Parashurama

Parashurama

Two representations of Parshurama

Parashurama with his axe (two representations)
Other names Bhārgava rāma
Jamadagnya rāma
Devanagari परशुराम
Sanskrit transliteration Paraśurāma
Kannada script ಪರಶುರಾಮ
Affiliation Vaishnavism
Weapon Axe (paraśu)
Personal Information
Parents

Parashurama (Sanskrit: परशुराम IAST: Paraśurāma, lit. Rama with an axe) is the sixth avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. Like other avatars of Vishnu, he appears at a time when overwhelming evil prevailed on earth. The warrior class, with weapons and power, had begun to abuse their power, take what belonged to others by force and tyrannize people. Parashurama corrects the cosmic equilibrium by destroying these evil warriors.[1][2]

He is also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya and Rama Bhargava in some Hindu texts.[3]

Origins

Parashurama is not found in Vedic literature, and the earliest mention of his character is found in the Mahabharata but with different names. There he is represented as an accomplished warrior-Brahmin, a sage and teacher of martial arts, but there is no mention of him being an avatar of Vishnu. He evolves into an avatar in the Puranas.[4] According to Adalbert Gail, the word Parasurama is also missing in the Indian epics and Kalidasa's works, and appears for the first time in Indian literature around 500 CE. Before then, he is known by other names such as Rama Jamadagnya.[5]

Legends

Parashurama by Raja Ravi Varma.

Parashurama is born to sage Jamadagni and his wife Renuka, living in a hut. They have a celestial cow called Surabhi who produces all they desire.[1] A king named Arjuna Kartavirya – not to be confused with Arjuna Pandava[6][note 1] – learns about it and wants it. He asks Jamadagni to give it to him, but the sage refuses. While Parashurama is away from the hut, the king takes it by force.[1] Parashurama learns about this crime, and is upset. With his axe in his hand, he challenges the king to battle. They fight, and Parushama kills the king, according to the Hindu mythology.[3] The warrior class challenges him, and he kills all his challengers. The legend, states James Lochtefeld, likely has roots in the ancient conflict between the Brahmin caste with religious duties and the Kshatriya caste with warrior and enforcement role.[1][2] However, the Hindu texts are not consistent, and there has been a dispute on whether he was a Kshatriya or a Brahmin.[7]

In some versions of the legend, after his martial exploits, Parashurama returns to his sage father with the Surabhi cow and tells him about the battles he had to fight. The sage does not congratulate Parashurama, but reprimands him stating that a Brahmin should never kill a king. He asks him to expiate his sin by going on pilgrimage. After Parashurama returns from pilgrimage, he is told that while was away, his father was killed by warriors seeking revenge. Parashurama again picks up his axe and kills many warriors in retaliation. In the end, he relinquishes his weapons and takes up Yoga.[8]

Parasurama legends are notable for their discussion of violence, the cycles of retaliations, the impulse of krodha (anger), the inappropriateness of krodha, and repentance.[9] According to Madeleine Biardeau, Parasurama is a mythical character constructed in ancient Hindu thought as a fusion of contradictions, possibly to emphasize the ease with which those with military power tend to abuse it, and the moral issues in circumstances and one's actions, particularly violent ones.[10][11] According to Biardeau, in the Parashurama legend:

The violent Brahmin is condemned, ultimately transformed (Jamadagni [his father] rids himself of anger and is slain without resisting; Rama [Parashurama] retires, his mind at peace, to his mountain refuge).

— Madeleine Biardeau[12]

According to David Shulman, "Parashurama carries to a mythic extreme an enduring Brahmin conflict: on the one hand, restraint, purity, nonviolence, detachment; on the other, inherent power, and the recurring temptation to use it in the violent pursuit of an uncompromising vision". Indeed, states Shulman, the Parashurama myth implies that "the Brahmin can never be wholly free of violence, although it fails to specify its precise nature".[13]

Texts

He is generally presented as the fifth son of Renuka and rishi Jamadagni, states Thomas E Donaldson.[7] The legends of Parashurama appear in many Hindu texts, in different versions:[8]

Parashurama is described in some versions of the Mahabharata as the angry Brahmin who with his axe, killed huge number of Kshatriya warriors because they were abusing their power.[15] In other versions, he even kills his own mother because his father asks him to and claim she had committed a sin by having lustful thoughts after seeing a young couple frolicking in water.[16][6] After Parasurama obeys his father's order to kill his mother, his father grants him a boon. Parasurama asks for the reward that his mother be brought back to life, and she is restored to life.[16] Parasurama remains filled with sorrow after the violence, repents and expiates his sin.[6]

He plays important roles in the Mahabharata serving as mentor to Bhishma (chapter 5.178), Drona (chapter 1.121) and Karna (chapter 3.286), teaching weapon arts and helping key warriors in both sides of the war.[17][18][note 2]

In the Mahabharata, he is the teacher of warrior Karna.[1] In the regional literature of Kerala, he is the founder of the land, the one who brought it out of the sea and settled a Hindu community there.[2] He is also known as Rama Jamadagnya and Rama Bhargava in some Hindu texts.[3] Parashurama retired in the Mahendra mountain, according to chapter 2.3.47 of the Bhagavata Purana.[20] He is the only Vishnu avatar who never dies, never returns to abstract Vishnu and lives in meditative retirement.[6] Further, he is the only Vishnu avatar that co-exists with other Vishnu avatars Rama and Krishna in some versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata respectively.[6][note 3]

