Amazing history of Parshuram | Surprising facts all you need to know

Who is Parshuram

Parshuram is the sixth Avatar (Incarnation) of Lord Vishnu and was one who obtained the axe from Lord Shiva after deep penance and wrote Dhanurveda which talks about the intense science of fighting a war . He was the possessor of many divyastra ( supernatural weapons ) which he got from Shiva after deep tapasya .

Parshuram is also known as Renukeva , Bhrigukulnanadan , Bhargavram , Bhargaveya .

Lord Parshuram was the son of the great rishi Jamdagni and Renuka and he came from Bhrigu kula .

This avatar of him is the most mysterious avatar which needs to be tackled with an expansive mind because the kind of character he carried and the kind of Knowledge he had , were less known to  the  common people .

Most of the people in India know him as a man or avatar who destroyed Kshatriya 21 times from the planet earth . But why did he do that? Did he really hate kshatriya? Let us discuss in details who he was and the works of his .

Parshuram birth story 

The kula (ancestry ) or roughly called as caste in which Lord Parshuram was born started from the Great Rishi Bhrigu . And after then continuation went on . But the story of Parshuram started with the name Maharshi Richik ( grandfather of Parshuram) who was a great ascetic . He did his penance for thousands of years but didn’t succeed .

One day a celestial announcement from the sky  did happen and it was “ Your wishes are not going to be fulfilled until you drop your brahmacharya  life and Start a new life as a householder . And this is how you will get what you want “ .

This celestial announcement  gave him shock but he knew it very clear that this was the right path to follow.So he dropped his Brahmachari life . 

After wandering in search of a suitable wife for himself , he finally went to the kingdom of Gadhi king . Gadhi put a proposal that he will marry his daughter ( Satyavati ) only to a person who will bring  1000 horses having black ears .

Rishi Richik used his yogic power which he acquired by his austerities and brought thousand horses . Gadhi as he promised ,gave his daughter’s hand to Richik . And this is how Satyavati and Richik  got married  and started their new journey .

After a period of time ,   Satyavati wanted to have a baby so , she went to Richik and opened her desire of having a baby and also told him that her mother too wanted to have a baby who can run the kingdom efficiently . . Rishi Richik agreed to this and told both of them ( Satyavati and her mother ) that he is making charu for both of them . 

During making of Charu for Satyavati’s mother , Richik  put the energy of Kshatriya in the charu while in the Charu of satyavati he put the energy of Brahma ( Rishi ) . But satyavati’s mother had something in her mind .She thought  that Richik must have made better charu for his wife than her .

So she changed her Charu with Satyavati . Satyavati too agreed to exchange her charu with her mother as she was unaware of her intention.

When satyavati realised her mistake ,  she  requested her husband Richik to settle it down anyhow . But as the charu had been consumed by both of them ,  there was less chance that it could reverse . Richik said that the impact of Charu would be seen more on the grandson and this is how the birth of Parshuram took place . 

Jamdagni

Satyavati gave birth to Jamdagni who became a great Rishi  but the effect of the charu was there in his behaviour . Though he was one of the rishi among seven seers called as “ Saptarishi “ , he became aggressive in a quick moment whenever he found something wrong with someone but also normalised himself very soon  . 

Jamdagani got married with Renuka who was the daughter of the King Renu . Now , the time came when Renuka gave birth to  the greatest warrior of the planet earth , who was Lord Parshuram , after giving birth to four sons .

Why Parshuram killed his mother ?

Parshuram killed his mother to obey his angry father Jamdagni who found his wife ,Renuka getting trapped into matrix ( Maya ) while fetching water into her pot from nearby river .

Let us discuss the whole story in detail and come to a conclusion :

One day Jamdagni’s  wife Renuka went to bring water from a nearby river.While playing with water her eye catched a moment when Gandharva was traversing through the sky and this was the time when she broke her chastity . Meanwhile , Sage Jamdagni through  his yogic power was able to see his wife’s emotion  which pushed her to break her chastity .

