Parasurama is an incarnation of Visnu, in human form.

 

Birth.

Parasurama was born as the son of sage Jamadagni of his wife Renuka.

Their asrama was on the shores of the Narmada river.

Renuka, mother of Parasurama, was the daughter of King Prasenajit. She had four sons even before the birth of Parasurama.

Brahmanda Purana, Chapter 58

 

The massacre of the Ksatriyas

The most important event of Parasurama’s life was the total extermination of the Ksatriya race. The Puranic belief is that he went round the world eighteen times to massacre the Ksatriyas.

In many places in the Puranas it is stated that Parasurama fought against the Ksatriyas eighteen times. But in chapter 29 of Asvamedha Parva it is stated that Parasurama fought against the Ksatriyas twentyone times.

There are several stories to explain this revengeful enmity of Parasurama towards the Ksatriyas.

 

Family enmity.

The Hehaya dynasty was the most powerful kingly race then. Parasurama was a descendant of Bhrgu, a brahmin sage. That is why he gets the name Bhargava also.

The Bhargavas were for generations the family preceptors of the Hehaya kings. Taking advantage of their supreme position in the royal palace the Bhargavas accumulated great wealth at the cost of the royal riches. Gradually the Bhargavas rose in prosperity in inverse proportion to the decline of the Hehaya wealth.

It was at the time of Ricika, grandfather of Parasurama that they touched the rock-bottom of their wealth and they found funds lacking even for the day to day administration of the state. In despair they went and requested the Ricikas to lend them some money. But they hid their money and refused to give them anything. The Ksatriya kings got angry and killed the brahmim. What stock was left of them went to the base of the Himalayas.

The wife of Ricika who was pregnant then kept the child in her womb for twelve years afraid to bring forth the child. After that the child came out breaking open the thigh (uru) and so the child was called Aurva. Even at the time of his birth Aurva shone like a brilliant torch and not only that; the child cried aloud

“Oh, wicked Ksatriyas, I will kill every one of you. I heard from my mother’s womb the din of the swords you raised to kill my ancestors. I will never wait for another moment to wreak vengeance on you.”

The fire that emanated from the face of Aurva burnt even Devaloka. Ksatriyas as a class came and prostrated before him. The devas came and requested him to abandon his anger’ and Aurva agreed. The devas picked up the fire sparks from Aurva’s face and .deposited them in the ocean. From those sparks put in the ocean was born Badavagni alias Aurva.

Curse of the sage.

From Aurva was born Jamadagni and from Jamadagni was born Parasurama.

In the race of the Hehayas was born at that time a very valorous king named Kartaviryarjuna. Once Kartaviryarjuna gave a dinner to Agnibhagavan. Agni began to devour all the mountains and forests in the world. The burning was so indiscriminate that it burnt the asrama of a sage named Apava also. The sage cursed Kartaviryarjuna saying that the thousand hands of the latter would be cut off by Pasasurama born in the family of Bhargavas. From that day onwards the atent feud in him lagainst the Bhargavas was roused into action.

Varuna’s ridicule.

Kartaviryarjuna who got a thousand hands by a boon from a sage named Dattatreya subdued all enemies of his status and not satisfied with that he went to the shores of the ocean and challenged Varuna for a fight.

Varuna came before him and very modestly admitted that he was incapable of meeting the challenge thrown and suggested that perhaps Jamadagni’s son, #Parasurama might accept the challenge and give him a fight. Hearing this Kartaviryarjuna turned towards the asrama of Jamadagni on the shores of the Narmada river.

Causes of the war (immediate).

Kartaviryarjuna went for hunting in the forests and feeling exhausted after some time went to the asrama of Jamadagni with his retinue. Jamadagni received them well and with the help of the Kamadhenu (wish-yielding cow) named Susila, Jamadagni gave a sumptuous feast to the King and his followers. When after the meals were over they started to take leave of the sage, Candragupta, a minister of Kartaviryarjuna brought to the notice of the king the superior powers of the Kamadhenu, Susila. The king wanted to get the cow and asked Candragupta to tell the sage about it. Though the minister told Jamadagni about the royal desire the sage refused to part with the cow.

