Paraśurāma

Bhagavān Paraśurāma (Rāma with the axe) is the sixth of the Daśāvatāras, the ten main avatāras of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He is the son of the ṛṣi Jamadagni and Reṇukā. He was born in the Bhārgava line, the family of the ṛṣi Bhṛgu, through the great Ṛcīka Maharṣi. His birth name was Rāmabhadra. He is a warrior and a ṛṣi, and he carried the paraśu (battle-axe). He is one of the cirañjīvins, the immortals who live through all the ages.

When the sons of Kārtavīryārjuna killed his father, Paraśurāma made twenty-one campaigns across the earth against the adharmic kṣatriyas, so that he rid the earth of corrupt kṣatriya kings twenty-one times and restored the order of dharma. He gave the whole earth as dakṣiṇā (a gift to the priests) after a great yajña. He then went to Mahendra Parvata, where he lives to this day. In the coming Sāvarṇī manvantara, he will be the vedācārya (teacher of the Vedas) of that age.

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga (Chapters 22 to 36), gives the fullest account of his life. It tells of his birth and pilgrimage, his fight with Kārtavīrya Arjuna, his twenty-one campaigns, his rise to Śivaloka and the gift of the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca, his sādhana (spiritual practice) at Puṣkara, and his meeting with Agastya and the Kṛṣṇāmṛta-stava. Other Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata add more, and each is given below.

Lineage and birth

Paraśurāma is the son of Jamadagni and Reṇukā. Jamadagni is the son of Ṛcīka, and Ṛcīka the son of Bhṛgu. Reṇukā is the daughter of King Prasenajit of the solar dynasty. By birth he was a brāhmaṇa, and by nature and training a warrior. This joining of the two shaped his whole life.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa gives the Bhārgava line as Bhṛgu, Cyavana, Aurva, Ṛcīka and Jamadagni. It says Jamadagni married Satyavatī, the apsarā Acchodā born again, and had five sons. Paraśurāma was the youngest. His mother was Reṇukā, of royal descent. The Acchodā apsarā of the Barhiṣad Pitṛs was born again as Satyavatī after she fell in love with the ṛṣi Amāvasu. This links Paraśurāma’s mother’s line with the world of the Pitṛs.

Titles

The Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa addresses him throughout the Dvitīya Khaṇḍa with titles that name his line: “Bhārgava-vaṃśa-candra” (moon of the Bhārgava line), “Bhṛgūttama” (best of the Bhṛgus), “Bhārgavottama” (best of the Bhārgavas) and “Dharma-jit” (victor in dharma).

Early life and pilgrimage

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says Rāmabhadra, the youngest of the five sons of Jamadagni, had from birth both the learning of the brāhmaṇas, taught in his father’s āśrama, and a rare skill in war. In youth he went on a pilgrimage to the great tīrthas (holy places) and the āśramas of the ṛṣis across the land. On this journey he saved a brāhmaṇa boy named Akṛtavraṇa from a tiger, and Akṛtavraṇa became his faithful companion. He visited the āśramas of Bhṛgu, Cyavana, Aurva and Ṛcīka. He received their blessings and was confirmed in the dharma of his line.

The Pāśupatāstra from Śiva

Paraśurāma did tapas (austerity) for Bhagavān Śiva and received from him the Pāśupatāstra, Bhagavān Śiva’s supreme weapon, which can destroy the whole world. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says (Chapter 24) that this made Paraśurāma the only one of mortal birth in the present cosmic cycle to have this weapon.

The fight with Kārtavīrya Arjuna

Kārtavīrya Arjuna (also called Sahasrārjuna) was a proud king of the Haihayas with a thousand arms. He came to the āśrama of Jamadagni and demanded Kāmadhenu, the divine cow. He took her from the āśrama and killed Jamadagni there. Paraśurāma, who had received the divine axe (paraśu) from Bhagavān Śiva after hard tapas, avenged his father.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says Paraśurāma killed Kārtavīrya Arjuna in battle. The kṣatriyas then struck at the āśrama again. Paraśurāma took a great vow: he would wipe the kṣatriya race from the earth twenty-one times, once for each of the twenty-one cries of his grieving mother Reṇukā. He kept the vow. Again and again he destroyed the kṣatriya order. He filled the five lakes of Samantapañcaka with royal blood and offered tarpaṇa (water offerings) to his forefathers with that blood. The land was cleared of rulers who did not follow dharma.