This incident  made him very angry . In anger ,  he called his five sons and asked them to cut the head of their mother . Four of his sons refused to perform this act while his younger son Parshuram took the responsibility of  doing this act . He beheaded his mother and this was how  the anger of sage Jamdagni went off . 

 Getting pleased with Parshuram as he was the only son who obeyed his father’s order , Jamdagni decided to give a boon . So , he asked his son “ what does he want ? “

Parshuram with his kind voice told his father to give life to his mother again and also erased all remembrance from the mind of his mother which relates it to this incident . His request was accepted by sage Jamdagni and his mother again came into consciousness . 

Conclusion

Parshuram is infamous for killing his own mother . But the thing is how many of us know the real  context  of this story . Half knowledge is more dangerous than knowing nothing . 

And also one more genuine question arises in the mind of laymen: “ How a rishi who is considered to be the purest , filled with anger ? “ 

A rishi is known for his dharma . He is the one who is imbibed with cosmic power due to his austere penance . Following Dharma is the ultimate path for him . Detachment from all kinds of emotions is the basic thing a sage has to go through . Due to this reason he is able to see the ultimate truth . 

Jamdagni knew it very well that once the chastity is broken , the mind will get diluted into such more activity . And this was the reason he asked all five of his sons to behead his wife .

None of them realized this truth except Parshuram . He obeyed his father’s command and beheaded his mother . But as a boon he also requested his father to bring back the consciousness of his mother without remembrance of the incident . 

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Why did Parshuram killed all Kshatriya ?

Parshuram killed all kshatriyas who were not devoted to their Kshatriya dharma . A man of Kshatriya is known for keeping their kingdom happy and fortunate but at the time of Parshuram , most of the kshatriyas had became corrupt and sinner which instigated Parshuram to kill all kshatriyas .

The story goes on as follow :

Jamdagni was blessed with a “ Kamdhenu cow “ named surabhi by the grace of Lord Shiva . Kamdhenu cows had the capability to fulfil all kinds of richness and desires . 

One day a kshatriya king named Karthaveerya stayed in his hermitage to get relaxed from his long journey . Jamdagni welcomed him with great goodliness and offered him great service with the help of a kamdhenu cow .

When the king found that he had a kamdhenu cow who had the ability to fulfil all kinds of desires , he became greedy and wanted to have that cow . His greed compelled him to kidnap the kamdhenu cow .

Kamdhenu cow cursed Kartiveerya that he would be killed by Parshuram as he had done a big crime and this could lead to a great disaster . 

As it was said , he killed Kartiveerya for his crime and freed Kamdhenu . Kamdhenu cow abodes herself into heaven . This act led to great fatality . Now the sons of Kartiveerya got agitated by this act but didn’t have that much courage to take direct revenge from Parshuram as they knew the ability of him . So , they killed his father Jamdagni while he was performing an austere penance . 

This heinous act of Kartiveerya’s sons made Parshuram boil in anger which led to the end of the whole dynasty of the king Kartiveerya and also took the sankalpa (promise) of exterminating all kshatriya for 21 times from the planet earth . 

He exterminated Kshatriyas not to own the land of planet earth but to give a message that he is not going to tolerate any kshatriya who did unethical work to achieve something in their life . He received the name Parshu after getting the divine weapon axe from Lord Shiva . 

He was not just praised by Brahmins and other Varna people but also by Kshatriyas . He had no agitation for those kshatriyas who followed dharma and did great work for the society but for those who became adharmic and used their power just to assault people of the society .

The time when Lord Parshuram  born , was the Yuga when Kshatriyas were dominating the whole world with their power which they received from their respective Gods .

They became egoistic after receiving power and started to assault people of their kingdom . And this was the right time when Lord Parshuram took birth, who was the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu . And when the time came , he rooted out Kshatriyas from the planet earth .

If he had hated all kshatriyas then he would not have made Bhisma as his student . He gave learning of martial arts to Bhisma . He is also known as “ Dhanurvedacharya “ which means Yudh shashtra .Lord Shiva has given this Vidya to his disciples and Parshuram was one of his disciple who became the most excellent in Dhanu Vidya . 

