The immortal incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu – Parashuram

Whenever Dharma is hindered and the tyranny of the evil forces increases, Bhagwan Vishnu incarnates as the powerful force to destroy evil. The Parashuram avatar is the one where incarnating as a man Bhagwan Vishnu shows that when good people get angry, it leads to total annihilation of evil forces. His Jayanthi is celebrated on the Shukla Paksha Tritiya in the month of Vaishakh.

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Parushuram’s father, Rishi Jamadagni was the son of Sage Richika and Satyavathi. According to the Bhagavat Puran, It was prophesized that a Rishi Jamadagni would be born as a warrior. But, Satyavati requested that her son would remain a calm sage but her grandson could be a warrior. Thus Jamadagni was born to the couple who was a sage, but Jamadagni’s son Parashuram went on to become a terrible, but great warrior..
Parashuram was the youngest son of the five children of Jamadagni and Mata Renuka. He was named as Ram by his parents. As he had the traits of a warrior, he was temperamental and fierce by nature, but yet always worked for the welfare of Dharma. He became an ardent devotee of Bhagwan Shiv and performed penance to obtain his blessings. Bhagwan Shiv was mighty pleased with Ram’s penance and blessed him to be immortal. He also gave Ram an axe which in future would be his weapon to eliminate evil forces. Since then as the yielder of Parashu (the axe), he came to be known as Parashuram.

Being dutiful to his parents, Parashuram did whatever his father ordered him to do. Once, when Rishi Jamadagni was upset with Mata Renuka, he asked his sons to kill her. All of them refused, but Parashuram followed his father’s command and killed her. Rishi Jamadagni was pleased with his son’s devotion towards him and asked him for a boon. Parashuram requested his father to bring back Mata Renuka alive. As a dutiful son, he followed his father’s command and also saved his mother’s life.

However, destiny made him a terrible warrior when he killed Kartyaveeryarjun or Sahasrabaahu, the Kshatriya king who was the cause of his parent’s death. But, his anger did not suffice. He continued to eliminate the evil Kshatriya generations for twenty one times. After eliminating all, he calmed and gave the entire land of Mother Earth ruled by the Kshatriyas as charity to Rishi Kashyap. He retired to Mahendra Mountain and absolved himself in penance.

Later, during the Swayamvar of Shri Ram and Mata Sita, he returns back knowing that a young prince had broken the great bow of Bhagwan Shiv. But when he arrives, he understands that Shri Ram is the incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu and by giving Shri Ram his Kodanda bow, Parashuram passes on the soul of Bhagwan Vishnu to Shri Ram. By asking Shri Ram to destroy his weaponry power which was the cause of his anger, he leaves the place understanding that his role was taken over by Shri Ram who had come to lead mankind on the path of Dharma.

Bhagwan Parashuram often is mistaken as the angry Rishi, but he has in fact laid down rules for the evil forces not to dominate over the good. With his immortality, he utilised his powers in training great warriors like Bhishma, Guru Drona and Karna. Bhagwan Parashuram is the fierce force whose name strikes fear in the evil, and gives assurance to the good that there is always a saviour of the good ones in the world.