The Bhadrakālī stotra before the campaigns (Chapter 39)

Before the campaigns against the sons of Kārtavīrya Arjuna and the kṣatriya lines, Paraśurāma made and recited a mighty stotra (hymn of praise) to Bhadrakālī, the fierce warrior form of the Mother. The stotra calls on her as the destroyer of asuras, the bearer of the weapons of Bhagavān Śiva, the giver of victory in battle and the guardian of the righteous warrior. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa presents the twenty-one campaigns as battles for dharma, fought with the blessings of Bhagavān Śiva and Śakti. The Purāṇa records the whole stotra as one of the important Devī-stotras of the Bhārgava tradition.

Paraśurāma and Gaṇeśa at Kailāsa (Chapters 41 to 43)

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa tells of Paraśurāma’s meeting with Gaṇeśa at the gates of Kailāsa. Paraśurāma went to see Bhagavān Śiva at Kailāsa. Gaṇeśa stood guard and refused him entry, saying that Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī were in private retreat. Paraśurāma had received the Pāśupata weapon from Bhagavān Śiva himself and thought he was free to see his guru. He was angry at the refusal.

A fierce fight began between Paraśurāma and Gaṇeśa. At the height of it Paraśurāma hurled his paraśu at Gaṇeśa. Gaṇeśa knew that Bhagavān Śiva had given the axe, so he chose to take the blow with respect rather than turn it aside, out of honour for his father’s weapon. The paraśu struck and cut off one of Gaṇeśa’s tusks. From this comes the famous ekadanta (one-tusked) form of Gaṇeśa.

Pārvatī was overcome with grief and anger to see her son hurt, and she threatened Paraśurāma with a terrible śāpa (curse). Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, who were at Kailāsa, stepped in to bring peace. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa told Pārvatī why what had happened was needed by dharma, honoured Paraśurāma’s devotion, and restored harmony. The 108 names of Gaṇeśa, the Gaṇeśāṣṭottaraśatanāma, were recited on this occasion to restore the honour and glory of Gaṇeśa.

The Pāśupatāstra and the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca

When Paraśurāma had kept his vow, Brahmā advised him to seek direct initiation from Bhagavān Śiva. Paraśurāma went up to Śivaloka and composed a deep stotra to Bhagavān Śiva. It praised his five faces (pañcamukha), his ten arms (daśabhuja) and his cosmic forms. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased with his devotion. He gave him the Pāśupatāstra again, and the Trailokya-vijaya kavaca. This is the armour of the mantra of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the ten-syllable Gopī-jana-vallabha mantra, which gives victory in the three worlds.

Sādhana at Puṣkara

After Śivaloka, Paraśurāma went to Puṣkara, the holy lake of Brahmā, and did a sādhana of one hundred years. During this time he met a mṛga and mṛgī (a deer and a doe). They were a brāhmaṇa and his wife from the Draviḍa country, born again in animal bodies because their last thought at death (antya-citta) was fixed on a dying deer and not on Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

He was also taught the three kinds of bhakti (devotion): uttama (highest), madhyama (middle) and kaniṣṭha (lowest). He humbly accepted that he himself belongs to the middle kind. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa describes him as a being of madhyama-bhakti. It shows him as a being of great power and deep devotion to Bhagavān Śiva, with the nature of the Bhṛgu line: fierce, unyielding, and fit both for the learning of a brāhmaṇa and for the fury of battle.

Meeting Agastya and the Kṛṣṇāmṛta-stava

Paraśurāma then visited the āśrama of Agastya at Puṣkara. It was a place of great holiness, where the river Sarasvatī could be seen directly, filling the fire-pots of the ṛṣi. Agastya received him with great honour.

At Paraśurāma’s request, Agastya told him the Kṛṣṇāmṛta-stava, the stotra of the 108 names of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Bhūdevī had received it from Śeṣa, and Agastya had it from her. When it was recited before the mṛga and mṛgī, they were freed from their animal births and went to Vaikuṇṭha.

The five lakes of Samantapañcaka (Chapter 47)

When Paraśurāma had finished his twenty-one campaigns, he performed the Aśvamedha yajña at Mahendra-parvata. In the region of Bhṛgu-tuṅga on the plain of Kurukṣetra he had made five great lakes, the Samantapañcaka. He filled them with the blood of the kṣatriyas he had slain. At these lakes he performed śrāddha (the rite for the dead) for his Bhārgava forefathers, offering the blood of his enemies as a special tarpaṇa. These lakes were made holy by this great event and became tīrthas of great power.

