{"id":74117,"date":"2025-06-09T01:01:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T19:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/?p=74117"},"modified":"2025-06-08T19:01:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T13:31:45","slug":"parasurama-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/parasurama-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Parasurama"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/parasuramaramayana.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-74118 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/parasuramaramayana-300x188.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/parasuramaramayana-300x188.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/parasuramaramayana-80x50.webp 80w, https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/parasuramaramayana.webp 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parasurama<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">The day was beautiful and the sun was high in the sky. Everything seemed to express happiness and absence of problems. Sita and Rama, contemplating each other, were talking about a thousand things. But even in that moment of joy, danger was lurking. It is probably the very nature of this world: the innocence of each step hides a potential danger. Suddenly a strong wind rose and the sky darkened: the horses, frightened, neighed loudly. Dasaratha looked at Sumantra.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">\u201cThis is not a normal storm. The day is calm and a few moments ago there was not a breath of wind. There are many signs that portend danger.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Sumantra, too, felt the anxiety build up in him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;Yes, it&#8217;s true. Something is about to happen. Let&#8217;s watch.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Suddenly, it got dark. Thunder broke out and a moment later daylight came back. Illuminated by a light of glory, Parasurama, the divine incarnation that had exterminated all the races of kshatriyas twenty-one times, stood before them, firmly holding his axe in his mighty hand. His eyes were fiery; his figure and even his very name terrified any warrior. Parasurama had stopped in the middle of the path and prevented them from continuing their journey. The soldiers of Dasaratha trembled with fear, because they well knew the fame of the invincible Parasurama. The brahmanas murmured:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">\u201cWhat will Jamadagni&#8217;s son want from us? Will he perhaps want to restart the extermination of the kshatriyas? His revenge was done a long time ago; what could he want from us?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Dasaratha promptly got off the chariot and offered all honors to the brahmana who one day adopted the life of the warrior. But it was evident that Parasurama had a very specific purpose to stop the king&#8217;s column. And his voice was heard, resolute, solemn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;Where is your son Rama?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Rama took a step forward and bowed his head in respect. Parasurama looked at him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;You have committed the sacrilege of breaking Shiva&#8217;s bow, and I must punish you for it.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Dasaratha was terrified. He tried to speak to the mighty brahmana, but he ignored him: he had eyes only for Rama.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;There is a bow similar to the one you broke,&#8221; Parasurama continued. \u201cThose two bows were made by Visvakarma and served in the fight that was to decide who was the strongest between Vishnu and Shiva. I don&#8217;t understand how you could have broken that bow, but I want to see if you can even hold the other one in your hand.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">With a deafening roar, Vishnu&#8217;s weapon appeared in Parasurama&#8217;s hand. He handed it to the prince, serene despite the looming danger. Rama took it effortlessly, looking at it calmly, devoid of any anxiety. Parasurama was amazed: how could that young prince, after breaking Shiva&#8217;s bow, hold Vishnu&#8217;s in his hand? Then he understood: only Vishnu himself could do such a thing. And the two disappeared from everyone&#8217;s sight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;You are the Supreme Lord Vishnu incarnate on earth,&#8221; Parasurama prayed with folded hands. &#8220;Forgive my impudence: I didn&#8217;t know who you really were.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Rama placed an arrow on the bow and stretched the string.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">\u201cOnce nocked, this arrow can no longer be retracted. It has to hit and destroy something. Tell me, what do you want me to destroy?&#8221; Rama asked firmly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">&#8220;Destroy the planets I&#8217;ve come to deserve for my austerities,&#8221; was the answer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">And the terrible arrow went off and destroyed those planets. Offering his obeisances to Rama, the brahmana disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\">Finally, Dasaratha saw his son reappear, but he could not understand how he had escaped such danger. Soon after, they left and arrived in Ayodhya. Their arrival was celebrated by the people waiting for them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: #0000ff;\">This is a section of the book \u201cThe Ramayana\u201d, in English.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">To buy the complete book,<\/span><span class=\"apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kadachaeditions.com\/art\/ramayana-english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">click here<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parasurama The day was beautiful and the sun was high in the sky. Everything seemed to express happiness and absence of problems. Sita and Rama, contemplating each other, were talking about a thousand things. But even &hellip; <a class=\"kt-excerpt-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/parasurama-4\/\" aria-label=\"Parasurama\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":74118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,189],"tags":[223],"class_list":["post-74117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-kadacha-eng","tag-ramayana-eng"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 08:12:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isvara.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}