Then the minister with the help of the other royal servants took the cow by force and the sage followed the cow weeping. On the way Candragupta beat Jamadagni to death and brought the cow to the presence of the king. The king was pleased and the royal hunting party returned to the palace happy.

Jamadagni’s wife Renuka went in search of her husband and to her grief found him lying dead. Renuka wept beating her breast twentyone times and by that time her son Parasurama came there and he declared that he would travel round the world twentyone times, the number of times his mother beat her breast, to kill and exterminate the Ksatriyas from this world.

Then the dead body of Jamadagni was placed on a pyre and they were singing Visnugita before placing fire on the pyre when Sukramuni appeared there and brought Jamadagni to life by invoking the art of Mrtasanjivani. By that time Susila somehow escaped from the custody of the King and came there without the calf. Then Parasurama vowed that he would bring the calf soon and taking with him his disciple Akrtavrana he left for the city of Mahismati the abode of Kartaviryarjuna.

There they fought a grim battle and after killing Kartaviryarjuna and many of his followers brought back the calf. To atone for the sin of this massacre Jamadagni advised his son to go and perform penance in Mahendragiri. Taking advantage of the absence of Parasurama from the asrama, Surasena son of Kartaviryarjuna, with his followers went to the asrama of Jamadagni and chopped off his head.

Parasurama returned from Mahendragiri at once and cremated the dead body of his father. Renuka, his mother, jumped into the funeral pyre and abandoned her life. From that moment onwards started Parasurama’s fierce programme of mass massacre of the Ksatriyas.

Victory march.

Parasurama’s world-tour was confined to an all-Bharata tour. The wars of Parasurama are not described in detail in the Puranas. They mention that Parasurama killed the Kings of Cola, Cera and Paundra. To stop the birth of Ksatriyas in future Parasurama destroyed even the embryo in the wombs of Ksatriya women. Then the Bhargava ancestors like Ricika and others came to the sky and requested Parasurama to stop this slaughter.

They said:

“Oh son, Rama, stop this slaughter. What good do you get by killing innocent Ksatriyas ?”

By that time Parasurama had made twentyone rounds around Bharata killing the Ksatriyas.

Chapter 64, Adi Parva;

Chapter 38, Sabha Parva;

Chapter 116, Vana Parva;

Chapter 49, Santi Parva and

10 chapters from chapter 83 of Brahmanda Purana

 

Samantapancaka nirmana.

Samantapancaka is Kuruksetra itself where the great battle was conducted. This is a holy place and it was Parasurama who constructed it. He stored the blood of the Ksatriyas he killed in the twentyone rounds of killing in five lakes in Samantapancaka.

He offered blood to the Manes in those lakes. The Manes led by Ricika appeared before him and asked him to name any boon he wanted. Then Parasurama said,

“Revered Manes, if you are pleased with me you must absolve me from the sin of this mass massacre of the Ksatriyas and declare the five lakes where I have stored their blood as holy.”

The Manes declared,

“Let it be so.”

From then onwards the place became holy under the name Samantapancaka.

At the end of the Dvaparayuga and the beginning of Kaliyuga a great battle lasting for eighteen days took place at this holy place between the Pandavas and the Kauravas.

Maha-bharata, Adi Parva, Chapter 2.

 

Atonement.

To atone for the sin of slaughtering even innocent Ksatriyas, Parasurama gave away all his riches as gifts to brahmins. He invited all the Brahmins to Samantapancaka and conducted a great Yaga there.

The chief Rtvik (officiating priest) of the Yajna was the sage Kasyapa and Parasurama gave all the lands he conquered till that time to Kasyapa. Then a platform of gold ten yards long and nine yards wide was made and Kasyapa was installed there and worshipped.

After the worship was over according to the instructions from Kasyapa the gold platform was cut into pieces and the gold pieces were offered to brahmins.

