R defeated.

 Kartavirya Arjuna once went to bathe in the Narmada River with his wives. Meanwhile, Ravana, the king of Lanka, also came to the Narmada with his ministers. They were more upstream than Arjuna.

“My Lord, you are very powerful. But I want to test your strength,” one of Arjuna’s wives said jokingly.

“What would you like me to do,” Arjuna asked.

“Stop the flow of the river. If you can do this, you are truly the most powerful person alive,” his wife asked of him.

Arjuna sat in the middle of the river and raised his arms. He concentrated hard. Soon, the river flow completely stopped. With the flow of the river stopped, the water level rose and the water started going on to the shores. The small islands started getting submerged.

Upstream, Ravana was praying on the shore. Suddenly, strong waves of water started washing onto the shore. They ran along the shoreline to find out the cause of this. They saw Arjuna sitting in the middle of the river with his arms blocking all the water. Seeing a thousand arms on the king, the ministers were slightly scared. They went back to Ravana.

Ravana opened his eyes from his prayers and realized the water rising. He looked at his ministers and saw scared expressions on their faces. He realized that this was the work of someone powerful.

“Why are you just standing there, you fools. Tell me what happened!” Ravana barked at his ministers.

“Your majesty. A th…thousand-armed king has stopped the river,” his ministers replied, pointing down the river.

Ravana immediately knew that it was Kartavirya Arjuna. He picked up his mace and got on his Pushpaka Vimana. “Forward!” Ravana screamed, commanding the vehicle to go to Arjuna.

Ravana saw Arjuna drying himself and bellowed. “Just because you can stop a river doesn’t mean you are powerful. If you’re actually powerful, then fight me!” Ravana bellowed.

“Ravana! I will fight you. Get down from your chariot, or are you a coward?” Arjuna said, smiling.

Ravana jumped down from his Pushpaka Vimana with his mace in his hand. Arjuna instantly grabbed his mace and met Ravana’s blow. The two continued fighting for a long time. Arjuna’s queens and Ravana’s ministers watched, horrified. After a fierce fight, Arjuna managed to make Ravana unconscious. Arjuna captured Ravana and took him back to Mahishmati. Arjuna imprisoned Ravana.

A few days later, Sage Pulatsya (one of the mind-born sons of Brahma and Ravana’s grandfather) came to Mahishmati.

“Arjuna, I have heard that you defeated my grandson and you have him imprisoned here,” Pulatsya said. “I am sure that he has learned his lesson and will never pick a fight with you again. Please let him go.”

Arjuna willingly let Ravana go. Ravana went back to Lanka on his Pushpaka Vimana after receiving many gifts from Arjuna