Paraśurāma Bhārgava Carita

Bhagavān Paraśurāma is a son of the ṛshi Jamadagni of the Bhṛgu line. He is called Rāma of the Axe. The Madhyama Bhāga of the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, in Chapters 22 to 36, gives its fullest account of his life. It tells of Jamadagni’s tapas at Mahendra-parvata and Paraśurāma’s birth and early pilgrimage. It tells of the clash with Kārtavīrya Arjuna and the death of Jamadagni, and of Paraśurāma’s vow to wipe out the kshatriyas twenty-one times. It then tells of his ascent to Śivaloka, where he receives the Pāśupatāstra and the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca, his hundred years of sādhana at Pushkara, and his meeting with Agastya and the Kṛshṇāmṛta-stava.

Jamadagni’s tapas and marriage to Reṇukā

The account begins with the ṛshi Jamadagni. He was the son of Ṛcīka of the Bhṛgu line and of Satyavatī, who was the apsarā Acchodā born again. Jamadagni did hard tapas (austerity) at Mahendra-parvata. He aimed his tapas at Bhagavān Śiva, with deep focus and complete self-denial. By its power he reached a high spiritual standing and was given the divine cow Kāmadhenu, who can fulfil every wish.

Jamadagni then married Reṇukā, a princess of a royal line, and set up his āśrama (hermitage). They had five sons. The youngest and best known was Rāmabhadra, later known in the three worlds as Paraśurāma.

Birth and early life

Bhagavān Paraśurāma was born as the fifth and youngest son of Jamadagni and Reṇukā. From his earliest years he joined two things: the learning of a brahmin and the fighting power of a kshatriya. This made him unlike any other son of Bhṛgu, and unlike any other being of his time. He was taught the Vedas and the brahmin ways of his father’s āśrama. He was also trained in the arts of a warrior.

His name Paraśurāma, “Rāma of the Axe”, comes from the paraśu (battle-axe) that became his own weapon. Bhagavān Śiva gave it to him.

The early pilgrimage

In his youth Paraśurāma travelled to the holy tīrthas (pilgrimage places) and the great ṛshi āśramas of the land. On the way he met a brahmin boy named Akṛtavraṇa, who was being attacked by a tiger. Paraśurāma at once killed the tiger and saved the boy. Akṛtavraṇa became his faithful companion.

Paraśurāma then visited the āśramas of his great ancestors Bhṛgu, Cyavana, Aurva and Ṛcīka. He received the blessings of each and learned from each. Then he went back to his parents’ āśrama. The pilgrimage had deepened his understanding of both tapas and the dharma of the age.

The Pāśupatāstra

One of the most important events of Paraśurāma’s early life was that he received the Pāśupatāstra directly from Bhagavān Śiva. It was not given lightly. The Pāśupatāstra is Śiva’s greatest weapon. If it is let loose without control, it can destroy the whole universe. It is given only to those of rare spiritual standing and discipline. By receiving it, Paraśurāma became the one mortal fit to carry it. Later it became the highest sign of his power in his conflict with the kshatriya order.

Kārtavīrya Arjuna and the quarrel over Kāmadhenu

The main conflict of the account begins with Kārtavīrya Arjuna. He was the thousand-armed king of the Haihaya line and a being of great power, who had received varas (boons) from Dattātreya. During a hunting trip he came to Jamadagni’s āśrama.

Jamadagni had the divine cow Kāmadhenu. She made it easy for him to give the whole royal army a feast of unmatched abundance. Kārtavīrya Arjuna wanted Kāmadhenu. He saw that, although he was king of so large an army, he had nothing like her in his treasury. He asked for the cow. Jamadagni refused. He explained that Kāmadhenu was not his to give, because she was a cow of divine nature belonging to the whole cosmos. The quarrel grew, and the forces of Kārtavīrya fought with Jamadagni.

The death of Jamadagni

In the violence that followed, Kārtavīrya Arjuna, or forces under his command, killed Jamadagni in his own āśrama. This was a terrible act of adharma. In the dharmaśāstra, the killing of a brahmin ṛshi in his own āśrama is the gravest pāpa (sin).

