Paraśurāma Receives the Paraśu

Paraśurāma means “Rāma with the axe”. In the Upāsanā Khaṇḍa of the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Rāma, the son of Jamadagni and Reṇukā, gets this name from a gift. Bhagavān Gaṇeśa gives him his own divine paraśu (battle-axe) at the sacred kshetra of Māyūreśvara. Rāma gets there after his father is killed and his mother is fatally wounded by Kārtavīrya Arjuna.

Kārtavīrya Arjuna’s crime

Kārtavīrya Arjuna was the thousand-armed king of Māhishmatī. He was hunting in the forests near the Sahyādri mountains when he came upon the āśrama of Jamadagni Maharshi. His servants told him it was the āśrama of the great tapasvin Jamadagni. The king felt respect and went in with a small group to greet him.

Jamadagni welcomed the king and his whole army with great kindness. By the grace of Kāmadhenu, the divine cow, he gave a royal feast to all of them: the soldiers, the horses and the elephants. Kārtavīrya was amazed. Not even the wealth of the greatest kingdoms could match this easy plenty. When he learned that it was all the gift of Kāmadhenu, greed filled his heart. Though he had just received the ṛshi’s welcome, he demanded the cow. Jamadagni refused in firm words.

Angry, Kārtavīrya sent soldiers to drag Kāmadhenu away by force. The divine cow showed terrible power. Her breath killed armies, her hooves shook the earth, and warriors came out of her body and scattered the king’s forces. Then she left for svarga. Kārtavīrya was frustrated and ashamed. He turned on Jamadagni himself and shot a sharp arrow through his heart. The great ṛshi died on the spot. Kārtavīrya then shot twenty-one arrows into Reṇukādevī. She was mortally wounded but still alive, because she had cried out for her son Rāma, and fate kept her alive just long enough to meet him. This is told in Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 77–80.

Rāma’s return and Reṇukā’s last words

Rāma had gone into the forest to gather roots and fruits when this happened. When he came back he found his father dead and his mother lying badly hurt, pierced with arrows. He fell to the ground and wept like one who has lost everything. Reṇukādevī heard her son’s cries and came back to herself for a little while. She drew him close and told him everything Kārtavīrya had done.

With her last strength she gave her son four commands:

Perform our last rites (antyeshṭi) and all the saṃskāras that follow death properly, and ask Dattātreya to be the priest.
Avenge your father’s death by killing Kārtavīrya Arjuna.
Kārtavīrya shot twenty-one arrows into my body, so wipe out the kshatriya lines from the earth twenty-one times.
Burn our bodies in a place where fire has never burned before.

With these words Reṇukādevī left her body in her son’s arms, her head in his lap. This is told in Chapter 80.

Dattātreya as priest

Rāma went to find Dattātreya to ask for the funeral rites. He found the great yogī in an unexpected form. He wore torn clothes, his hair was untidy, and his students, who looked like dogs, stood around him. This look was Dattātreya’s māyā, the veil of his divine play. Rāma knew the true nature of the muni through meditation. He bowed down to him and asked him to be the purohita (priest) for his parents’ last rites.

Dattātreya felt deep sorrow for Rāma’s loss and agreed. Over twelve days Dattātreya carried out all the antyeshṭi, daśāha and sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rites. On the sixth day Rāma, still in grief, cried out “Amma! Amma!” in a child’s sudden pain when a tiger appeared. His mother Reṇukādevī appeared in answer to that cry. But the full twelve days had not passed, so her form was not complete: it had no head. Dattātreya gently explained that calling her before the full time had stopped her from appearing fully. On the twelfth day he finished the rites in full.

Jamadagni reached Brahmaloka. Reṇukādevī had received only part of the rites because Rāma called her too early, so she went on wandering in a partial form even after death. Yet she is worshipped to this day as a powerful devī who answers the prayers of her devotees with a mother’s love. This is told in Chapters 80–81.

Śiva’s advice and the Shaḍaksharī mantra

When the funeral rites were over, Rāma asked his mother, in a vision, how he could ever defeat the all-powerful Kārtavīrya Arjuna. Reṇukādevī told him: “Worship Bhagavān Śiva. Only his anugraha (grace) can give you the strength to do what you must do.”

Rāma set out at once for Kailāsa. There, before the throne where Bhagavān Śiva sat shining on his jewelled seat, Rāma bowed down in full surrender and praised him with a heartfelt stotra:

“O Bhagavān Śiva! O husband of Gaurī! O three-eyed one! You are the one who holds the worlds up, the one who dissolves them, the formless one who takes form through māyā. The Vedas cannot describe you. You are beyond the three guṇas, yet you rule them all. I take refuge in you.”