 

When Kasyapa got all the lands from Parasurama he said thus:

Oh Rama, you have given me all your land and it is now proper for you to live in my soil. You can go to the south and live somewhere on the shores of the ocean there.”

Parasurama walked south and requested the ocean to give him some land to live. Varuna then asked him to throw a winnow into the ocean. There is a legend saying that it was a Parasu that Parasurama threw. Parasurama threw the sieve (surpa) and the ocean gave way to land for a distance where the winnow fell from where he stood. This is the place Surparaka now known as Kerala. (Surpa=Winnowing basket). After giving this land also to the Brahmins, Parasurama went and started doing penance at Mahendragiri.

Adi Parva, Chapter 130

Vana Parva, Chapter 117

Santi Parva, Chapter 49

 

 

 

 

 

Boyhood and education

Parasurama spent his boyhood with his parents in the Arama.

Though Parasurama was a brahmin he had a keen interest on Dhanurvidya, the science of arms.

For obtaining proficiency in archery he went to the Himalayas and did penance to please Siva for many years. Pleased at his penance Siva on several occasions extolled the virtues of Parasurama.

 

At that time the asuras (demons) acquired strength and attacked the devas. who complained to Siva. Mahadeva called Parasurama and asked him to fight and defeat the demons. Parasurama was without weapons and he asked Siva how he could go and fight the demons without weapons.

Siva said:

“Go with my blessings you will kill your foes.”

Parasurama did not wait for a moment. When Siva thus assured him of success, on he went straight to fight with the demons. He defeated the asuras and came back to Siva when the latter gave him many boons and divine weapons.

Till that time his name was only Rama and he became Parasurama because among the weapons given to him by Siva was a weapon named Parasu (an axe).

 

There is a story behind this weapon Parasu.

Once Siva was not invited for a Yajna conducted by Daksa. An angered Siva threw his spike into the Yajna (sacrificial field). The spike spoiled the Yajna and smashed the hall and after that roamed about aimlessly for sometime and then turned towards Badarikasrama where at that time Nara Narayana were engaged in penance. The spike went straight to the heart of sage Narayana. Narayana made the defiant sound “hum” (humkara) and the spike turned away.

Siva felt angry for thus showing disrespect to his spike and he attacked the sage. At once Nararsi plucked a grass and reciting a mantra threw it at Siva. The grass became a parasu (an axe) and attacked Siva. Siva broke it into two. Then Nara Narayanas bowed before him and worshipped him.

Thereafter the two pieces of the Parasu remained with Siva.

It was one of these that Siva gave to Parasurama.

When Parasurama was returning happy and glorious with boons and weapons he got on his way a disciple named Akrtavrana. Guru and disciple lived in an asrama and Parasurama became a noted Guru in dhanurveda (archery).

Chapter 34, Karna Parva;

Chapter 49, Santi Parva and

Chapter 18, Anusasana Parva

 

Cause for incarnation

Once Agni went to Kartaviryarjuna and begged for food. The king allowed him to take from his vast territory as much food as he wanted from anywhere he liked. Agni started burning forests and mountains and consuming them.

Deep inside one of the forests a sage named Apava was performing penance and the fire burnt the asrama of Apava also. Enraged at this the sage cursed thus :

“Kartaviryarjuna is at the root of this havoc. The arrogance of Ksatriyas has increased beyond limits. Visnu would therefore be born on earth as Parasurama to destroy this arrogance of the Ksatriyas.”

Accordingly Visnu was born as Parasurama in the Bhargava race.

Harivamsa, Chapter 40

 

Genealogy

Descending in order from Mahavisnu

Brahma –

Bhrgu –

Cyavana –

Urva –

Ricika –

Jamadagni –

Parasurama.

 

Another version:

Visnu promised Bhumidevi (mother earth) that he would be born on earth as Parasurama when Bhumidevi went to him in the form of a cow and complained to him about the atrocities of the wicked Ksatriya kings.