As the last act of his great yajña, Paraśurāma gave away the whole earth, which he had cleared of unrighteous kings, as dakṣiṇā (the priest’s fee) to the ṛṣi Kaśyapa, the priest of the rite.

The gift of the sea and Mahendra-parvata (Chapters 57 and 58)

After Kaśyapa received the whole earth as dakṣiṇā, he told Paraśurāma plainly: “The earth is now mine — you may not remain on it.” Paraśurāma stood at the edge of the ocean with no land to live on. Then Varuṇa, lord of the ocean and guardian of ṛta (the cosmic order), appeared before him. They spoke together about boundaries and the duty of dharma. Varuṇa honoured Paraśurāma’s special place and drew back the ocean from a strip of 400 yojanas along the western coast of Bharatavarṣa.

This land is the Konkan coast of Mahārāṣṭra, with Goa and Kerala. It became the Paraśurāma-kṣetra, his own land for ever. He made Śūrpāraka, held to be the ancient Sopara near Mumbai, the first tīrtha of this land. Paraśurāma then made his lasting home on Mahendra-parvata, the holy mountain that looks over this land of the western coast. There he lives on as a cirañjīvin through all the ages.

In the Varāha Purāṇa

In the Varāha Purāṇa, Bhūdevī speaks to Bhagavān Viṣṇu (Chapter 1):

“Then, as Jamadagni’s son Rāma, you cleared the earth of kṣatriyas many times.”

Gauramukha’s stotra (Chapter 15)

The Varāha Purāṇa gives a stotra by Gauramukha:

“Who conquered earth twenty-one times with his fierce nature — who gave the entire earth to Kaśyapa — the son of Jamadagni — the protector of the noble — he who contains the golden Brahmāṇḍa as his womb — the destroyer of asuras — may he protect us!”

The Sanskrit phrase here is:

“brahmāṇḍa-rūpam suvarṇam garbhe”

It means “the golden universe as his womb”.

Paraśurāma Dvādaśī in the month of Vaiśākha (Chapter 44)

The Varāha Purāṇa describes a vrata (a vow with fasting and rites) on Dvādaśī (the twelfth lunar day) in the month of Vaiśākha.

The image

The mūrti of Paraśurāma is made of bamboo (veṇu). It holds a paraśu (axe) in its right hand. It is worshipped with fragrant flowers.

Archanā mantras

In the archanā (the offering of mantras to each part of the image), these mantras are said:

“Namo Jāmadagnyāya”

This is for the feet.

“Sarvadhāriṇe namaḥ”

This is for the belly.

“Madhusūdanāya namaḥ”

This is for the waist.

“Śrīvatsa-dhāriṇe namaḥ”

This is for the chest.

“Kṣatrāntakāya namaḥ”

This is for the arms.

“Maṇikaṇṭhāya namaḥ”

This is for the throat.

“Pāñcajanyāya namaḥ”

This is for the conch.

“Sudarśanāya namaḥ”

This is for the cakra.

“Brahmāṇḍadhāriṇe namaḥ”

This is for the head.

The example of King Vīrasena and Yājñavalkya

King Vīrasena had no children and was doing severe tapas. The great ṛṣi Yājñavalkya came upon him and asked what he wanted. Vīrasena said:

“I am without a son.”

Yājñavalkya said:

“Don’t do this harsh tapas. A son can come to you with little hardship — observe this vrata.”

Vīrasena kept the Vaiśākha Dvādaśī vrata. He was given King Nala as his son. Nala is praised through the ages as a puṇya-śloka (one praised in sacred verse).

The phala (fruit) of the vrata

• Wealth, vidyā (learning), and a noble son with a beautiful face.
• After death, the devotee lives in Brahmaloka for one kalpa, and then returns as a cakravartī (a ruler of the whole earth) for 30,000 years.

Purpose of the pūjā (Chapter 48)

“To obtain wealth, worship Paraśurāma.”

In the Agni Purāṇa

The fourth adhyāya of the Agni Purāṇa tells of the Paraśurāma avatāra as the sixth of the Daśāvatāras. The kṣatriyas had become proud and cruel. Bhagavān Viṣṇu wished to lift the burden from Bhūdevī, to protect the devas and brāhmaṇas, and to bring back śānti (peace). So he came as Bhārgava Rāma, called Paraśurāma. He was born to the ṛṣi Jamadagni and Reṇukā, and he was a master of all śāstras and vidyās.