In Dhanurveda , there is detailed mention of how to use this shastra (weapon) and also great details of how these shastra are made , which metal should be used to make it ,in which proportion these metals should be mixed . Even there is mention of those shastras which should not be used without using the Mantras . 

Lord Parshuram axe

He donated his all victorious land of the planet Earth to the great Rishi Kashyap . He was himself a brahmin with the qualities of Kshatriya , but never took the charge of any kingdom .He then moved to the mountain  where he did austere  penance and pleased Lord Shiva . 

Lord Shiva asked Parshuram to request the ocean  (Varuna ) for a piece of land and sent Subhrahmaniyam to help Lord Parshuram to establish a society which is  occupied by divine people . 

He requested Varuna as said by Lord Shiva to give him some living spaces . At the behest of Varuna , Parshuram threw his divine weaponry axe from the place where he stood and the axe fell down at Gokarna.

This is how the state kerala came into existence . The strip of land between Arabian sea and Western Ghat extending from Gokarna in the north to cape comorin in the south is known as the “ Parshuramkshetra “ .

Not even a single legend people pertaining to Konkana , Tuluva and Kerala fails to mention the reclamation by Parshuram of the land submerged in water . 

Then he brought well versed brahmin from different places to customized the society and created 64 colonies for them . To give protection to the brahmins from asuras , Kshatriyas were brought to the new land .

After making it habitable  , he came up with social and custom duty , modes of conduct and life for its people . He inculcated Martial spirit in people of newly formed land by establishing many institutes for the practice of arms. He is the inventor of martial arts on planet earth .

There are many places in  Karnataka and Kerala where you can find the reminiscent of him and his doings . It’s great to know that people who speak Tulu Language (  widely spread in the southern part of India )  have deep connection with Parshuram .

Parshuram in Mahabharat

Parshuram was a great guru or warrior who taught Bhisma , Drona , Karna and all other Pandavas ” the martial arts ” . If he would have the hate for Kshatriyas then , how is it possible that he himself taught the techniques of martial arts to Bhisma and other Kshatriyas ?

No, he had no hate for those kshatriyas who followed their dharma . In ” Adi Parva ” of Mahabharata , his life is explained in details . He is the one who gave Sudarshana Chakra to Krishna .

Parshuram kund

Parshuram kund is situated in Tailung area of Mishmi plateau in the Lohit district , Arunachal Pradesh . This place is about 48 km away from Tezu which is headquarter of Lohit district . Entire place is surrounded by thick forest called ” Kamlang reserve forest ” and the strong point of this forest is that it’s jammed with Rudraksha trees which is considered to be the most sacred tree in Hinduism .

The seeds of Rudraksha trees are worn by people who have great reverence for Lord Shiva .

People from all around the world and from nearby country like Nepal come here to have a holy dip in the Kund. This holy dip in the kund is the most sacred dip which wash-off the sins of a person and delight him/her from the sin which was committed in the past .

According to Hindu scriptures , Parshuram kund is the place where Bhagwan Parshuram came to detach his hand from the axe which he had used to cut-off the head of his mother .

Though he had pleased his father Jamdagni from his action of beheading his mother , but the sin which he had committed through this act didn’t leave him in calm . After beheading his mother , the axe got stuck with his hand . After wandering here and there , great sages suggested him to go to Arunachal Pradesh and wash-off his sin in the sacred river . This river lately known as Parshuram Kund .

A big religious festive Mela is held between 1st week of January to 31st of January . On 14th Jan or 15th Jan , the devotees take the holy dip in the Parshuram kund and wash-off their sins with great reverence .

A big collaboration is going on between district administration and department of tourism to provide finest security and easy to visit to all pilgrimages.

Parshuram Jayanti 2023

Parshuram Jayanti is celebrated as the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Parshuram who is considered to be the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu . This auspicious day falls on Tritiya of Pradosh Kala of shukla paksh in vaishakha month according to Hindu calendar .

According to Gregorian calendar , this year it will be celebrated on 22nd April of May .

This day is also known as Akshaya Tritiya . To start a new buisness on Akshaya tritiya is the most sacred work to go with . Devotees used to do fasting to attain purity in their body and mind .

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