Paraśurāma-kshetra

Paraśurāma-kshetra is the strip of coast that Varuṇa gave to Paraśurāma from the ocean. Paraśurāma had given the whole earth to Kaśyapa, and so he had no land to live on. The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 57 and 58.

Kaśyapa’s words

Paraśurāma had performed the Aśvamedha at Mahendra-parvata and given the earth to Kaśyapa. The ṛshi then told him plainly: “The earth is now mine. You may not stay on it.”

This had never happened before. Paraśurāma was the greatest warrior of the age and had freed the earth of unrighteous kings. Now he had nowhere to live on that same earth. He stood at the edge of the ocean, and his land had passed to another. (Chapter 57)

Varuṇa’s dialogue

Varuṇa is the ancient deva who rules the ocean, the cosmic law (ṛta) and the borders between realms. He came before Paraśurāma. Chapter 57 gives a dialogue between Varuṇa and Paraśurāma. Varuṇa saw that Paraśurāma had a just claim to land he could live on, and he agreed to withdraw. (Chapter 57)

The land rises

In Chapter 58, Varuṇa drew the ocean back from a strip of 400 yojanas along the western coast of Bharatavarsha. The water went down, and the land came up, washed clean, rich and coastal. Paraśurāma took the new land as his own. He founded the holy tīrtha of Śūrpāraka as the first sacred centre of this land he had won back from the sea. (Chapter 58)

Paraśurāma-kshetra

The strip of coast came to be called Paraśurāma-kshetra, which stays Paraśurāma’s land for ever. It covers what is now the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, Goa and Kerala. Paraśurāma made his home on Mahendra-parvata, the holy mountain that looks out over this new land.

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 57–58