Kārtavīryārjuna was a king who had received a thousand arms and rule over the whole Bhūmaṇḍala (the earth) by the grace of Dattātreya. Once, when he went hunting, the ṛṣi Jamadagni welcomed him and his whole army with a great feast. He could do this through the power of his divine cow Kāmadhenu. Kārtavīryārjuna wanted the cow and asked for her. Jamadagni refused. Kārtavīryārjuna took Kāmadhenu by force and carried her away. Paraśurāma went to war against Kārtavīryārjuna. With his paraśu he cut off the king’s head and killed him. Then he brought Kāmadhenu back to the āśrama.

In revenge, the sons of Kārtavīryārjuna came to the āśrama, driven by old enmity, when Paraśurāma was away in the forest. They killed Jamadagni. When Paraśurāma came back and saw his dead father, grief and anger came over him. He took a solemn vow to rid the earth of kṣatriyas completely. Twenty-one times he swept across the earth and wiped out the kṣatriya race. At Samantapañcaka he made five great lakes and filled them with the blood of the slain. With that blood he offered tarpaṇa to satisfy the pitṛs. He then gave the whole earth as dakṣiṇā to the ṛṣi Kaśyapa. Having given away all the earth, he withdrew and lived on the Mahendra mountain. (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 4)

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Ninth Skandha, Chapters 15–16)

The Bhārgava line and his birth

The Bhāgavata traces Paraśurāma’s birth through a chain of events. Ṛcīka, a brahmarṣi of the Bhārgava line, wished to marry Satyavatī, the daughter of Gādhi of the Kauśika clan. Gādhi set the bride-price at one thousand horses. Each horse had to be as white as the moon, with one dark ear. Ṛcīka went to Varuṇa and received such horses. The marriage took place.

Later Ṛcīka prepared two pots of sacred caru (a cooked offering) for a ritual. One was made with mantras to give Satyavatī a child of brāhmaṇa nature. The other was made with mantras of kṣatriya quality for Satyavatī’s mother. While Ṛcīka was away, Satyavatī’s mother thought that the ṛṣi’s own caru must be stronger. She asked to exchange the pots. Satyavatī gave her the brāhmaṇa-caru and took the kṣatriya-caru herself.

When Ṛcīka returned and saw what had happened, he was distressed. He warned Satyavatī: “You have done a harmful thing. Your son will bear weapons and be fierce. Your mother’s son, your brother, will be a knower of the Veda of the highest order.” Satyavatī pleaded with him. Ṛcīka relented and said: “Then it will be your son’s son, your grandson, who has this fierce kṣatriya nature, and not your son directly.”

So Jamadagni was born to Satyavatī as a ṛṣi of śānta (calm) nature. From Satyavatī’s mother was born Viśvāmitra. He was born in the kṣatriya order but in the end rose beyond it and became a great brahmarṣi. Satyavatī herself, made pure by the power of her tapas and the grace of the Bhārgavas, became the great river Kauśikī. She flows through the world and purifies all who touch her.

Jamadagni married Reṇukā, the daughter of Reṇu Maharṣi. Their sons were Vasumanta, Vasu, Suṣeṇa, Rumaṇvanta, and the youngest, Rāma, who became famous as Paraśurāma (Rāma of the axe). The Bhāgavata calls Paraśurāma the aṃśāvatāra (a partial avatāra) of Śrī Hari (Bhagavān Viṣṇu), who destroyed the Haihaya kṣatriya lines. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 15)

The episode of Reṇukā

Paraśurāma had come back to the āśrama after a year of pilgrimage. He had gone on it at Jamadagni’s command after the killing of Kārtavīryārjuna. One day his mother Reṇukā went to the Gaṅgā to fetch water for the āśrama. There she saw Citraratha, the king of the gandharvas. He wore lotus garlands and was playing with apsarasās in the current of the river. For a moment a flicker of attraction touched Reṇukā’s mind. She stayed on, forgot the time of her husband’s homa (fire offering), and came back to the āśrama after the auspicious hour. She was afraid of her husband’s anger. She put the water vessel before Jamadagni and stood waiting.

Jamadagni had the power of yoga (yoga-siddhi), which showed him every movement of the mind. He saw what had happened. Full of anger, he ordered his sons: “Kill this woman!” The four elder sons could not bring themselves to obey. But Paraśurāma knew well the power of his father’s tapas. He obeyed at once and struck down his mother and his brothers. Jamadagni was very pleased. He offered Paraśurāma any vara (boon) he wished. Paraśurāma asked that his mother and brothers be brought back to life, with no memory of having been killed. They rose up as if from deep sleep, whole and unharmed. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

The death of Jamadagni

The surviving sons of Kārtavīryārjuna carried the grief of their father’s death in their hearts and waited for a chance. One day Paraśurāma and his brothers had gone to the forest. The sons of Kārtavīrya came to the āśrama. They found Jamadagni sitting in the agnihotra-gṛha (the house of the sacred fire), with his mind fixed wholly on the purity of Śrī Hari. They killed him. They cut off his head by force and took it away. Reṇukā stood weeping and begged them to stop. She called out “O Rāma! O Rāma! Come, come!”

