Paraśurāma Upākhyāna

In Chapters 48 and 49 of the Śānti Parva, Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira the story of Paraśurāma. Paraśurāma was a brāhmaṇa and a warrior-ṛshi who ended the kshatriya order twenty-one times. The account also gives the line of Ṛcīka and Jamadagni that led to his birth, the story of Kārtavīrya Arjuna, the thousand-armed king of the Haihayas, and the gift of the earth to Kaśyapa once the clearings were done.

Where Kṛshṇa tells it

The Pāṇḍavas and Kṛshṇa had gathered at Kurukshetra before going on to Bhīshma’s arrow-bed. There Kṛshṇa began to tell Yudhishṭhira the story of Paraśurāma. The place was the very field where kshatriya blood had just been shed. Paraśurāma’s repeated ending of the kshatriya order is named as the earlier case beside the war of Kurukshetra, in which so many warrior-kings were lost. (Chapter 48)

Ṛcīka, Jamadagni and Paraśurāma

Kṛshṇa went back to Ṛcīka, a great ṛshi of the Bhārgava line. Ṛcīka married Satyavatī, daughter of King Gādhi of the Kānyakubja line. This Satyavatī is not the Satyavatī who was Śāntanu’s wife and Vyāsa’s mother. Ṛcīka and Satyavatī had a son, Jamadagni, who became one of the greatest ṛshis of his age.

Jamadagni married Reṇukā. Their son was Rāma. He became known as Paraśurāma, “Rāma with the axe”, after Bhagavān Śiva gave him the divine paraśu (battle-axe). (Chapter 49)

Kārtavīrya Arjuna, the thousand-armed king

Kārtavīrya Arjuna, also called Sahasrabāhu (thousand-armed), was king of the Haihaya dynasty. Dattātreya was pleased by his devoted service and gave him a thousand arms and the gift of conquest over the worlds. With these arms Kārtavīrya became supreme ruler of the three worlds, and no one could stand against him.

One day Kārtavīrya came to Jamadagni’s āśrama and was welcomed as a guest. While Jamadagni and his family were away, Kārtavīrya’s soldiers stole the kāmadhenu (the wish-fulfilling cow) from the āśrama. When Paraśurāma came back and heard of it, his anger rose. In the fight that followed, Paraśurāma killed Kārtavīrya Arjuna, cutting off all thousand arms with his divine paraśu.

In revenge, Kārtavīrya’s sons came to the āśrama and killed Jamadagni while Paraśurāma was away. Paraśurāma returned and found his father’s mutilated body. His grief became a fixed resolve: he would clear the kshatriya race from the earth. (Chapter 49)

The twenty-one clearings

Paraśurāma ended the kshatriya order twenty-one times, over the whole earth. In each round he killed all the kshatriya men he could find. Between the rounds, surviving kshatriyas hid in forest āśramas, lived disguised among the other varṇas, or were sheltered by brāhmaṇa communities. When they came out again, Paraśurāma hunted them again.

Kṛshṇa’s account tells how surviving kshatriya women found shelter to keep the line alive:

• Some fled to forests where bears and monkeys lived, and the animals protected them.
• Some hid in the oceans and along the coasts.
• Some lived in the āśramas of ṛshis, where Paraśurāma’s vow did not allow him to strike.

From these hidden lines, born of the surviving kshatriya women, often through niyoga with brāhmaṇas or by other unusual means, the kshatriya race went on through the twenty-one rounds. (Chapter 49)

The gift of the earth to Kaśyapa

When the twenty-one clearings were done, Paraśurāma performed a great yajña. At its close he gave the whole earth, all the land from ocean to ocean, to the ṛshi Kaśyapa as the mahādakshiṇā (the great yajña fee). He had avenged his father and had made the earth won from the kshatriyas the gift of his yajña. So he kept both his brāhmaṇa dharma of yajña and dāna (giving), and his own vow. (Chapter 49)

Once Kaśyapa had received the earth, Pṛthivī herself spoke to Kaśyapa: “I cannot bear two masters. Kaśyapa and Paraśurāma both claim rule over me. Please settle this.”

Kaśyapa urged Paraśurāma to give up any claim to the land and to go to Mahendra Mountain to perform tapas (austerity). Paraśurāma did so. The earth now belonged to Kaśyapa and the brāhmaṇas alone. Kaśyapa then arranged for the kshatriya line to be restored. He gradually brought back the hidden kshatriya families, filled the warrior class again, and set the four-varṇa order in place once more. (Chapter 49)

The Śūrpāraka Tīrtha

Kṛshṇa also names the Śūrpāraka Tīrtha, the holy place on the coast, as made holy by Paraśurāma’s presence after the gift of the earth. It is one of the tīrthas tied to Paraśurāma. (Chapter 49)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva (Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva), Chapter 48 (Kṛshṇa begins at Kurukshetra)
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva (Rājadharmānuśāsana Parva), Chapter 49 (Ṛcīka, Jamadagni, Kārtavīrya Arjuna, the twenty-one clearings, the gift of the earth, Śūrpāraka Tīrtha)