Paraśurāma Janma

This is a chain of linked events from the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa that leads to the descent of Paraśurāma, an aṃśa (part) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. It begins with Bhūdevī’s appeal to the devas and the visits to Brahmaloka, Rudraloka, the Candra-maṇḍala and the Sūrya-maṇḍala. It goes on to the enmity between the Bhṛgus and the Haihayas, the birth of the Bāḍavāgni, the exchange of the charu of Satyavatī, and the line of Kuśika. It then tells of Paraśurāma’s birth through the tejas of Bhagavān Sūrya, the episode of Reṇukā, and Bhagavān Śiva’s last command that sends Paraśurāma against the Saiṃhikeyas.

The divine council

Bhūdevī appeals to Brahmā

Bhūdevī (the Earth) was crushed by the weight of daityas who had been born as kshatriyas in the reign of Kārtavīrya. With Indra and Bṛhaspati she went to Brahmaloka. There they saw the four-faced Svayaṃbhū seated on his lotus seat and shining like the sun. He held the four Vedas, and the four āśramas honoured him.

Indra and Bhūdevī sang a long stotra (hymn of praise) to him. They called him the cause of sṛshṭi (creation) and saṃhāra (dissolution), the self-born, the unknowable, the light without measure. They called him the father of Dharma, Rudra, Bhṛgu, Aṅgiras, Marīci, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu and Vasishṭha. They said: “The earth cannot bear the weight of the daityas who have taken birth as kshatriyas under your rule. She has come to you. Protect her, O master of the worlds.”

Brahmā heard them and said: “Go at once to Śaṅkara and put before him all that must be done. That great ātmā will show you the way to destroy the kshatriyas.”

Śiva sends them to Sūrya

Indra, Bṛhaspati and Bhūdevī went to Rudraloka and saw Mahādeva. He blazed like a mass of fire. His crown of matted hair shone like the sun, and the crescent moon was on his brow. His throat was blue. He wore a serpent as his sacred thread and an elephant skin as his upper cloth. Umā sat beside him on the bull, and the pramathas stood around him.

Indra sang a long hymn: “O master who has a part of Vishṇu in every act of creation, O Sarvadeva, Mahāyogi, Mahāvīra, protect the earth from her burden of kshatriyas.”

Bhagavān Śiva answered: “Dattātreya gave Kārtavīrya his varas (boons). Dattātreya is himself an aṃśa of Vishṇu. No one can destroy Kārtavīrya, not I and not anyone else. But go to Sūrya, who lives in the Candra-maṇḍala. He will tell you the way.”

The devas left Indra behind. Mahādeva himself took a subtle form, entered the waters of the Gaṅgā, and rose as a being the size of a thumb into the Candra-maṇḍala.

The Candra-maṇḍala

Bhagavān Śiva came to the Candra-maṇḍala. It is nine thousand yojanas across and eighteen thousand around. It is made of the essence of water. It is the home of the piṇḍa-pitṛs, the base of all worlds, and the source of nectar for both the devas and the pitṛ-devatās. Bhagavān Śiva knew Candra as the very eyeball of Vāsudeva. He praised him as Śītāṃśu, Śītala-kiraṇa, Niśesha and Pitṛnātha. He said: “I cannot kill Kārtavīrya, who was born of Dattātreya’s gift. But the work of the devas must be done. Guide me to Sūrya.”

Candra answered: “The Āgneya form of Śiva is Sūrya. The Saumya form is mine. Go to the Sūrya-maṇḍala.”

Sūrya accepts the task

Bhagavān Śiva passed through the Candra-maṇḍala and entered the blazing Sūrya-maṇḍala. It is the home of the right eye of Vāsudeva. In it is the fiery vaiśvānara that fills all bodies in five forms: ālocaka, pācaka, rochaka, gañjaka and bhājaka. It is the cause of the seasons, of rain, and of the turning of the kālachakra.

Bhagavān Śiva praised Sūrya as Savitṛ, Ravi, Āditya, Mitra, Pūshan, Dhātā, Aṃśu, Varuṇa, Bhaga, Tvashṭṛ, Vivasvān and Vishṇu. He said: “All our tejas is held in you. There is no difference between me, Janārdana and you, O Prabhākara. Protect the earth from her crushing burden.”

