Parashurama

Parashurama

Parashurama is one of the avatars or incarnations of Lord Vishnu. He is one of the 10 major incarnations (Dashavatar) of Lord Vishnu. Parashurama is the sixth of the ten dashavatars.

## In the Vedas

### Obtaining his axe

Parashurama was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. After years of penance, Lord Shiva appeared before and and taught him well in battle and warfare. He gifted Vidyudabhi, the weapon of Lord Shiva and also taught him its mastery. Parashurama also learnt Kalaripayattu from Lord Shiva who was the inventor of Kalaripayattu.

### Beheading of his mother

One day, Jamadagni instructed Renuka, his wife, to gather some water for his rituals. When Renuka turned up late, Jamadagni was angry at her. He instructed his eldest son to behead his mother. Struck by what his father was asking from him, he refused to perform the sin of killing one's own mother. Jamadagni, then directed the order to his other two sons. They too refused. Angered by his sons' stubbornness, he turned the three of them into stone. When he asked his youngest son, Parashurama, he followed his father's orders, successfully beheading his mother. Satisfied by his youngest son's task, he granted him two boons. Parashurama implied that he bring his mother back to life and turn their brothers from stone to flesh.

### Abduction of the Divine Cow

Jamadagni and his wife were gifted the divine cow, Surabhi, daughter of Kamadhenu, the wish-fulfilling cow. One day, Kartavirya Arjuna (he was believed to have a thousand hands), the king of a neighbouring kingdom came to rest as Jamadagni's hut which happened to be in the middle of the forest he was traveling through. In his time in the hut, Kartavirya Arjuna noticed that all of his and his soldiers' needs were being fulfilled. When he asked, the sage told him about Surabhi. Kartavirya Arjuna argued that such a great cow should be in the hands of someone as powerful as him. When Jamadagni refused to give him the cow, Kartavirya Arjuna took the cow forcefully to his kingdom. Upon returning from his hunt, Parashurama asked his father for the reason everyone are quiet. When Jamadagni told him about Kartavirya Arjuna, Parashurama marched to the gates of the king's palace and slayed him, taking back what was rightfully theirs.

### Jamadagni's Death

When the sons of Kartavirya Arjuna found out about their father's death, the went to Jamadagni's hut and stabbed him 21 times, thus killing him. When Parashurama learned about his father's death, his body filled with rage, as he went to kill the sons of Kartavirya Arjuna. Parashurama, ultimately performed a massacre on the Kshatriya caste for 21 generations, symbolising the 21 time his father was stabbed.

## In the Ramayana

**Sita's Childhood**

Sita's mentor in military and warfare after he was impressed with Sita's strength and willpower of lifting the shiv dhanush and the first to recognise her as the form of Lakshmi. He prophesied that whoever lifts the Shiv dhanush will be Sita's future husband (her equal).

### Sita's Swayamvar

When Rama breaks the Shivdhanush, as part of Sita's swayamvar, Parashurama gets enraged when he learns that someone has broken Lord Shiva's bow, as he thought it was insulting. Later, when he finds out that Rama, like him, is an incarnation of Vishnu, he forgives him and leaves.

## In the Mahabharata

### Tutoring Bheeshma

In the Mahabharata, when Ganga Devi takes Bheeshma from Shantanu, to train him in all arts, Parashurama was the one who taught him battle and fighting.

### Amba's Request

When Amba is rejected by Salva, who was humiliated by Bheeshma in her swayamvar, she seeks revenge on Bheeshma. Knowing that there is no warrior who is stronger than Bheeshma as he was trained by the almighty Parashurama himself, she decides to go to Parashurama for help. Upon hearing Amba's plea, Parashurama challenges Bheeshma to a duel. Their fight went on for 18 days till it seemed like neither could win. So the gods went to Lord Shiva for help. Lord Shiva, then interrupted their duel and promised Amba that she would be the one to slay Bheeshma in her next life. Satisfied with the boon, she ends her life by jumping into a pyre.

### Karna's Curse

Karna was the son of a charioteer, so he wasnt supposed to learn fighting and warfare. But he wanted to. So he went to Dronacharya, who was also training the princes of Hastinapur. But Dronacharya rejected him saying that he would not train someone of lesser caste. Humiliated, Karna leaves to find Parshurama. When he requests him to teach him, Parashurama agrees.

When Karna reaches the end of his training, Parashurama teaches him to use astras (divine missiles).

One day, when Parashurama was resting on Karna's lap, a scorpion appeared and stings Karna. Karna, not wanting to disturb his teacher, endures the pain in utter silence. When Parashurama wakes up, he sees blood flowing from Karna's lap. When he sees the scorpion, he looks at Karna in anger. He realises that Karna must be a Kshatriya, as no one else can endure that much pain, ￼and curses him for hiding that fact up until now. He cursed Karna that whenever he is in great need for his astras, they will fail him.

Thus, cursing him, Karna leaves.

## Etymology

The word Parashurama means 'Rama with the axe'.