Parasurama – story and facts

In Parashurama Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a brahmana(priest) in this world. He was brought in this world to avenge all kshatriyas who had become arrogant and were suppressing the brahmans in the world. He was born to Jamadagni and Renuka, and belonged to the Brighu clan. Parashurama was always carrying an axe presented to him by Lord Shiva of whom he was an ardent devotee. Kartavirya a powerful king, once went to Jamadagni’s home when he was out, and after a meal, stole the Kamadhenu cow, which was supposed to give endless quantity of milk. Jamadgni was enraged and he went and killed the king and brought Kamadhenu back. On hearing this the son of the king came back and killed Jamdagni. Parasurama was enraged at this and went and avenged the death of his father by killing all kshatriyas in 21 battles. His story is story of the supremacy of brahmans over the kshatriyas.

On that note, let’s take a look at some key facts about Parasurama:

1. Parsurama was gifted his famous axe (Parasu) due to his strict penance to Lord Shiva.

2. He is one of the seven immortals of Hinduism.

3. Parsuram is an important character in both the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

4. He was a gifted warrior who passed his skills onto Dronacharya, Bhisma and Karna.

5. On the command of his father, Parsurama beheaded his mother for her impure thoughts and killed his disobedient brothers too.

6. Pleased with his loyalty, Jamadagni offered him two boons and Parsurama chose to bring his mother and brothers back to life.

7. Lord Shiva was the mentor of Parsurama and He instructed Parsurama to destroy all evil on earth.

8. Kshatriya King Kartavirya went to Jamadagni’s ashram and stole the holy calf that was gifted to him by Lord Indra. Enraged by this act of crime, Parsurama killed the thousand armed Sahasrarjun Kartavirya and the calf was rescued.

9. Impressed by his courage and strength, Lord Indra offered his famous bow Vijaya to Parshuram. This bow was later given to Karna by Parsurama.

10. To avenge Kartavirya’s death, his sons killed Parsurama’s father Jamdagni and took his head to Mahishmati kingdom. In return he killed all Kshatriyas 21 times to restore peace to the earth.

11. Parsurama’s bow was used during Sita Swayamvar in Ramayana and Rama was the only one who could lift it, but it broke in half. When he realized that Rama was his own incarnation, he passed on his bow to Rama.

12. Parsurama saved the lands of Kerala and Konkan from drowning and stopped the advance of the Arabian Sea. As the land was barren, he worshiped Nagaraja, who made the soil fertile again.

13. Once Parshuram was enraged at the Sun for excessive heat and attacked it with his arrows. When he sent his wife to fetch more arrows, Suryadev came and offered Prsurama an umbrella and slippers for protection from heat.

14. Parsurama and Saptarishi Agasthya founded Kalaripayattu, which is the oldest martial art known to mankind.

15. According to some legends Parsurama the immortal warrior sage, still lives at the Mahendragiri Mountain peak in Orissa.