Parasurama
From the womb of Urvasi came six sons,
named Ayu, Srutayu, Satyayu, Raya, Jaya and Vijaya. The son of Srutayu was
Vasuman, the son of Satyayu was Srutanjaya, the son of Raya was Eka, the son of
Jaya was Amita, and the son of Vijaya was Bhima. Bhima's son was named Kancana,
the son of Kancana was Hotraka, and the son of Hotraka was Jahnu, who was
celebrated for having drunk all the water of the Ganges in one sip. The
descendants of Jahnu, one after another, were Puru, Balaka, Ajaka and Kusa. The
sons of Kusa were Kusambu, Tanaya, Vasu and Kusanabha. From Kusambu came Gadhi,
who had a daughter named Satyavati. Satyavati married Rcika Muni after the muni
contributed a substantial dowry, and from the womb of Satyavati by Rcika Muni,
Jamadagni was born. The son of Jamadagni was Rama, or Parasurama. When a king
named Kartaviryarjuna stole Jamadagni's desire cow, Parasurama, who is
ascertained by learned experts to be a saktyavesa incarnation of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, killed Kartaviryarjuna. Later, he annihilated the
ksatriya dynasty twenty-one times. After Parasurama killed Kartaviryarjuna,
Jamadagni told him that killing a king is sinful and that as a brahmana he
should have tolerated the offense. Therefore Jamadagni advised Parasurama to atone
for his sin by traveling to various holy places.
When Jamadagni was killed by the sons of
Kartaviryarjuna, as described in this chapter, Parasurama rid the entire world
of ksatriyas twenty-one times. This chapter also describes the descendants of
Visvamitra.
When Jamadagni's wife, Renuka, went to
bring water from the Ganges and saw the King of the Gandharvas enjoying the
company of Apsaras, she was captivated, and she slightly desired to associate
with him. Because of this sinful desire, she was punished by her husband.
Parasurama killed his mother and brothers, but later, by dint of the
austerities of Jamadagni, they were revived. The sons of Kartaviryarjuna,
however, remembering the death of their father, wanted to take revenge against
Lord Parasurama, and therefore when Parasurama was absent from the asrama, they
killed Jamadagni, who was meditating on the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
When Parasurama returned to the asrama and saw his father killed, he was very
sorry, and after asking his brothers to take care of the dead body, he went out
with determination to kill all the ksatriyas on the surface of the world.
Taking up his axe, he went to Mahismati-pura, the capital of Kartaviryarjuna,
and killed all of Kartaviryarjuna's sons, whose blood became a great river.
Parasurama, however, was not satisfied with killing only the sons of
Kartaviryarjuna; later, when the ksatriyas became disturbing, he killed them
twenty-one times, so that there were no ksatriyas on the surface of the earth.
Thereafter, Parasurama joined the head of his father to the dead body and
performed various sacrifices to please the Supreme Lord. Thus Jamadagni got
life again in his body, and later he was promoted to the higher planetary
system known as Saptarsi-mandala. Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni, still lives
in Mahendra-parvata. In the next manvantara, he will become a preacher of Vedic
knowledge.