Bhagavān Śiva was moved by the purity of Rāma’s devotion. He appeared before him with great kindness and asked what he wanted. Rāma told him his purpose: to defeat Kārtavīrya and to protect the dharma of the brāhmaṇas. Bhagavān Śiva answered plainly: “The way to do this is through the grace of Gaṇeśa. I will give you the Shaḍaksharī mahāmantra of Gaṇeśa. Worship him with one lakh japas. Then do homa with one tenth of that number, tarpaṇa with one tenth of that, and brāhmaṇa-bhojana (feeding brāhmaṇas) with one tenth of that. If you do this with śraddhā (faith) and bhakti (devotion), Gaṇeśa will appear to you and give you what your heart wants.”

Bhagavān Śiva then gave Rāma the Shaḍaksharī (six-syllable) mantra of Gaṇeśa. This is told in Chapter 82.

Tapas at Māyūreśvara

As Bhagavān Śiva had told him, Rāma went to the sacred kshetra of Māyūreśvara. This is the place where the peacock-riding form of Gaṇeśa appeared in the cosmic age. Rāma chose a quiet spot on the bank of the Kṛshṇā river, north of that holy land, and sat in perfect meditation. He stood on one toe in the highest tapas (austerity). He fixed his mind wholly on the divine form of Gaṇeśa and chanted the Shaḍaksharī mantra without a break. He finished the laksha japa (one lakh repetitions). Then he did the homa with one tenth of that, then the tarpaṇa, and at last he arranged the brāhmaṇa-bhojana.

The strength and purity of his tapas moved the earth itself. The creatures of the forest fell silent. The river flowed in a holy hush. When the sādhana was complete, Gaṇeśa appeared before him in a burst of unequalled light. He had four arms and the divine crescent on his brow. He held the paraśu, the lotus, his own broken tusk and the modaka, and his trunk curved gracefully. The glow of ten million suns surrounded him. This is told in Chapter 82.

Gaṇeśa gives the paraśu and names Paraśurāma

Rāma was overwhelmed by the sight. He closed his eyes against the brightness and, with folded hands and a melting heart, praised Gaṇeśa:

“O master of all knowledge, O Vighnahara, O lord of all beginnings, O one whose form even the Vedas cannot reach, I have seen you. My birth is complete, my tapas is fulfilled. Protect me and guide me.”

Gaṇeśa was pleased by this true surrender. He spoke in a voice like rolling thunder:

“O Rāma! You have worshipped me night and day with complete absorption. I am the devatā of the mantra you have been chanting. I am pleased with your tapas. Ask for whatever you want.”

Rāma asked for three things. He asked for victory over all his enemies, above all Kārtavīrya. He asked for firm, unshaken bhakti at Gaṇeśa’s feet. And he asked that Gaṇeśa stay within his reach whenever he called.

Gaṇeśa gave him all three. Then, as the greatest gift, he put his own divine paraśu, the axe, into Rāma’s hands, and said:

“This paraśu will be your greatest weapon. With it you will cut down the adharmic kshatriyas and set dharma right again on this earth. And since from today you have the paraśu that I gave you, the name Paraśurāma will ring through the worlds for all time as your name.”

Then Gaṇeśa vanished, leaving the divine weapon behind. At that holy spot Paraśurāma set up a divine image of Gaṇeśa. He built a shrine with a jewelled pillar and a maṇḍapa, walked around it, bowed to it, fed brāhmaṇas and gave many dānas (gifts). In this way he made the kshetra holy for ever. This is told in Chapter 82.

Kārtavīrya’s fall and the twenty-one sweeps of the earth

With Gaṇeśa’s paraśu in his hand, Paraśurāma faced Kārtavīrya Arjuna and his huge army. In a battle of great fury, the paraśu cut off Kārtavīrya’s thousand arms one by one. These were the very arms that made him feared in the three worlds. Kārtavīrya fell.

Paraśurāma then kept his mother’s command. Twenty-one times he swept over the earth and wiped out the adharmic kshatriya lines, and the earth was filled with the sweetness of justice. When this act of setting dharma right was done, he performed a great yajña and gave the whole cleansed earth as dakshiṇā to the brāhmaṇas. This is told in Chapter 82.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa account

In the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, the weapon that gives Paraśurāma his power is the Pāśupata, which he receives from Śiva.

Sources

Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 77–80 (Kārtavīrya’s crime, Reṇukā’s words)
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapters 80–81 (Dattātreya and the funeral rites)
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā Khaṇḍa, Chapter 82 (Bhagavān Śiva’s advice, the tapas at Māyūreśvara, the gift of the paraśu, the defeat of Kārtavīrya)
Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (the Pāśupata weapon)