RISHI SAGE PARSURAM

Dynasty of Lord Parasurama. In the dynasty of the Ailas was a great king named Gadhi. His daughter Satyavati was chaste and beautiful. The king was approached by sage Ruchika for the hand of his daughter. King Gadhi did want to refuse a Brahman, but at the same time did not consider him a fit match for his daughter. So he fixed a dowry for his daughter, of at least one thousand horses, brilliant as the sunshine, with one ear black and the other white. The great sage understanding the mind of the king, procured this from Varuna, the demi-god of the ocean, and thus was married to Satyavati. Soon Satyavati and her mother both approached sage Ruchika and requested him to perform a yajna so that they could have a son. The great sage performed the yajna and prepared two oblations, one for his wife, Satyavati and one for her mother. Since he was a Brahman, he instructed his wife to eat the oblation prepared to induce Brahmanical qualities in the child. The oblation for the mother-in-law was prepared with Ksatriya mantra since she belonged to the ruling class. The mother of Satyavati thinking that the oblation for her daughter was superior to her, requested it from her daughter and ate it, while Satyavati ate the oblation prepared for her mother. When the great sage Ruchika found out about this, he first declared that while Satyavati would have a fierce son on Ksatriya qualities, her mother would have a learned son of Brahmanical qualities. However, appeased by his remorseful wife, he later decreed that while Satyavati would have a Brahmanical son, the son of this son would be a fierce warrior. Thus was set the stage for the appearance of Lord Parasurama. In accordance with the decree of sage Ruchika, Satyavati had Jamadagni as a son, who was a gentle pious Brahman. The mother of Satyavati, the wife of King Gadhi had a son, who though born in a ksatriya family would later become a great Brahman rishi called Vishwamitra. The chaste Satyavati later became the sacred river Kausika, to purify the entire world. Her son Jamadagni married Renuka, the daughter of Renu. He had several sons headed by Vasuman. The youngest of his son was called Rama. Because of his fondness of parusa (metal chopper) as a weapon he was later called Parasurama. Parsuram is the sixth Incarnation of lord Vishnu, belongs to the Tretayug, and is the son of Jamadagni and Renuka. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Lord Shiva, from whom He learned the methods of warfare and other skills. Dharani is his wife an incarnation of Goddess Laxmi. King Kartavirya Sahastr-arjuna, took away the holy cow Surbhi forcibly, and the King's sons killed Jamadagni in Parshuram's absence. Furious at their unrighteous act, He killed all sons of the King and also went on killing all corrupt Haihaya Kings and warriors on the earth 21 times. He then conducted the Ashvamedha sacrifice, done only by sovereign Kings and gave the entire land He owned to priests who performed the sacrifice. He is Immortal who stopped the advancing ocean back, thus saving the lands of Maharashtra - Karnataka - Kerala coastline and it is known as Parsuram Kshetra. He has been a Guru to Bhishma, Dronacharya and later also to Karna. He taught Karna the extremely powerful Brahmastra. But He also cursed that the knowledge would be useless to Karna, predicting much in advance that Karna will join the unrighteous Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra war. Such was His love for Righteousness. Parshuram is a martial Shraman ascetic. However, unlike all other Incarnations, Parshuram lives on earth even today. The Kalki Purana states Parshuram will be the martial guru of Sri Kalki, the 10th and final Incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It is He who instructs Kalki to perform a long penance unto Shiva to receive celestial weaponry. He created a temple of worship right after He resurfaced Kerala from the sea. He placed statues of various Deities in 108 different places and introduced martial arts to protect the temple from the evil. There is a major festival known as Parshuram Jayanti that celebrates this deity. The festival takes place during April of the Western calendar, or on the third day of the bright half of the Hindu month Vaishakh. There is a giant parade and the festivities are hosted by the Brahmins resident in Jammu city. One story that relates to this avatar involves the anger of his father Jamadagni. Based on his rage, he asked Parshuram to slay his wife Renuka, Parshuram's mother. In obedience and devotion to his father, this deed was done. However, when offered a reward for his obedience, he requested his mother be given back her life. From this story comes the recognition of this avatar with parental devotion. Another tale tells of Kartavirya Sahashrarjun, who was a kshatrya (warrior king), murdering Parshuram's father. Due to this deed, Parshuram made a vow to obliterate all warrior kings. However, in fear the kshatrya fled the district until being urged back on the grounds that Parshuram must depart. He was then exiled to the mountain Mahendra because of his misconduct. A third story tells of Parshuram's intention to visit Shiva. Apparently he was stopped by Ganesha. Parshuram responded by hurling his axe at Ganesha, who allowed it to sever a tusk as the axe had been gifted by Shiva. He knew most of the vidyas by the age of eight and was able to converse with animals. Although there are numerous references and stories pertaining to Parshuram, his main purpose was reportedly to rid the planet of wrongness, especially formed by powerful kings who mistreated their status.