Parashurama, the sixth incarnation (Avatar) was born in a Sage family. Jamadagni, a Saptarishi was his father and Renuka, the mother. Bhargava Parashurama is the symbol of will-power and strength. He abolished every Kshatriya from the earth. Being a Brahmin, no one expected such a powerful act from Parashurama. He is mainly characterized by his weapon, Axe. It was given to him by Lord Shiva after a long penance.
Parashurama was born in the month of Vaisakha during the Shukla paksha Tritiya. Vishnu took this Avatar to kill all selfish and cruel monarchs. It is believed that he still lives on the earth. So he is not widely worshipped. But there is a temple in Uduppy, in which Parashurama is treated as a God. He was the mentor of Bhishma, Drona and Karna. There is also a story that it was him who regained the land of Kerala which was under the sea.This year’s Parashurama Jayanti comes on 20th April.
More about Parashurama
Parashurama was born near today’s Maheswar. Rucheeka, the grandfather of Parashuram was the member of Bhargava gotra and was the son of Bhrigu, a great sage. One day he was wandering the countryside in search of a bride. There were two prominent Vamsa that time. One, the Surya Vamsha (solar dynasty) and the other Chandra Vamsha (lunar dynasty). Gadhi, the King was born in Lunar Dynasty. He had a beautiful daughter, Satyavathi. At last, the sage reached the Darbar of Gadhi. King and his daughter received him with enough respect. He was attracted to the beauty of Satyavathi. On the time of departure, Rucheeka asked the King for her daughter to have her as his wife. But he was not ready to give her to a Sage. Saying no to a great Rishi was also difficult. Hence, Gadhi agreed on a condition. He told the monk to get thousand horses with one black ear and white body. Only after doing that, he would get Satyavathi as his wife. He agreed and went for a while.
Rucheeka was a sage. So he started penancing Varuna. After the hard action, Varuna appeared and full filled his wish. Thus, he married Satyavathi by giving those horses to the King.
Satyavathi was a loyal wife. She served her husband well and adjusted to the ascetic life. But after a long time she had no child. There was no son for her father and mother to wear the crown the next time. These two things worried her a lot.
After seeing the sad face of her loving wife, Rucheeka asked what the matter was. She explained everything. Then the sage gave her two bottles of liquid medicines. One for her mother to have a warrior son and other for herself to get a great sage as their child. But the Queen, her mother didn’t believe her and her husband. That’s why she exchanged the bottles and drank the one which was meant for Satyavathi. Both ladies became pregnant. Day by day, Rucheeka’s wife seemed sadder. Again he enquired what the reason was. She described all the incidents and added that we would have a warrior son. She pleaded to the sage to have a sage as their son and make this warrior their grandchild. Rucheeka agreed and that was how the great Sapta Rishi Jamadagni and the fearless warrior of all time, Parashurama was born.
Birth
Actually, the birthplace of Parashurama is a topic of controversy. Anyway, he was born to Jamadagni and Renuka. They had 4 other sons apart from Parashurama. They were Vasu, Viswa Vasu, Brihudyanu, and Brutwakanwa. Jamadagni was a devotee of Brahmin. Vishnu himself took birth in the womb of Renuka. They called him with the name Rama or Rambhadra.
A Story about Rama’s Obedience, Affection and Devotion
One day, Renuka went to a river to water in a clay pot. Some Gandharvas passed through the sky while she was collecting water. In a moment’s time, Renuka looked at them with a pinch of desire. Within that time, the pot flowed away from her hand. She was bewildered and stood on the bank.
Jamadagni was worried not to see her wife after a long time. He meditated for a while and understood everything with cognition. The furious sage called his eldest son and gave an axe in his hand. Then he asked him to kill his mother. But the poor boy refused it. Jamadagni cursed and transform him into a stone. Then he called upon the 3 boys and asked the same. Three of them refused to do and became a stone. It was the time for Parashurama. He was very obedient and took the axe in hand. Then came the dreadful incident. With a heavy heart, he beheaded his mother.
Jamadagni was pleased to see his obedient son and asked two boons. The little boy asked his father to give life to his mother and brothers. Hence, they raised again.
Getting Weapons from Lord Shiva and Indra
Sri Parashurama left home to worship Lord Shiva. Seeing his prayer, meditation and devotion, the Lord gifted him with an incredible axe (Parashu). That was how Raman became Parashu Raman. After giving this gift, Shiva challenged his disciple for a fight. The war longed for twenty-one days. Guru was very happy to see his disciple’s fighting skills. At the end of the war, Parashurama threw the axe towards Shiva in return to his Trishul. It made a wound on Shiva’s forehead which he preserved in his face as an award to Parashurama. So Shiva is also called Khanda- Parashu (hurt by axe).
During his mission to wipe out every Kshatriya from the world (and as a revenge since Karthaveerarjuna killed Jamadagni), he chopped all the thousand hands of Karthaveerarjuna or Sahasrarjuna and killed him at last. All the countrymen were happy to hear the news about Sahasrarjun’s death. King of Devas, Indra was also pleased. So he gave his powerful bow Vijaya to Rama. Indra had killed many demons with that bow. Rama also made use of it in his Kshatriya-killing-saga. Later he gave it to Karna seeing his devotion towards the Guru. Karna fought against the army of Pandava in Kurukshetra war. Due to that bow, he remained undefeated.