Paraśurāma heard her cries full of anguish from far away. He came back quickly to the āśrama and saw his dead father on the ground. He lamented: “O father, a sādhu firm in dharma, you have left us and gone to svarga.” Then he steadied himself, gave his father’s body to his brothers, took up his terrible battle-axe, and made his vow. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

The twenty-one campaigns

Paraśurāma swept across the earth twenty-one times. He wiped out the kṣatriya orders wherever adharma had made them cruel to the twice-born and the righteous. First he went to Māhiṣmatī and killed the sons of Kārtavīrya. He piled their heads into a great hill in the centre of the city. From their blood he made a terrible river that flowed through the streets. Then he went across the whole Bhūmaṇḍala. At Kurukṣetra, at the place called Samantapañcaka, he made five lakes filled with the blood of the fallen kṣatriyas. In those lakes he offered tarpaṇa to the pitṛs with that blood. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

The yajña and the great dakṣiṇā

After the campaigns, Paraśurāma performed a great yajña to worship Śrī Hari, who is sarvadevatā-svarūpa (the form of all the devas). He took his father’s cut-off head and joined it to the body with darbha grass. Then he gave the whole earth as dakṣiṇā to the four ṛtvijes (priests) of the yajña. The eastern quarter went to the hotā, the southern to the brahmā priest, the western to the adhvaryu and the northern to the udgātā. The directions in between went to the other ṛtvijes. The central region (madhyabhāga), the earth itself, went to Kaśyapa Prajāpati. Āryāvarta went to the upādhyāya (teacher). Having given everything away, Paraśurāma bathed in the sacred river Sarasvatī. He came out shining and pure, like the sun coming out of the clouds. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

Jamadagni is restored

As a fruit of Paraśurāma’s yajña and his steady love for his father, Jamadagni received a saṃkalpamaya-deha (a subtle body born of will) and came back to consciousness. He accepted Paraśurāma’s worship with grace. In this restored form Jamadagni became the seventh mahāṛṣi in the saptarṣi-maṇḍala. He joined the seven great ṛṣis who light the sky. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

Paraśurāma on Mahendra Parvata

To this day Paraśurāma lives on the Mahendra Parvata. He has given up all acts of punishment and violence, and he stays there with a calm and untroubled mind. Siddhas, gandharvas and cāraṇas (divine wanderers and singers) come to that mountain and sing his glory with respect. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

His future role in the Sāvarṇī manvantara

The Bhāgavata says that in the coming Sāvarṇī manvantara, an age still to come, Paraśurāma, the son of Jamadagni, will be the great vedācārya. He will be the teacher and establisher of the Vedas for that age. He will see that the Vedas are rightly spread and kept for the beings of that manvantara. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapter 16)

In the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

In the Dvitīya Khaṇḍa of the Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Uttarārdha, Chapters 1 to 183), Paraśurāma is the student. The whole Khaṇḍa is his learning from Puṣkara, the son of Varuṇa. He goes to the realm of Varuṇa and receives teaching on cosmic time. Then, wishing to learn Rājadharma (the duty of kings) in full, he is sent by Varuṇa to his son Puṣkara. Paraśurāma sits at Puṣkara’s home on a comfortable seat and asks first: “What is the most important first duty of a kingdom?”

This question opens 183 chapters of teaching. All through the Khaṇḍa, Paraśurāma asks more questions that draw out finer and finer knowledge. They cover the marks of horses and elephants, the science of gems, the signs of poison in food, the running of the inner palace, the nature of free will, the care of cattle, rules for daily conduct, the science of omens, the plans of war, the twelve-king maṇḍala (circle) theory, the six means of foreign policy, the full yearly calendar of royal rites, and the whole Dhanurveda with its eleven named battle formations. Paraśurāma’s questions are never shallow. Each one leads Puṣkara on to the next level of detail.

In the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa: the gift of the paraśu and the naming

The Upāsanā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa (Chapters 77 to 82) tells how Rāma, before he was called Paraśurāma, received the paraśu and his name. In this account the paraśu itself is the gift of Gaṇeśa.