Paraśurāma came back and found his father’s body and his mother Reṇukā in grief. He answered at once and with terrible force. He took up his paraśu and his other weapons and set out. In the battle that followed, Paraśurāma killed Kārtavīrya Arjuna. Bhṛgu then brought Jamadagni back to life by divine power. But the wound of this adharma stayed burning in Paraśurāma’s mind.

The vow of twenty-one exterminations

The killing of Kārtavīrya led to more violence. Kshatriyas came to take revenge for their king. In the war that followed, Jamadagni was again attacked. Paraśurāma had now seen that the kshatriya order was ready again and again to break every limit of dharma for power and revenge. So he took a terrible vow. He would wipe the kshatriya race from the earth twenty-one times.

He kept this vow. He crossed the earth again and again and killed kshatriyas without exception. He filled the five great lakes at Samantapañcaka with their blood. At the end of each campaign he made tarpaṇa (an offering of water) to his ancestors with that blood. In the twenty-one rounds, the kshatriya lines were destroyed again and again. They were built up again only by the surviving women, who bore children by brahmin men.

Brahmā’s advice and the ascent to Śivaloka

When he had finished his vow, Brahmā told Paraśurāma to go straight to Bhagavān Śiva. He was to seek not just weapons or varas, but a higher spiritual initiation. It would settle the tension in Paraśurāma between his brahmin nature and the terrible fighting work he had done.

Brahmā described both Brahmaloka and Śivaloka to Paraśurāma. He spoke of their great beauty, of the beings who live there, and of Bhagavān Śiva at their centre. Paraśurāma went up to Śivaloka and composed a long stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhagavān Śiva. He praised Śiva’s five faces (pañcamukha), his ten arms (daśabhuja) and his cosmic forms.

Śiva was pleased with Paraśurāma’s devotion. He saw in him a being of rare spiritual stature. He gave him two great gifts. One was the Pāśupatāstra, confirmed and renewed. The other was the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca, the armour of the Kṛshṇa mantra, which gives victory over the three worlds.

Sādhana at Pushkara and the three kinds of bhakti

After receiving the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca, Paraśurāma went to Pushkara, the holy lake and tīrtha blessed by Brahmā. There he did a hundred-year sādhana.

During this sādhana he met a deer and a doe (mṛga and mṛgī). They were really a brahmin and his wife from Draviḍa deśa, born again in animal form because of an attachment from a past life. Their moksha, through Paraśurāma’s compassion and prayer, is told in the account of Mṛga and Mṛgī.

During this sādhana Paraśurāma also received teaching on three kinds of bhakti (devotion).

• Uttama-bhakti, the highest. It is complete, selfless surrender. The examples are Śiva, Nārada, Śuka, Ambarīsha, Rantideva, Hanumān, Bali, Vibhīshaṇa, Prahlāda and the Gopikās.
• Madhyama-bhakti, the middle. It is sincere, but shaped by knowledge and ritual. The examples are Vasishṭha and the Manu line.
• Kanishtha-bhakti, the lowest. It is driven by personal gain.

The Purāṇa places Paraśurāma himself in the madhyama kind.

Meeting Agastya and the Kṛshṇāmṛta-stava

After his sādhana, Paraśurāma went to the āśrama of Bhagavān Agastya at Pushkara. It was a place of great holiness. There the ṛshi kept his fire-pots and his disciples and did his own unbroken tapas. The Purāṇa describes the āśrama in detail. The holy river Sarasvatī could be seen by the spiritually advanced, and she filled the fire-pots of the āśrama with her waters.

Agastya received Paraśurāma with full honour. At Paraśurāma’s request, Agastya told him the Kṛshṇāmṛta-stava. It is a stotra of the 108 names of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. Agastya had received it from Bhūdevī (Bhūmī Devī, the devī of the earth). She had received it from Śesha (Ādiśesha). So the stotra passed from Śesha to Bhūdevī, to Agastya, and then to Paraśurāma.

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 22–36