Bhagavān Sūrya promised: the burning of the forests would be done through Kārtavīrya himself. After that, through an aṃśa-avatāra in the Bhṛgu line, the earth would be freed from the kshatriyas who oppressed her. Having spoken, Bhagavān Sūrya, the deva of light, went back to his own place.

Kārtavīrya burns the forests

Bhagavān Sūrya took the form of a brāhmaṇa and came down to Māhishmatī. He stood before Kārtavīrya, who was famous for his giving, his thousand arms, and the varas that Dattātreya had given him. The brāhmaṇa said: “I am very hungry. Feed me until I am fully satisfied.” Kārtavīrya asked what food would satisfy him. Sūrya answered: “I am Āditya. I wish to eat the sthāvara bhūtas, the standing beings, the trees of the earth. Give them to me.”

Kārtavīrya said he did not have the power to burn forests with his own human tejas. Sūrya told him: “Mount your chariot and send your arrows into the forests. I will light them. You need only release the arrows. The rest is mine.”

Kārtavīrya mounted his chariot and shot arrows into the forests on every side. Sūrya’s fire blazed through them. The great forests fell and were burned, and mountains and glades alike burned with a roaring flame. In this fire the āśrama of the ṛshi Vasishṭha was also burned.

Vasishṭha was filled with anger. He gave a śāpa (a curse) on Kārtavīrya: “A warrior born through a brāhmaṇa’s line, a kshatriya born from a brāhmaṇa’s lineage, will cut off your arms, O king.”

In this way the ground was prepared for the Bhārgava’s later reckoning.

The Bhṛgu and Haihaya enmity, and the origin of the Bāḍavāgni

Aurva’s birth

Brahmā’s son was Bhṛgu. From Bhṛgu and Paulomī was born Cyavana. Cyavana’s wife was Sukannyā, the daughter of Śaryāti. From her were born two sons who kept dharma, Ātmavān and Dadhīca. Ātmavān’s wife was Nāhushī, the daughter of Nahusha. She bore a son called Aurva, who was also known as Ṛcīka.

The Haihayas and the Tālajaṅghas plotted together and killed the Bhṛgus. They killed even the unborn children in the womb. One pregnant woman of the Bhṛgu line hid her unborn child in her own thigh. When the time of birth came, the baby tore through the thigh and came out. At the moment of his birth this blazing tapasvī burned with anger at the devas, who had not protected his family. He said: “I shall destroy all these devas.”

The pitṛs of the Bhṛgu line came and advised him: “Child, do not be burned up by anger. It is the enemy of every person. We were killed by kshatriyas, yet we have conquered anger. Those who destroyed us cannot truly harm us. Let your wrath cool.”

But Aurva answered: “The anger born from the destruction of our family does not cool in me. I cannot put out this anger.”

The Bāḍavāgni

At that very moment Bhūdevī, already overcome by her sufferings, plunged into the waters and took refuge with Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu came to Aurva and said: “Put your anger into me. I will place it in the ocean, where it will burn the waters without destroying the worlds.”

Aurva’s blazing anger entered Bhagavān Vishṇu and then went to the ocean. It took the form of the Bāḍavāgni, the fire with a mare’s mouth (bāḍabā-mukha), which drinks the waters of the ocean from within. It enters the ocean in the month of Caitra and for eight months it burns up the waters. In the four cool months of winter it breathes out the water it has taken as frozen vapour. The wind scatters this on the Himālaya as snow. The ebb and flow of the ocean and the coming of snow each year are traced to the Bāḍavāgni.

Bhṛgu comforted Aurva: “From our line a great brāhmaṇa with the fierce tejas of a kshatriya will arise and cleanse the earth of those who oppress her.”

The charu of Satyavatī

Aurva, also called Ṛcīka, married Satyavatī, the daughter of Gādhi of the Kuśika line. She served her husband with deep devotion. Ṛcīka was pleased with her and offered her a vara. She asked: “Bless my mother with a brave son. And give me a son who has the brightness of a brāhmaṇa.”