Kārtavīrya’s crime and the last words of Reṇukā

Kārtavīrya Arjuna went on a hunt and came to the āśrama of Jamadagni. Kāmadhenu gave him rich hospitality. Greed for the divine cow seized him, and he ordered his soldiers to take her by force. Kāmadhenu showed her power and then went away to svarga (heaven). Kārtavīrya, frustrated, turned on Jamadagni and killed him with an arrow through the heart. Then he shot twenty-one arrows into Reṇukādevī and left her mortally wounded.

Rāma came back and found his father dead and his mother dying. Reṇukādevī gathered her last strength and gave him four commands:

1. Perform the funeral rites, with Dattātreya as the priest.
2. Avenge his father’s death.
3. Wipe out the kṣatriya lines twenty-one times, once for each of the twenty-one arrows she had received.
4. Burn their bodies where fire had never burned before.

Then she left her body in her son’s arms. (Chapters 77 to 80)

Counsel from Śiva and the Ṣaḍakṣarī mantra

The funeral rites lasted twelve days, with Dattātreya as purohita (family priest). He came in his usual disguise as a yogī, with students who looked like dogs. Then Rāma asked Bhagavān Śiva how to overcome the unbeatable Kārtavīrya. Bhagavān Śiva told him plainly that the way was through the grace (anugraha) of Gaṇeśa. He taught Rāma the Ṣaḍakṣarī Gaṇeśa mahāmantra (the great six-syllable mantra). He sent him to Māyūreśvara Kṣetra on the river Kṛṣṇā to do the tapas laid down. (Chapter 82)

Tapas at Māyūreśvara

Rāma went to Māyūreśvara Kṣetra on the north bank of the Kṛṣṇā. He stood on one toe in the hardest tapas and did the whole sādhana: one lakh (100,000) japas (recitations) of the Ṣaḍakṣarī mantra, a tenth part of that in homa (fire offering), a tenth in tarpaṇa, and a tenth in brāhmaṇa-bhojana (feeding brāhmaṇas).

When it was done, Gaṇeśa appeared with four arms, shining with the light of ten million suns. He held the paraśu, a lotus, a broken tusk and a modaka (sweet). Rāma offered a heartfelt stotra of surrender.

Gaṇeśa gave three varas (boons): victory over Kārtavīrya, firm bhakti, and that he would always be near when called. Then he gave Rāma his own divine paraśu, saying:

“This paraśu will be your supreme weapon. With it you will cut down the adharmic kṣatriyas and restore dharma to this earth. And since from today you possess the paraśu given by me, the name Paraśurāma will ring throughout the worlds for all time as your identity.”

At that holy place Paraśurāma set up a mūrti of Gaṇeśa and made the kṣetra holy for ever. (Chapter 82)

In the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa

Rāma was returning from Mithilā after his wedding. Paraśurāma appeared on the road, still blazing with his own energy. He carried the Vaiṣṇava Dhanus (the bow of Bhagavān Viṣṇu) and his divine paraśu. He challenged Rāma. If Rāma could string the Vaiṣṇava bow, Paraśurāma would fight him, to test his true worth.

Rāma took the bow with complete calm. He strung it with ease and drew it fully. At that moment Paraśurāma saw the truth before him. The energy that had lived in his own form as the Bhārgava avatāra now lived fully in Rāma, the Rāmāvatāra. The power of the earlier avatāra had passed to the present one. Paraśurāma gave up his pride and left for the Mahendra mountain. His purpose in the cycle of avatāras was fulfilled. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 74–75)

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa

Arrival at Mithilā in anger

The thunder of the breaking of the Śiva-dhanus (the bow of Bhagavān Śiva) reached Paraśurāma wherever he was. The bow had been his sacred inheritance. It was linked with Bhagavān Śiva, whom Paraśurāma worshipped, and its breaking was a great insult. He came to Mithilā with his usual blazing force and red eyes. He declared that whoever had broken the bow was now his enemy. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Paraśurāma Āgamana)

Lakṣmaṇa’s sharp words

In the Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Lakṣmaṇa and Paraśurāma speak sharply to each other. Lakṣmaṇa saw Paraśurāma’s anger and wished to protect Rāma from any trouble. He stepped forward and spoke boldly. He said that he and Rāma had broken many bows in childhood and no one had questioned them. He said that Paraśurāma’s fame for destroying kṣatriyas had its place, but it was not right to frighten a wedding gathering. He said that the world knew better than to fear a man with an axe who came shouting. These taunting words made Paraśurāma angrier, and he turned his anger fully on Lakṣmaṇa. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Paraśurāma Āgamana)

Rāma’s humility and the Vaiṣṇava-dhanus

Through all this, Rāmacandra stayed perfectly still and calm. He spoke to Paraśurāma with deep respect, like a son. He called him a great ṛṣi, worthy of reverence. He quietly said that he was the one who had broken the bow, and that it had broken under his touch when he lifted it. He did not defy Paraśurāma.

