[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879) › c5.1327 # A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1327 A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.1327 - **Language:** English ### [c5.1327](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1327) PARASU-RĀMA. ‘Rāma with the axe.’ The first Rāma and the sixth Avatāra of Vishnu. He was a Brāhman, the fifth son of Jamad-agni and Renukā. By his father's side he descended from Bhrigu, and was, \*par excellence\*, the Bhārgava; by his mother's side he belonged to the royal race of the Kusikas. He became manifest in the world at the beginning of the Tretā-yuga, for the purpose of repressing the tyranny of the Kshatriya or regal caste. His story is told in the Mahā-bhārata and in the Purānas. He also appears in the Rāmāyana, but chiefly as an opponent of Rāma-chandra. According to the Mahā-bhārata, he instructed Arjuna in the use of arms, and had a combat with Bhīshma, in which both suffered equally. He is also represented as being present at the great war council of the Kaurava princes. This Parasu-rāma, the sixth Avatāra of Vishnu, appeared in the world before Rāma or Rāma-chandra, the seventh Avatāra, but they were both living at the same time, and the elder incarnation showed some jealousy of the younger. The Mahā-bhārata represents Parasu-rāma as being struck senseless by Rāma-chandra, and the Rāmāyana relates how Parasu-rāma, who was a follower of Siva, felt aggrieved by Rāma's breaking the bow of Siva, and challenged him to a trial of strength. This ended in his defeat, and in some way led to his being “excluded from a seat in the celestial world.” In early life Parasu-rāma was under the protection of Siva, who instructed him in the use of arms, and gave him the \*parasu\*, or axe, from which he is named. The first act recorded of him by the Mahā-bhārata is that, by command of his father, he cut off the head of his mother, Renukā. She had incensed her husband by entertaining impure thoughts, and he called upon each of his sons in succession to kill her. Parasu-rāma alone obeyed, and his readiness so pleased his father that he told him to ask a boon. He begged that his mother might be restored pure to life, and, for himself, that he might be invincible in single combat and enjoy length of days. Parasu-rāma’s hostility to the Kshatriyas evidently indicates a severe struggle for the supremacy between them and the Brāhmans. He is said to have cleared the earth of the Kshatriyas twenty-one times, and to have given the earth to the Brāhmans. The origin of his hostility to the Kshatriyas is thus related:—Kārta-vīrya, a Kshatriya, and king of the Haihayas, had a thousand arms. This king paid a visit to the hermitage of Jamad-agni in the absence of that sage, and was hospitably entertained by his wife, but when he departed he carried off a sacrificial calf belonging to their host. This act so enraged Parasu-rāma that he pursued Kārta-vīrya, cut off his thousand arms and killed him. In retaliation the sons of Kārta-vīrya killed Jamad-agni, and for that murder Parasu-rāma vowed vengeance against them and the whole Kshatriya race. “Thrice seven times did he clear the earth of the Kshatriya caste, and he filled with their blood the five large lakes of Samanta-panchaka.” He then gave the earth to Kasyapa, and retired to the Mahendra mountains, where he was visited by Arjuna. Tradition ascribes the origin of the country of Malabar to Parasu-rāma. According to one account he received it as a gift from Varuna, and according to another he drove back the ocean and cut fissures in the Ghāts with blows of his axe. He is said to have brought Brāhmans into this country from the north, and to have bestowed the land upon them in expiation of the slaughter of the Kshatriyas. He bears the appellations Khanda-parasu, ‘who strikes with the axe,’ and Nyaksha, ‘inferior.’ - [Previous: c5.1326](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1326) - [Next: c5.1328](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1328) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5) ## Cites (3) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Purāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.purana) — Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1327](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.dowson-1879.c5.1327) · Pramāṇa