Brahmanda Purana

 

 

Killing his mother

Parasurama became fourteen years old. Jamadagni went to the forest to gather fruits, roots etc. After completing the cleansing work of the hermitage, leaving Parasurama in the forest, Renuka went to the bank of the river Narmada to fetch water. When she reached the river, Kartaviryarjuna and his wives were playing in water. She waited for them to go. When they were gone she got into the river, but as the water was muddy because of the play, she walked a little to the east where there was pure water.

She saw there Citraratha the King of Salva playing with his wife in the water. She had never seen so beautiful a woman or so handsome a man. She stood there looking at them for a while.

When she reached the hermitage with water, Jamadagni had already returned a long while ago. He had returned weary and tired of the heat of the midday-sun. He did not see his wife in the hermitage. He had been sitting very angry when Renuka returned with water. She put the pot down and bowed before her husband and told him the reason for her being late. When he heard the reason his anger blazed. He called his sons one by one and ordered them to kill her. But the four elder sons did not dare to execute his order saying that slaughter of a woman was a great sin. But Parasurama came forward and by a cutting-arrow cut off the head of his mother. The father called the four sons who disobeyed him and cursed them thus

“Since you have disobeyed the order of your father, because of your ignorance, you shall become foresters and live in forest.”

Being overwhelmed with sorrow at the death of his mother, Parasurama swooned and fell down. When his anger subsided, discretion dawned on Jamadagni. He aroused his son and took him on his lap and asked him what boon he wanted for having accomplished the unaccomplishable task. Parasurama’s request was that his mother should be brought to life again. The hermit was pleased and he brought Renuka to life again.

From Brahmanda Purana, Chapter 60.

 

Meeting Sri Krsna

The Puranas describe two important occasions when Parasurama met Sri Krsna.

The first meeting was at the mountain of Gomanta. Once Sri Krsna and Balarama with a view to enjoying the abundance of Nature went to the beautiful mountain of Gomanta and ascended to its top. On their way they met Parasurama engaged in penance there. They exchanged greetings and talked to each other for some time. Then Parasurama requested Sri Krsna to kill Srgalavasudeva, King of Karavira an the base of that mountain. Sri Krsna promised to do so and left the place carrying with him the blessings of the sage.

The second meeting was when Krsna was going to the court of the Kauravas as a messenger of the Pandavas. On his way Sri Krsna saw a company of sages coming and, alighting from his chariot Krsna talked with them. Parasurama who was in that company then embraced Krsna and said that he should give a true picture of the situation to the Kauravas when he was conducting his mission. The sages blessed Krsna and wished Krsna all success in his mission.

Maha-bharata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 83,

Srimad-Bhagavatam 10th Skandha

 

Other details.

 

Parasurama along with a few other sages was present at the Sabhapravesa of Dharmaputra.

Maha-bharata, Sabha Parva, Chapter 53, Sloka 11

 

Parasurama was present at the court of the Kauravas when Sri Krsna was speaking to Dhrtarastra on behalf of the Pandavas. When the Kauravas did not reply the questions put by Sri Krsna, Parasurama rose up to tell a story to illustrate the evils resulting from the arrogance of man. There was once a King called Dambhodbhava who was very arrogant because of his great strength. He wanted to diffuse his energy by fighting and laboured much to get good opponents and roamed about in search of fighters. One day the Brahmins directed him to Naranarayanas and accordingly Dambhodbhava went to their a’srama at Badarika and challenged them for a fight. They refused to fight and yet the King showered arrows on them. Then the sages took a few blades of the isika grass and threw them at him. They filled the sky as greet missiles and the King begged to be pardoned and prostrated before the sages. They sent back the be fooled King to his palace.

Maha-bharata, Udyoga Parva, Chapter 96

 

Battling with Bhishma

Once a grim battle was waged between Parasurama and Bhisma.

See the full story under under “Amba”.

 

Parasurama sits in the court of Yama.

Maha-bharata, Sabha Parva, Chapter 8, Sloka 19

 

 

Post view 580 times