Jamadagni

In Hindu mythology, Jamadagni (or Jamdagni, ) is one of the Saptarishis (Seven Great Sages Rishi) in the seventh, current Manvantara. He is the father of Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu.Avalon, Arthur (Sir John Woodroffe) (1913, reprint 1972) (tr.) Tantra of the Great Liberation (Mahāanirvāna Tantra), New York: Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-20150-3, p. xli: The Rishi are seers who know, and by their knowledge are the makers of shastra and "see" all mantras. The word comes from the root rish Rishati-prāpnoti sarvvang mantrang jnānena pashyati sangsārapārangvā, etc. The seven great Rishi or saptarshi of the first manvantara are Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vashishtha. In other manvantara there are other sapta-rshi. In the present manvantara the seven are Kashyapa, Atri, Vashishtha, Vishvamitra, Gautama, Jamdagnini, Bharadvaja. To the Rishi the Vedas were revealed. Vyasa taught the Rigveda so revealed to Paila, the Yajurveda to Vaishampayana, the Samaveda to Jaimini, Atharvaveda to Samantu, and Itihasa and Purana to Suta. The three chief classes of Rishi are the Brahmarshi, born of the mind of Brahma, the Devarshi of lower rank, and Rajarshi or Kings who became Rishis through their knowledge and austerities, such as Janaka, Ritaparna, etc. Thc Shrutarshi are makers of Shastras, as Sushruta. The Kandarshi are of the Karmakanda, such as Jaimini. He was a descendant of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma, the God of Creation. Jamadagni had five children with wife Renuka, the youngest of whom was Parashurama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Jamadagni was well versed in the scriptures and weaponry without formal instruction. "Jamadagni is an avatar of Lord Shiva".
==Early life==
A descendant of sage Bhrigu, Jamadagni literally meaning consuming fire, was born to sage Richika and Satyavati, daughter of Kshatriya king Gaadhi. Growing up he studied hard and achieved erudition on the Vedas.He acquired the science of weapons without any formal instruction. His father, Richika had guided him though. The Aushanasa Dhanurveda which is now lost, is about a conversation between Jamadagni and Ushanas or Shukracharya on the exercises of warfare. He went to King Prasenjit, of solar dynasty or Suryavansha, and asked for his daughter Renuka's hand in marriage. Subsequently, they were married, and the couple had five sons Vasu, Viswa Vasu, Brihudyanu, Brutwakanwa and Rambhadra, later known as Parshurama.
==Killing of Renuka==
Renuka was a devoted wife and a power of her chastity that was manifest. Such was her chastity, that she used to fetch water from the river in a pot made of unbaked clay every day, held together only by the power of her devotion to Jamadagni.
One day while at the river, a group of Gandharvas passed by in the sky above in a chariot. Filled with desire for only a moment, the unbaked pot that she was carrying dissolved into the river. Afraid to go back to her husband, she waited at the river bank.
Meanwhile, Jamadagni noticed that his wife had not yet returned from the river. Through his yogic powers, he divined all that had taken place and was filled with rage. Jamadagni called his eldest son, told him what had happened and asked him to execute his mother. Horror-stricken, his son refused to perform this deed. He then asked all of his sons, and as they refused, he turned them one by one to stone. Finally only his youngest son, Parashurama, was left. Ever-obedient and righteous, Parashurama beheaded his mother with an axe.
Pleased, Jamadagni offered two boons to Parashurama. Parashurama asked that his mother's head be restored to life and his brothers to be turned from stone back to flesh. Impressed by his son's devotion and affection, Jamadagni granted the boons. His brothers and mother were reformed from stone without having the memory of experiencing death as an additional wish of Parashurama. The purpose of this trial was to demonstrate the dharma ("divine duty") of a son towards his father.
==Death==
Jamadagni was later visited by the Haihaya king Kartavirya Arjuna (who was said to have thousand arms/hands), who he served a feast using a divine cow called Kamadhenu. Wanting the animal for himself, the king offered wealth to Jamadagni which he refused. Then the king forcefully took the Kamdhenu with him asking Jamadagni to take it back if possible, but by the means of war, which Jamadagni was not willing to.
Knowing this fact and enraged, Parashurama killed the king, and retrieved the Kamdhenu by killing all of the army of the king Kartavirya Arjuna by himself alone. Later, three sons of the king killed Jamdagni because he was the father of Parashurama who had killed their father, that felt them the proper revenge of eye-for-an-eye. They first stabbed Jamdagni twenty-one times and then sliced his head.
Again enraged, Parashurama killed all three brothers and retrieved the head of his father for cremation, and ultimately enacted a genocide on the kshatriya caste throughout the world for the next twenty-one generations since his father was stabbed by kshatriya twenty-one times.
==Buddhism==
In the Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka section of the Mahavagga (I.245)P. 494 The Pali-English dictionary By Thomas William Rhys Davids, William Stede the Buddha pays respect to Jamadagni by declaring that the Vedas in their true form were revealed to the original Vedic rishis, including Jamadagni.P. 245 The Vinaya piṭakaṃ: one of the principle Buddhist holy scriptures ..., Volume 1 edited by Hermann OldenbergThe Vinaya Pitaka's section Anguttara Nikaya: Panchaka Nipata, P. 44 The legends and theories of the Buddhists, compared with history and science By Robert Spence Hardy
==References==
Category:Hindu sages