Parashurama Kshetras

The state of Kerala and nearby regions of the Indian peninsula (Malabar Coast, in some versions including Konkan) are considered as Parashurama Kshetra.[21][22]

The ancient Saptakonkana is a slightly larger region described in the Sahyadrikhanda which refers to it as Parashuramakshetra (Sanskrit for "the area of Parashurama"). Seven Mukthi Kshetras are popularly known as Parashurama Srishti are Udupi, Kukka subramanya, Kumbashi, Koteshwara, Shankaranarayana, Kolluru, Gokarana .[23]

Iconography

The Hindu literature on iconography such as the Visnudharmottara Purana and Rupamandana describe him as a man with matted locks, with two hands, one carrying an axe. However, the Agni Purana portrays his iconography with four hands, carrying his axe, bow, arrow and sword. The Bhagavata Purana describes his icon as one four hands, carrying his axe, bow, arrows and a shield like a warrior.[24] Though a warrior, his representation inside Hindu temples with him in war scenes is rare (the Basohli temple is one such exception). Typically, he is shown with two hands, with axe in his right hand either seated or standing.[24]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The Mahabharata includes legends about both Arjuna, one is dharmic (moral) and other adharmic (immoral); in some versions, Arjuna Kartavirya has mixed moral-immoral characteristics consistent with the Hindu belief that there is varying degrees of good and evil in every person.[6]
  2. ↑ The Sanskrit epic uses multiple names for Parashurama in its verses: Parashurama, Jamadagnya, Rama (his name shortened, but not to be confused with Rama of Ramayana), etc.[19]
  3. ↑ These texts also state that Parasurama lost the essence of Vishnu while he was alive, and Vishnu then appeared as a complete avatar in Rama, later Krishna.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 James G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 500–501. ISBN 978-0-8239-3180-4.
  2. 1 2 3 Constance Jones; James D. Ryan (2006). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Infobase Publishing. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-8160-7564-5.
  3. 1 2 3 Julia Leslie (2014). Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition. Taylor & Francis. pp. 63–66 with footnotes. ISBN 978-1-136-77888-9.
  4. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  5. ↑ Brockington, J. L. (1981). "Paraśurāma, Brahmane und Krieger: Untersuchung über Ursprung und Entwicklung eines Avatāra Viṣṇus und Bhakta Ṡivas in der Indischen Literatur. By Adalbert Gail. pp. xvi, 252, 1 pl. Wiesbaden, Otto Harrassowitz, 1977.". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Cambridge University Press. 113 (01): 93. doi:10.1017/s0035869x00137098.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lynn Thomas (2014). Julia Leslie, ed. Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition. Routledge. pp. 64–66 with footnotes. ISBN 978-1-136-77881-0.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 159–160. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  8. 1 2 Cornelia Dimmitt (2012). Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas. Temple University Press. pp. 82–85. ISBN 978-1-4399-0464-0.
  9. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 161–70. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  10. ↑ Madeleine BIARDEAU (1976), Études de Mythologie Hindoue (IV): Bhakti et avatāra, Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient, École française d’Extrême-Orient, Vol. 63 (1976), pp. 182-191, context: 111-263
  11. ↑ Freda Matchett (2001). Krishna, Lord Or Avatara?. Routledge. pp. 206 with note 53. ISBN 978-0-7007-1281-6.
  12. ↑ M Biardeau (1970). The Story of Arjuna Kartavirya without Reconstruction, Purana, Volume XII, Issue 2, pp. 293-294, context: 286-303
  13. ↑ David Dean Shulman (2014). The King and the Clown in South Indian Myth and Poetry. Princeton University Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4008-5775-3.
  14. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  15. ↑ Ganguly KM (1883). "Drona Parva Section LXX". The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa. Sacred Texts. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  16. 1 2 Daniel E Bassuk (1987). Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity: The Myth of the God-Man. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-349-08642-9.
  17. ↑ Kisari Mohan Ganguli (1896). "Mahabaratha, Digvijaya yatra of Karna". The Mahabharata. Sacred Texts. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Lynn Thomas (2014). Julia Leslie, ed. Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition. Routledge. pp. 66–69 with footnotes. ISBN 978-1-136-77881-0.
  19. ↑ Lynn Thomas (2014). Julia Leslie, ed. Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition. Routledge. pp. 69–71 with footnotes. ISBN 978-1-136-77881-0.
  20. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  21. ↑ Stanley Wolpert (2006), Encyclopedia of India, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31350-2, page 80
  22. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 170–174. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  23. ↑ Chandra, Suresh (1998). Encyclopedia of Hindu Gods & Goddesses. Sarup & Sons. p. 376.
  24. 1 2 Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 178–180. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.
  25. ↑ Thomas E Donaldson (1995). Umakant Premanand Shah, ed. Studies in Jaina Art and Iconography and Allied Subjects in Honour of Dr. U.P. Shah. Abhinav Publications. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-81-7017-316-8.

Bibliography

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