Parashurama is the sixth avatar of Vishnu and belongs to the Treta yuga, and is the son of a Brahmin father Jamadagni and a Kshatriya mother Renuka. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of warfare and other skills. He fought back the advancing seas thus saving the lands of Konkan and Malabar. The coastal area of Kerala State along with the Konkan region, which is the coastal region of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra States, is also sometimes called Parashurama Kshetra. Parashurama is said to be a Brahmakshatriya, the first warrior saint.
Parashu means axe in Sanskrit, hence the name Parashurama literally means 'Rama with the axe'. He is also known as Parasurama, Bhṛgupati, Bhargava, Bhargava Rāma, and Jaamadagnya. Variations of his name include the following.
* Khmer: Reamsor or Reameyso
* Thai: Ramasun
* Malay: Pusparama
Background
Haihaya-Kshatriya Background
Parashurama belonged to Srivatsa Gotra. It appears that the Haihayas may have been enemies and at war with several groups including other Kshatriyas. For example the Haihayas sacked Kashi during the reigns of King Haryaswa and King Sudeva (whom they killed), King Divodas and his son Pratarddana (who finally expelled them outside of the Vatsa Kingdom). All these kings were born in the Solar Dynasty and the Haihayas were a Lunar Dynasty.
The hostile Haihaya King Kartavirya Arjuna defeated the Nāga Kshatiryas who were led by Karkotaka Naga. Kartavirya made Mahishmati the capital of his own kingdom.
According to numerous Puranas, the military corporations of the Shakas, Yavanas, Kambojas, Pahlavas and Paradas, known as five hordes, had militarily supported the Haihaya and Talajunga Kshatriyas in depriving Ikshvaku King Bahu of his Ayodhya kingdom.
A generation later, Bahu's son, Sagara recaptured Ayodhya after totally destroying the Haihaya and Talajangha Kshatriyas in the battle. King Sagara had punished these foreign hordes by ordering their 'heads shaved' and turning them into degraded Kshatriyas.
Legends
According to one legend Parashurama also went to visit Shiva but the way was blocked by Ganesha. Parashurama threw the axe at him and Ganesha, knowing it had been given by Shiva, allowed to cut off one of his tusks. The goddess Parvati (wife of Shiva) on finding her son's tusk being cut filled with rage and declared that if Parashurama's thirst for Kshatriya's blood was still not over she would put a stop to it and teach him a final lesson; she will severe both of his arms and kill him. The Goddess Parvati then takes a form of Shakti (Goddess Durga) and becomes the ultimate source of Power and no other divine power can resist or match to her Supreme power. Luckily, Shiva arrived at the scene and pacified Parvati after convincing not to harm Parashurama as he is also like her son in a way and she should forgive him as a Mother on her child’s mistake. Parashurama also asks for her forgiveness. Parvati finally forgives Parashurama at the request of Ganesha. Parashurama then gifts his divine axe weapon to Ganesha and blesses him.
There is another interesting legend with regards to Parashurama's beating back the seas. It is said that he fired an arrow from his mythical bow that landed in Goa, at a place called Benaulim creating what is known locally as "Salkache Tollem", literally meaning "lotus Lake".
There is an interesting side to Parashurama's conquest of Kshatriyas. After one of his conquests, he returns to Aihole (Badami Taluka, Bagalkot district in Karnataka) which, some say was where he lived. The river Malaprabha does a near 180 degree turn there. While Parashurama washed his blood soaked axe upriver, beyond the bend, there were village belles washing clothes downriver. The axe was so bloody that it turned the entire river red. This, the women washing clothes saw and exclaimed "Ai hole!" (oh, what a river!). The name stuck and the village is now known as Aihole.
There is another legend that the Nairs and the Bunts (Nagas) of Kerala and Tulunadu removed their sacred thread and hid in the forests to avoid Parashurama's revenge upon the Kshatriyas. Parashurama donated the land to the Nambuthiri Brahmins and the Nambuthiris in turn denied the Nairs and Bunts Kshatriya status though they did Kshatriya duties and though some of the royal houses in Kerala arise from them.
Reclamation of Konkan and Kerala coasts
There is also the Panhala Fort founded by Raja Bhoja in the late 12th century[9] which was used by Chhatrapati Shivaji and is said to be the only fort in which he stayed for 500 days. This fort is said to have a connection with Parashurama.
Konkan is the karmabhumi of Parashurama (the land founded by him)[citation needed], but very few people know about his janmabhumi (birthplace). there is one view that his birthplace was Mahoor gadh, which is at the border of Marathwada and Vidharbha in Maharastra. At Mahur on the left hand side of main Renuka Mata temple there is a temple which is believed to be Parashurama's birthplace. However there is also one belief that the birthplace of Lord Parashurama is Janapao or Jaana pau in present day Madhya Pradesh, a central Indian State.[10] Parashurama had spent most of his childhood time in and around the Mandagni Parvath near Vajreshwari in Maharashtra. You can see a Bala Parashurama temple believed to be built by Bhima on the edge of the Mandagni Parvath.There is also a temple for Renuka devi and Sage Jamadagni.This makes us to believe that the birth place of Lord Parashurama could be around this place.
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