Holocaust of the entire Kshatriya
The very first reason, Rama killed all the Kshatriya was that a Kshatriya (Sahasrarjun) killed his father. Secondly, Lord Shiva, his Guru asked him to kill every untruthful Kshatriya. Above all Vishnu took birth as Parashurama to kill all worst monarchs and make the mother earth to be free.
After killing Karthaveerarjuna, he rounded the world and killed every king. Hence, he conquered the land owned by them. After killing everyone, he conducted Ashmavedha sacrifice which was usually done by sovereign empires to get rid of the sin he committed. Then he distributed the land he conquered to the Brahmins who took part in the sacrifice. By seeing the living of North Indian Brahmins, he gave the remaining land to them.
Formation of Kerala
After distributing the land to Brahmins, he went to Gokarna for meditation. By sitting there, he achieved the blessings of Varuna (God of Sea) and the Goddess of earth. From there, he travelled to reach Kanyakumari. Then he threw his powerful weapon, the axe towards North (Gokarna). The place between Gokarna and Kanyakumari were hidden in sea. But soon after Rama threw his weapon, sea parted sideways and land became visible. This was a popular story among Keralaites about how their land was formed. Hence, Kerala is also called Parashurama Kshethram which means the land of Parashurama. After the incident, he brought 64 Brahmin families there in order to oppress the domination of Kshatriya.
Mentions in Epics
Parashurama is mentioned in both of our epics.
Ramayana
In Ramayan, there is a seen in which two of the incarnation of Vishnu saw each other. One was Sri Rama as we all know and the other was Parashurama. King Janaka got a bow of Lord Shiva from his favourite disciple Parashuram for the Swayamvar of Sita. Sita was the daughter of Janaka. A test were made to find a powerful groom to her. Those who lift and tie the string of the bow could marry her. This was the demand. Thrayambaka, the bow was very heavy and there were the need of many people to lift it. It was believed that no one could do it. But Sri Ram did it and by his force that bow had been broken with a bombastic sound. After the marriage both bride and groom with the relatives were on the way to Ayodhya. This was the time the angry Parashuram appeared before them. He wanted to see the man who broke his Guru’s bow. After seeing Sri Rama, Parashurama challenged her for a battle. But brilliant Rama told that he is a disciple of Parashurama. With the brilliance he pacified the furious mind of Parashurama. So a dreadful battle was cleared out. Then Parashurama blessed both Rama and Sita. He was very fond of Sita. Hence, he blessed her with these words, Dirgha Sumangali Bhava (live long with your husband).
Mahabharatha
According to Mahabharatha, Parashurama was the mentor of Bhishma, Drona and Karna. Three of them were great warriors.
Parashurama taught all the lessons to Bhishma. Once Bhishma had to do a mistake unknowingly. He kidnapped Amba, Ambika and Ambalika for his brothers. But Amba was never chosen as a bride by anyone. Bhishma couldn’t marry her because of a Brhmachari oath he took. So she wanted to do revenge as Bhishma was the only one who destructed her life. She begged the help of Parashurama and both of them started fighting. But the ultimate victory was beyond the hands of both. Bhishma and Parashurama was hurt. The war lasted twenty- three days. At last, without a single symptom of victory, Bhishma prepared to apply the Pashupatasthram which was very furious and was unknown to Parashurama. But this time Devas appeared before Bhishma and said not to use it. Because it would not be right as he was his Guru. After that, Parashurama’s ancestors became visible to him and said not to fight against Bhishma anymore.
Drona was also the disciple of Parashurama. He taught all the battle lessons to Drona as he was a poor Brahmin child. He gave all of huis weapons to Drona, thus made him supreme stronger.
Karna was a half-brother of Pandavas. He was the son of Kunthi and Surya Deva. But Pandavas denied him to join with them. It was Duryodhana who accepted his friendship and so he was loyal to Duryodhana ever in his lifetime. Drona, the Guru of Pandavas and Kauravas didn’t accepted Karna as a student. Although he was born to Kunthi, it was a charioteer and his wife raised him. This may be the reason. Thus he went to Parashurama. Since he accept only Brahmins as his disciple, Karna lied to Parashurama saying he was a Brahmin. So he became a disciple of Parashurama. Under the guidance of him, Karna became as good as Parashurama. One day, while Parashurama was sleeping in Karna’s lap, a scorpion came and bit on his leg. He tolerated the pain because he never wanted his Guru to be awaken. Blood started to flow. Parashurama felt the warmth of new blood. So he woke up and understood Karna was not a Brahmin but a Kshatriya. He realized it because no Brahmin can tolerate this much of pain. Hence, he cursed Karna to forget what he studied when the right time come. Karna begged a lot to take back the curse. But Guru didn’t do it. Instead he gave the special Bhargavasthra (an arrow) and his special bow (Vijaya) to him.
What Message Does Parashuram Jayanti Give?
In 2015, Parashuram Jayanti comes on April 20th. He was the real man. He was fearless, indomitable, brave, undefeatable, perseverant and dedicated. Parashuram jayanti says us to be this all. If we do a thing, do it with utmost sincerity.
http://www.hindutav.com/parashurama-jayanti/
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