This is the fourteenth of a series of short articles on various deities. As I am not a Hindu myself, I would appreciate any feedback from Hindus.
The Brahman and two bowls of rice
Satyavati was the daughter of Gadhi, a king of the ksatriya, the warrior class, who were troubling the gods with their insolence. She married a Brahman, Rcika. In contrast to the ksatriya, the Brahmans were focused on spiritual matters or what the Mahabharata referred to as ‘the inner effort’ (cited in Comte, 1991, p.159).
Rcika and his wife wanted to produce a Brahman as their son, so Rcika prepared two special bowls of rice: one to ensure the birth of a pure Brahman and the other, destined for his mother-in-law, to ensure a ksatriya would be born.
The bowls became mixed up and a horrified Satyavati asked that the effects be allowed to skip a generation. In due course she gave birth to a pure Brahman son, Jamadagni. The ascetic married Renuka who bore him five sons but it was time for the ‘curse’ to be manifested. After producing four Brahmans, Renuka gave birth to Parasurama who possessed the attributes of both Brahman and warrior.
Jamadagni’s Fury
The story of Jamadagni and Renuka is a tragic one. Despite being the ‘model wife’ to her ascetic husband, Renuka was unable to ignore the behaviour of a prince and his wives who were indulging in some fun. She slowed down to get a closer look. When Jamadagni saw her he flew into a rage and demanded his sons decapitate her. The four Brahmans refused but the ‘impure’ Parasurama obeyed immediately. Jamadagni then felled his other sons with his deathly stare.
When Jamadagni asked his remaining son to name his reward he promptly asked to become a Brahman himself. On achieving purity he then requested the resurrection of his four brothers and mother.
Kartavirya and the sixth avatar
But Parasurama was not all he seemed. At the time there was a powerful and tyrannical king, Kartavirya, who imposed himself on the gods, rsi and any other creature that he came across. He rode a chariot through the heavens and had a thousand arms.
When Kartavirya interfered in an intimate moment between Indra and his wife the gods decided they had to act to rid the world of the king and the warrior class. Indra and Vishnu met to arrange the latter’s sixth incarnation, the avatar Parasurama.
The death of Kartavirya and demise of the ksatriya
Kartavirya made his fatal mistake when visiting Jamadagni’s house. The Brahman had possession of a cow which provided anyone with anything they asked for. The covetous king rudely asked Jamadagni to give him the animal. Parasurama was furious and killed the king, cutting off his thousand arms in the process. In retaliation, Kartaviryas sons murdered Jamadagni.
This sowed the seeds for the will of the gods to be done. Parasurama declared war on the remainder of the ksatriya and after 21 battles the warrior class were no more. The avatar poured the blood of his victims into five holes and performed a ritual to honour his ancestors.
But Parasurama’s grandfather was not pleased and appeared to his grandson to condemn him for the excessive bloodshed. Following this incident, Parasurama made a sacrifice to Lord Indra before retreating to Mount Mahendra.
The avatars of Vishnu shown in sequence
Do you have any personal experience of, or interest in, Parasurama or Hinduism that you would like to share? If so, please leave a comment below.
References/Sources used (please use my bookstore if you want to order the books):
Comte, F. (1991) ‘The Wordsworth Dictionary of Mythology’, Wordsworth, Kent
Kamadeva [online], link, Wikipedia, last accessed 16th Jul 2010
Image attributions
All images in the public domain
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