By Rajendra Diwe
|| Agratah chaturovedah prushthatah sasharam dhanuh | Idam braahmam idam kshatram shaapadapi sharaasdapi ||
Means: One Knows four Vedas by heart, Has arrows and bow on the back, has both, radiance of Brahma and of Kshatriya; Bhagwan Shri Parashuram will defeat anyone that opposes him, either by a curse or by shooting an arrow.
There are several legends about Bhagwan Shri Parshuram, the 6th reincarnation of Shri Vishnu found in the Holy texts, Ramayan, Mahabharat and some Puranas. This is the only Avatar of Lord Vishnu which is considered as immortal. Bhagwan Parshuram is one of the seven persons who are considered as immortal (sapta-chiranjeev).
According to time calculations as per ancient Vedas, Bhagwan Shri Parshuram was born in the 19th Tretayug (in the transition period between Treta and Dwapar yug according to Mahabharat). He was born in Bhrugu dynasty to mother Renuka and father Rushi Jamadagni. Bhrugu dynasty was predominant in Divine radiance (Brahmatej) and kindled with the radiance of the fighting spirit (Kshatratej).
His physical appearance can be described as having a mammoth physique, matted hair on the head, bow on the shoulder and holding an Axe (Parashu) in the hand.
Parashuram left home to do devout austerities (tapascharya) to please Lord Shiva. Considering his extreme devotion, intense desire and unmoved and perpetual meditation (dhyan), Lord Shiva was pleased with Parashuram. He presented Parashuram with divine weapons. Included was His unconquerable and indestructible axe shaped weapon, Parashu. Lord Shiva advised him to go and liberate the Mother Earth from felons, ill-behaved people, extremists, demons and those blind with sexual passion and pride.
Parashuram, cut/clipped the thousand arms of Sahasrarjun, one by one, with his Parashu and destroyed/killed him. He repelled his army by showering arrows on them. The whole country greatly welcomed the destruction of Sahasrarjun. The king of Deities, Indra was so pleased that he presented His most beloved bow named ‘Vijay’ to Parashuram. Later, Parashuram presented this bow to his disciple Karna when he was pleased with his intense devotion to the Guru (Gurubhakti). Karna became unconquerable with help of this bow ‘Vijay’ presented to him by Parashuram.
Sage Valmiki described Parashuram as killer of kings (rajvi-mardan) and not as the killer of Kshatriyas (Kshatravi-mardan). From this one can infer that Parashuram did not kill all the Kshatriyas but killed only those Kshatriyas who were wicked and vile. The sacred places of Parashuram are in the fort on the mount Salher which is at the extreme north end of the Sahyadri mountain range; in the Kangda district of Punjab (North India); on a mountain five kilometres away from Chiplun in Konkan (West India); and there is also an old temple of Shri Parashuram on a mountain near Kankon in Gomantak (Goa, India).
Courtesy : www.thehitavada.com
