Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.1955

c8.1955

8) Atonement. To atone for the sin of slaughtering even innocent Kṣatriyas, Paraśurāma gave away all his riches as gifts to brahmins. He invited all the brahmins to Samantapañcaka and conducted a great Yāga there. The chief Ṛtvik (officiating priest) of the Yāga was the sage Kaśyapa and Paraśurāma gave all the lands he conquered till that time to Kaśyapa. Then a platform of gold ten yards long and nine yards wide was made and Kaśyapa was installed there and worshipped. After the worship was over according to the instructions from Kaśyapa the gold platform was cut into pieces and the gold pieces were offered to brahmins. When Kaśyapa got all the lands from Paraśurāma he said thus:—“Oh Rāma, you have given me all your land and it is not now proper for you to live in my soil. You can go to the south and live somewhere on the shores of the ocean there.” Paraśurāma walked south and requested the ocean to give him some land to live. Varuṇa then asked him to throw a winnow into the ocean. There is a legend saying that it was a Paraśu that Paraśurāma threw. Paraśurāma threw the sieve (śūrpa) and the ocean gave way to land for a distance where the winnow fell from where he stood. This is the place Śūrpāraka now known as Kerala. (Śūrpa=Winnowing basket). After giving this land also to the brahmins, Paraśurāma went and started doing penance at Mahendragiri. (Chapter 130, Ādi Parva; Chapter 117, Vana Parva and Chapter 49, Śānti Parva).