At a decisive moment, the Vaiṣṇava-dhanus flew out of Paraśurāma’s hands by itself and came to rest in Rāma’s hands. It was the great bow of Bhagavān Viṣṇu that Paraśurāma had been carrying. This divine event, in which the weapon of the avatāra knew its source, made everything clear to Paraśurāma at once. He saw that Rāmacandra was not an ordinary kṣatriya but Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself, the source of his own power as the Bhārgava avatāra. The energy of the Paraśurāma avatāra had now passed fully to the Rāmāvatāra. Paraśurāma was humbled. He offered his respect to Rāma, acknowledged him as Bhagavān Viṣṇu, and left for Mahendra Parvata. His part in the cycle of avatāras was fulfilled. (Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Paraśurāma Āgamana)

In the Mahābhārata

The Udyoga Parva: Karṇa’s curse and the Dambhodbhava Upākhyāna

In the Yānasandhi Parva of the Udyoga Parva (Chapters 62 to 65), the account of Paraśurāma’s śāpa on Karṇa is told in the setting of the preparation for war. Karṇa had come to Paraśurāma as a brāhmaṇa and was taught the brahmāstra. Once, while Paraśurāma lay asleep, a scorpion bored through Karṇa’s thigh, and Karṇa bore the pain in silence. Blood woke Paraśurāma, and he saw the kṣatriya’s courage. He cursed Karṇa: the knowledge of the brahmāstra would leave him at the moment of his greatest need. The Udyoga Parva gives this account to show what lies ahead in the war, for the curse bears on its outcome.

In the Bhagavad-yāna Parva (Chapter 96), Paraśurāma is in the Kaurava sabhā (assembly) during the embassy of Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa. Duryodhana refuses the terms of peace and walks out. Paraśurāma then rises and tells the Dambhodbhava Upākhyāna, the account of the king who challenged Nara and Nārāyaṇa and was beaten with blades of kuśa grass. It is a plain warning to Duryodhana: Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna are Nara and Nārāyaṇa in this age, and to challenge them will bring on him the fate of Dambhodbhava.

The Vana Parva

The account in the Vana Parva (Chapters 114 to 117) ends with the gift of the earth to Kaśyapa as dakṣiṇā and with Paraśurāma’s retirement to Mahendra-parvata.

The Anuśāsana Parva: freedom from pāpa and the gift of the paraśu through the Śiva stuti (Chapter 18)

The Śiva-sahasranāma-mahimā, in Chapter 18 of the Anuśāsana Parva, gives another account of how Paraśurāma was freed from pāpa (sin) and given power. Here both come from reciting the Śiva-sahasranāma-stotra. Paraśurāma, shining like the sun among ṛṣis, tells Yudhiṣṭhira, the eldest of the Pāṇḍavas, that he had slain his elder brothers, who were “equal to a father” by the smṛti (the saying) “jyeṣṭho bhrātā pitṛ-samaḥ”. He had therefore taken on the combined pāpa of pitṛ-vadha, bhrātṛ-vadha and brahma-vadha (the killing of a father, a brother and a brāhmaṇa) and suffered great sorrow.

Purified, he took refuge in Mahādeva (Bhagavān Śiva) and praised him with the sahasranāma (the thousand names). Śaṅkara (Bhagavān Śiva) was pleased. He gave him the paraśu and divine astras. He declared him free of that pāpa, unbeatable, beyond the reach of death and free from old age.

The Aśvamedhika Parva: the rebuke of the Pitṛs and the turn to tapas (Chapters 29 and 30)

The Anugītā Parva, in the Aśvamedhika Parva, gives another telling of how Paraśurāma slew Kārtavīrya and the kṣatriyas. It is an itihāsa (a historical account) inside the teaching of the brāhmaṇa and his wife, which Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells to Arjuna.