Ṛcīka prepared two charu offerings. Into the first he placed the joined tejas of the energy of Vishṇu and the valour of a kshatriya. This was for Satyavatī’s mother, so that she would have a son strong in war. Into the second he placed brahma-tejas mixed with the power of Rudra. This was for Satyavatī, so that she would have a son with the strength of a fierce brāhmaṇa. He gave them to Satyavatī with clear words: “This one is yours, and this one is for your mother. Your mother must embrace the Aśvattha tree, and you must embrace the Udumbara.”

Satyavatī took the charus to her mother. When her mother learned what each one held, she said to her daughter: “The better charu, with the valour of a kshatriya and the energy of Vishṇu, is surely the worthier one. Let us exchange them. Let us exchange the trees too. You embrace the Aśvattha, and I will embrace the Udumbara.” Out of respect for her mother, Satyavatī agreed and did as her mother said.

When Ṛcīka came back, he looked at Satyavatī with his ṛshi-vision and saw at once what had happened. He said to her: “You ate the charu meant for your mother. The tejas of a kshatriya has entered you. Your son will be a brāhmaṇa in form but fierce in nature.”

Satyavatī begged him: “O Bhagavān Ṛcīka, I am at fault. Please forgive me. But do not let my son follow the dharma of a kshatriya.”

Ṛcīka agreed: “So be it. Your son will not take on the dharma of a kshatriya. But what fate has set moving cannot be fully undone. Your grandson, your pautra, will be the one who carries that fierce kshatriya tejas.”

The Kuśika line and Cyavana’s blessing

Cyavana’s visit

The lunar line came down through Candra, the son of Atri, then Budha, Purūravas, Śrutāyu, Gṛhajit, Kāñchana, Suhotra and Jahnu. By Jahnu’s tapas the Gaṅgā was taken as his daughter and became Jāhnavī. The line went on through Ālarka and Balāka to Kuśika, who lived in the city of Mahodaya.

The ṛshi Cyavana saw through his ṛshi-dṛshṭi that the Bhṛgu and Kuśika lines would join through the exchange of the charu. He feared this would end his own line. He came to Kuśika’s court meaning to destroy it from within. Kuśika received him with every honour and said: “This is your own home. Stay here freely. My wife and I will serve you in every way.”

The testing and the gift

For many years Cyavana tested Kuśika with hard trials of endurance and selfless service. He asked for food at odd hours and then ate nothing. He fasted for long periods. He went out in a chariot with Kuśika pulling it. He acted without any regard and seemed disrespectful. Through every trial Kuśika and his queen served the ṛshi with no trace of anger or wavering. Cyavana could not find the smallest fault in their conduct.

At last Cyavana was moved by the king’s spotless devotion and said: “O king of pure character, you have earned this vara. I came to destroy your line, but what you have shown me cannot be undone. Your son will be Kuśāśva. His son will be Gādhi. Gādhi’s son will be the great Viśvāmitra. Through great tapas, and in his rivalry with Vasishṭha, he will win the highest state of brahmaṇya. He will gain brahmaṇya through the same hidden working of the exchange of the charu. Now go back to your home. All that was lost and burned will be restored and will flourish. You and your queen will grow old together in joy.”

Paraśurāma’s birth

Jamadagni and Reṇukā

Satyavatī gave birth, first to Jamadagni and then to ninety-eight more sons, all of them noble. Gādhi’s wife, through the working of the same charu, gave birth to Viśvāmitra, who had the tejas of a brāhmaṇa. It was Viśvāmitra who gained brahmaṇya through tapas and his rivalry with Vasishṭha.

Jamadagni married Reṇukā, the daughter of King Prasenajit. In his āśrama he practised shooting arrows as a discipline. Reṇukā would pick up each arrow where it fell and bring it back to him. One day, in the heat of the afternoon, Reṇukā was delayed for a short time. She rested a moment in the shade of a flowering tree, for her feet were burning on the sun-scorched ground. When she came back with the arrow, Jamadagni’s face was dark with anger. He said: “Why did you disobey me? Is there no fear of me in you?”

At that moment Sūrya came to the āśrama in the form of a brāhmaṇa. He said to Jamadagni: “O great tapasvī, I am fire by nature. It is my own svabhāva to burn. Do not be angry with this woman because of me. I will become your son through her. I will do the work of the devas and bring good to the worlds. She has suffered from my heat, so I give her this.” Then he made an umbrella and a pair of pādukā (sandals) for Reṇukā. He said that from then on these gifts would be auspicious offerings in the world, and that a person who gives an umbrella and footwear as dāna (a gift) reaches Svarga.

