When did he appear?
The Maha-bharata says:
“At the end of Treta and at the beginning of Dvapara Yuga, the greatest of all that ever wielded arms, Parasurama, being impatient of wrongs, repeatedly destroyed all the Ksatriya races of the world.”
Adi Parva, Parva Sangraha Parva, Adhyaya 2, verse 3
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 latent feud in him against 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 happily.
Jamadagni’s wife Renuka went in search of her husband and to her grief found him lying dead. Renuka wept beating her breast twenty-one times and by that time her son Parasurama came there and he declared that he would travel around the world twenty-one 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 program of mass massacre of the Ksatriyas.
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