Avatar 6 of 10 · Treta Yuga
Parashurama
The sixth avatar: Parashurama, Rama with the axe, a brahmin warrior who humbled the kings who had turned cruel.
- His form
- Rama with the axe
- Treta Yuga
- His day
- Parashurama Jayanti
- Akshaya Tritiya
The story
Parashurama was born to the sage Jamadagni and Renuka, of the line of Bhrigu. He did penance to Shiva, who gave him a great axe, the parashu, and taught him the arts of war.
The king Kartavirya Arjuna, a thousand-armed ruler, came to Jamadagni’s hermitage and took away his wish-granting cow. Parashurama killed the king; in revenge the king’s sons killed Jamadagni.
Grief-stricken, Parashurama swore to rid the earth of the kings who had grown cruel, and, the Puranas say, he did so twenty-one times. Then he gave the earth away and went to the mountains to meditate. He is one of the Chiranjivis, the deathless ones, said to live on still; he taught Bhishma, Drona and Karna.
Why he came
To end the tyranny of kings who had forgotten their duty to protect.
How he is shown
As an ascetic with matted hair, holding his axe, sometimes with a bow.
His verse
क्षत्रियरुधिरमये जगदपगतपापं स्नपयसि पयसि शमितभवतापम्।
केशव धृतभृगुपतिरूप जय जगदीश हरे॥
Kshatriya rudhira maye jagad apagata papam, snapayasi payasi shamita bhava tapam;
Keshava dhrita bhrigupati rupa, jaya Jagadisha Hare.
You bathe the world in the blood of the warrior kings, washing away its sins and easing its pain, in the form of the lord of the Bhrigus. O Keshava, glory to you, Lord of the world, Hari!
आप संसार को क्षत्रिय राजाओं के रक्त में नहलाते हैं, उसके पाप धोते हैं और उसका दुःख शांत करते हैं, भृगुवंश के स्वामी के रूप में। हे केशव, आपकी जय, जगत के स्वामी हरि!
His day
Parashurama Jayanti
Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya, the same day as Akshaya Tritiya (April or May)
Find the date this yearWhere he is worshipped
- Parshuram KundLohit, Arunachal Pradesh
- Parshuram TempleChiplun, Maharashtra
Questions
Is Parashurama still alive?
Tradition counts him among the Chiranjivis, the deathless ones, meditating on Mount Mahendra until the end of this age, when he is to teach Kalki.
When is Parashurama Jayanti?
On Akshaya Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of Vaishakha.