Jamadagni accepted Sūrya’s word. Sūrya went away. After that Reṇukā gave birth to four sons: Sushena, Vasu, Viśvāvasu and, last of all, Rāma. This Rāma, born as the youngest, was Paraśurāma. He was an aṃśa of Bhagavān Vishṇu himself, who came into the world through the tejas of Sūrya that had entered Reṇukā’s womb. When this great aṃśa of Mahāvishṇu appeared on the earth, Bhūdevī felt great relief, as if the weight that had pressed on her for so long had already begun to lift.

Śiva’s command

The Reṇukā episode

In time Paraśurāma grew up and lived at his father’s āśrama, serving Jamadagni with steady devotion. One day King Citrāṅgada came into the forest to play. He moved through the woods as splendid as Indra himself, with beautiful women around him. Reṇukā saw this royal sight and was for a moment taken by his splendour. Her mind wandered, and her brāhmaṇa-tejas grew dim.

Jamadagni saw it at once. His eyes blazed. He ordered his sons, one by one, to kill their mother. Each in turn refused, held back by love for her. Jamadagni gave a śāpa on them all: “Become like birds and beasts, with no memory and no identity.”

Then Paraśurāma came back from the forest with a load of firewood. His father ordered him directly: “This woman has fallen. Strike off her head.” Paraśurāma did not hesitate for a moment. He took up his great axe and struck off Reṇukā’s head on the spot.

Jamadagni was filled with joy. He said: “I am fully pleased with you, my son. Ask me for any vara you wish.”

Paraśurāma asked for three things. The first was svachchhanda-maraṇa, death only when he himself chose. The second was that he could not be beaten in battle for as long as the tejas of Vishṇu lived in him. The third was that his mother and his brothers would be brought back to life with no memory at all of what had happened to them. Jamadagni gave him all three. Reṇukā rose smiling, as if from sleep. The brothers were freed from the śāpa.

Jamadagni then told Paraśurāma: “The time has come for you to worship Śiva. Go to the best of the Himālaya peaks and perform tapas for Rudra. When Daśaratha’s son Rāma comes into the world, the very form of Vishṇu born in the Raghu line, and you meet him, your Vishṇu-tejas will pass to him. After that you will lay down your weapons, except to protect those in distress.”

Śiva sends Paraśurāma against the Saiṃhikeyas

On the same Himālaya peak where Paraśurāma had begun his tapas for Rudra, the devas came to Bhagavān Śiva for refuge. The Saiṃhikeyas, the dreaded sons of Siṃhikā, had shaken them and driven them from their places. The devas cried: “O Deva-deva, the Saiṃhikeyas have thrown us out. Thousands of these rākshasas surround us. Act to destroy them.”

Bhagavān Śiva said: “These enemies of the devas will be crushed. I will do this through Rāma, Paraśurāma. He will carry a human form, and I will use him as my instrument to bring them down.”

He then called Paraśurāma and said: “Destroy the Saiṃhikeyas. They are yours to defeat.”

Paraśurāma answered with respect: “O Tripurāri, give me the astras to do this great task.”

Bhagavān Śiva smiled and said: “What need have you of astras? You are not a human being. You are Vishṇu himself. Even without weapons, not one of these enemies can stand before you in battle.”

Lifted up by these words, and filled with a prabhāva equal to that of Trinetra himself, Paraśurāma took up his sharp paraśu (axe). With the full command and blessing of Bhagavān Śiva, he set out to meet the Saiṃhikeyas in battle.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 27 (Bhūdevī and Brahmā)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 28 (Bhagavān Śiva and the way to Sūrya)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 29 (the Candra-maṇḍala)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 30 (Sūrya accepts the task)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 31 (Kārtavīrya burns the forests)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 32 (Aurva and the Bāḍavāgni)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 33 (the charu of Satyavatī)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 34 (Cyavana and Kuśika)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 35 (Jamadagni, Reṇukā and the birth of Paraśurāma)
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Poorvārdha, Chapter 36 (the Reṇukā episode and Bhagavān Śiva’s command)