Here Kārtavīrya’s death follows from his pride toward Samudra, the ocean, whom he had attacked with arrows in play. Samudra, to pay him back, sent him to the āśrama of Jamadagni and to the “hospitality” of Paraśurāma’s axe. Paraśurāma cut off Kārtavīrya’s thousand arms and killed him. Then he destroyed the armies of the kinsmen who struck back. Over the twenty-one rounds of kṣatriya-saṃhāra (the killing of kṣatriyas), the kings who survived lived long in fear, cut off from the company of brāhmaṇas. They fell into the condition of śūdras. The Draviḍas, Ābhīras, Paṇḍras and Śabaras are named as arising in this way.

At the end of the twenty-first round, a voice from the sky (ākāśavāṇī) and, at the same moment, Paraśurāma’s own forefathers, with Ṛcīka foremost among the Pitṛs, told him to stop. Paraśurāma could not bear the memory of his father and refused to be held back even by his forefathers. The Pitaraḥ then rebuked him plainly: “It is not proper for you to slaughter these innocent kṣatriyas — for you are a brāhmaṇa, and kṣatriya-vadha at a brāhmaṇa’s hand is not fitting.”

They then told him the itihāsa of King Alarka. Alarka had conquered the earth by the bow, but found true victory only when he turned dhyāna-yoga upon his own manas (mind) and indriyas (senses), the one weapon that could truly conquer them. The Pitaraḥ commanded Paraśurāma to give up the killing of kṣatriyas and take up tapas as Alarka had. Paraśurāma did so and gained a rare siddhi (power). This telling ends with tapas and the conquest of the self.

In the teaching on daiva and puruṣakāra, Anuśāsana Parva (Chapter 6)

Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira about daiva (fate) and puruṣakāra (human effort). He names Paraśurāma, together with Aśvatthāmā, as one of two mighty archers born of ṛṣis. In spite of their puṇya (merit) and their strength, they did not reach svarga. The Mahābhārata gives this to show that daiva does not follow automatically from strength or puṇya. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 6)

In the praise of gifts, Anuśāsana Parva (Chapter 137)

In a list of kings who gave great gifts (dāna), Bhīṣma says that Paraśurāma, son of Jamadagni, of great fame, gave imperishable land to a brāhmaṇa. He reached lokas greater than even his own saṅkalpa (intention) had seen. (Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 137)

Paraśurāma, guru of Bhagavān Kalki

The Prathamāṃśa of the Kalki Purāṇa records the last great task of the cirañjīvin Paraśurāma. He becomes the guru of Bhagavān Kalki, the last avatāra of the present cycle. Paraśurāma stays in tapas on Mahendra Hill until the end of the present age (kalpa), awaiting the time when he will teach Kalki.

The young Kalki set out from Śambhala after his upanayana (sacred-thread rite), meaning to find a gurukula (a teacher’s school). Paraśurāma had been living in unbroken tapas on Mahendra Parvata. He appeared before Kalki and said who he was: “I am Jamadagni’s son of the Bhṛgu lineage. I know all Vedas with their six Vedāṅgas. I am a master of Dhanurveda. I cleared the earth of kṣatriyas twenty-one times. I retired to Mahendra Parvata for tapas. Now I will be your guru.”

Kalki knew him as a great ṛṣi, bowed to him and accepted. The teaching at Mahendra Parvata covered:

• The four Vedas with their six Vedāṅgas
• Dhanurveda, the whole science of archery and war
• The sixty-four arts (catuḥṣaṣṭi kalās)

When Kalki’s learning was complete and the pupil asked what he should give as guru-dakṣiṇā (the teacher’s gift), Paraśurāma showed that he knew fully who Kalki is: “You are Viṣṇu himself, come down to destroy Kali. My reward is to see your mission.” He then gave Kalki a full foretelling of his mission. It named the gifts from Bhagavān Śiva, the marriage with Padmāvatī of Siṃhala Dvīpa, the digvijaya (conquest of all the directions) across the earth, the destruction of kings who had fallen from dharma and of the Bauddhas, the setting up of Devāpi and Maru, and the return to Vaikuṇṭha. (Chapter 3)

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 22–36; Chapters 37–47 (including Chapters 24, 39, 41–43 and 47); Chapters 57–58
• Varāha Mahā Purāṇa, Book 1 (Chapters 1–50)
• Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 4
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Ninth Skandha, Chapters 15–16
• Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 77–82
• Kalki Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 3
• Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa), Chapters 1–183
• Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 74–75
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Paraśurāma Āgamana
• Mahābhārata, Vana Parva, Chapters 114–117
• Mahābhārata, Udyoga Parva, Chapters 62–65, 96
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapters 6, 18, 137
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 29–30