According to Bhāgavatapurāṇa (Bhagavatapurana), in Kaliyuga, a man called Arhat ruled in the regions called Koṅka (Konka), Veṅka (Venka) and the like. In Purāṇa, Arhat is described as an unrighteous and evil-minded king. In Bhāgavatapurāṇa it is described that in Satyayuga Rajarṣi (Rajarshi; a king with the attributes of a sage) Ṛṣabhadeva rejected Caturāśrama (Chaturasrma; the four phases of life observed by the Aryans, according to the Vedic scriptures) and instead observed Ajagaravṛtti (Ajagaravritti) , while living in these places — Koṅka (Konka), Veṅka (Venka) and Kūṭaka (Kutaka). In Kaliyuga, Arhat, the king of this land, heard about the life-story of Ṛṣabhadeva and thought that this kind of lifestyle, without Caturāśrama, should be observed by the common people. The king himself rejected Āśramadharma, and started preaching that it is true dharma to discard Āśramadharma (Asramadharma; the code of observing the four phases of life).
From this Paurāṇika legend, it can be said that Arhat in general refers to a Buddhist monk. Probably in the Paurāṇika strain of anti-Buddhist thoughts, Arhat is called an evil-minded king. Since the Buddhists did not observe Caturāśrama, he has been described as a preacher against the Āśramadharma.