PARASURAMA

Parshurama, is the sixth avatar of Vishnu, descendant of Brahma and pupil of Shiva. He is the son of Renuka and the saptarishi Jamadagni. He served as mentor to Bhishma,Karna and Drona in Mahabharata times.

Parasurama was the son of sage Jamadagni who married Renuka, the daughter of king Prasenajit. One day a Gandharava king, named Chitraratha was sporting in the waters of a lake along with his wives. Renuka who went there to fetch water was attracted by the scene and took part in the revelry. The sage Jamadagni was enraged at the conduct of his wife and asked his sons one by one to kill Renuka. They refused to kill their mother. Finally he ordered Parasurama to kill his mother. Immediately he killed her with his famous axe. Jamadagni was pleased and asked his son to seek any boon. Parasurama said that his mother should come to life, that he should be blessed with invincible prowess in warfare and that his brothers should regain the favour of the father. Jamadagni granted his boons. Once the famous king of Haihayas, Kartavirya came to the hermitage of Jamadagni and in spite of the hospitality he received, behaved arrogantly towards the sages, humiliated them and took away the sacrificial cow and the calf by force.


When Parasurama arrived, he was enraged at the atrocity and went to Kartavirya and killed him in the battle. The sons of Kartavirya in turn came to the hermitage in the absence of Rama and killed his father. Parasurama in his bereaved indignation vowed to exterminate the Kshatriya race from the globe and killed them with his terrible axe undertaking whirlwind conquests twenty-one times with his terrible axe. However later in his life, Parasurama took to pacifism and penance on the Mount Mahendra and lived there for a great length of time extending over many generations. Dharamaputra and his party met Parasurama on Mount Mahendra and paid their respect to the great saint warrior, then one of the oldest of living beings on the globe.