य हो, किन्तु अधर्म न बन जावे।
    2- दूसरो के मन की बात जानने का ज्ञान हो।
    3- युद्ध में कोई समानता न कर सके।
    4- युद्ध के समय सस्त्र भुजाएं प्राप्त हो, उनका तनिक भी भार न लगे।
    5-पर्वत, आकाश, जल, पृथ्वी और पाताल में अव्याहत गति हो।
    6-मेरी मृत्यु अधिक श्रेष्ठ के हाथो से हो।  
    7-कुमार्ग में प्रवृत्ति होने पर सन्मार्ग का उपदेश प्राप्त हो।
    8-श्रेष्ठ अतिथि नी निरंतर प्राप्ति होती रहे।
    9-निरंतर दान से धन न घटे।
    10-स्मरण मात्र से धन का आभाव दूर हो जाये एवं भक्ति बनी रहे।

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