Novella of Indian Mythology

Ram to ParshuRam

ParshuRam is the sixth avatar of the Vishnu.But How did he got his name “ParshuRam”? ParshuRam was born as Ram to sage Jamdagini, one of the saptarshis and  Renuka.

Renuka gave birth to four sons named Vasu,Visva Vasu,Brihudynau, Brutvakanva.Before they give birth to their fifth son Jamdagni along with Renuka mediated for deep providence.After years of devotion finally Lord Vishnu appeared and bless them with the son from the womb of Renuka as their fifth and youngest son, Rama.

Renuka mother of Rama was known for her chastity and devotion to her husband.She wield so much power that she could fetch water from a river in an unbaked clay held together only by strength of her devotion.But one day when Gandharvas, in their mighty chariot and attire was passing by the river in the sky above ,Renuka had only a moment of desire and her unbaked clay got dissolved in the river.She was ashamed of her behaviour and waited at the river uncertain of what to do next as she was afraid of her husband who might think in negative about the situation.

As Renuka didn’t return to the hermitage ,Sage Jamdagini through his yogic powers,  divined all that had taken place and was enraged.The Rishi called his eldest son and handed him axe and asked him to kill his mother .Horrified,the boy refused and Sage turned him to the stone and then asked his each son and as each son refused Sage turned them to stone one by one.In last he went for Rama and he was being ever obedient to his father , took the axe and killed his mother.Sage being impressed by the devotion of the Rama gave him two boons.Rama inturn asked his father to return his brothers and his mother to flesh and erase their memory about the incident that took place so that they could live happily.

His father now impressed by the devotion of his son that even after getting two boons he didn’t ask anything  for himself, just for his mother and family.He told him to go to the mountains and do deep penance and pray to lord Shiva.After thousand of years of penance Lord Shiva was impressed by his devotion gave him many boons.First was to overcome everybody in divine weapons, in the skill  of wielding  weapons and mastery of sacred scriptures.  His second boon was to be unvanquishable and invincible in battle. His third boon was to be free of sins and diseases and remain in his prime and health forever. His fourth boon was to be renowned in the world. His fifth boon was to be capable of performing arduous tasks and penances and to remain devoted to Shiva forever. Shiva granted all these boons to him. Shiva gave him mastery over many celestial weapons as well as a chariot and horses which could go anywhere at will, a celestial armour, divine b,ows, a conch shell and two inexhaustible quivers of arrows.At the last, he presented him his axe and proclaimed him to be renowned in the universe as ParshuRam ,“Rama with the axe” .Thus from that day Rama was known as ParshuRama.

One day, Lord Shiva to test the might of Parshuram, his favourite disciple invited him for war. The spiritual master Lord Shiva and the disciple Shri Parashuram were locked in a fierce battle. This dreadful duel lasted for twenty one days. While ducking to avoid being hit by the Trident  of Lord Shiva, Shri Parashuram vigorously attacked him with his Parashu. It struck Lord Shiva on the forehead creating a wound. Lord Shiva was very pleased to see the amazing warfare skills of his disciple. He passionately embraced Shri Parashuram. Lord Shiva preserved this wound as an ornament so that the reputation of his disciple remained imperishable and insurmountable. 'Khanda-parshu' (wounded by Parashu) is one of the thousand names (for the salutation) of Lord Shiva.

Now the post is getting too long.For now, let's stop here we will take about the other deeds of Lord ParshuRama in some other blog post.