Bhagwan Parshuram
Bhagwan Parshuram, the sixth
Incarnation of Vishnu, belongs to the Tretayug, and is the son of
Jamadagni and Renuka. Parshu means axe, hence His name literally means
Ram-with-the-axe. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to
please Lord Shiva, from whom He learned the methods of warfare and other
skills. Even though He was born as a Brahmin, He had Kshatriya (warrior) traits
in terms of aggression, warfare and valour. Hence He is said to be a 'Brahma-Kshatriya'
and one who possesses Brahmatej and Kshatratej.
He killed the entire army and King Kartavirya
Sahasrarjuna, who took away the magical cow (Kamadhenu) forcibly, that belonged
to His father Jamadagni. In revenge 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 (Yadnya).
He is a Chiranjeevi (Immortal) who
fought the advancing ocean back, thus saving the lands of Konkan and Malabar
(Maharashtra - Karnataka - Kerala coastline). The
coastal area of Kerala state along with the Konkan region, i.e., coastal Maharashtra
and Karnataka, is known as ParshuramKshetra (area).
He has been a Guru to Bhishma, Dronacharya and
later also to Karna. He taught Karna the extremely
powerful Brahmastra (a celestial weapon). 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.
Also, the Sudarshan chakra (or Sudarshan
Vidya) is said to be given by Parshuram to Lord Krushna. The purpose of the
sixth Incarnation of Vishnu is considered by religious scholars to be to
relieve the earth's burden by exterminating the sinful, destructive and
irreligious kings that pillaged its resources, and neglected their duties.
Meaning: Parshuram who is
well-versed with the four Vedas and sports the bow and arrow upon His back
(that is the one who has the radiance of both the Brahman and the Kshatriya)
will destroy evildoers either with a curse or with an arrow. When fighting,
mere use of weapons is insufficient for a seeker. He should have the potential
to curse in conjunction with the former. Shri Parshuram single-handedly
eliminated the warriors from the earth, circumambulating it twenty-one times.
What exactly does this mean? He destroyed the evil Kshatriyas. If He were to
destroy all the Kshatriyas on the earth thoroughly even once then not a single
Kshatriya would have survived for the second round! However He slew only the
evil Kshatriyas. Let us all attempt to destroy the evildoers atleast once.
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