According to Puranas, Parasurama was the 6th
incarnation of Lord Vishnu. He makes a
brief appearance in Srimad Ramayana in penultimate Sargas of Bala Kanda.
His story, in his own words, as described in those penultimate
Sargas of Bala Kanda of Srimad Ramayana is as follows:
Vishnu handed over a supreme bow to Sage Riciika, the son of
Bhrigu, as a trustworthy trust. That
great-resplendent Sage Riciika on his part has handed over this divine bow to
his son with unmatchable deeds of religious merit, who is my father Sage
Jamadagni.
Adhering to a barbarous
mentality Kaartvaviirya Arjuna put my father to death, when the ascetically
powerful father of
mine has isolated himself from arsenal.
वधम् अप्रतिरूपम् तु पितुः श्रुत्वा सु दारुणम् |
क्षत्रम् उत्सादयन् रोषात् जातम् जातम् अनेकशः ||
पृथिवीम् च अखिलाम् प्राप्य काश्यपाय महात्मने |
यज्ञस्य अन्ते तदा राम दक्षिणाम् पुण्य कर्मणे ||
दत्त्वा महेन्द्र निलयः तपो बल समन्वितः |
क्षत्रम् उत्सादयन् रोषात् जातम् जातम् अनेकशः ||
पृथिवीम् च अखिलाम् प्राप्य काश्यपाय महात्मने |
यज्ञस्य अन्ते तदा राम दक्षिणाम् पुण्य कर्मणे ||
दत्त्वा महेन्द्र निलयः तपो बल समन्वितः |
श्रुत्वा तु धनुषो भेदम् ततो अहम् द्रुतम् आगतः ||
तत् एवम् वैष्णवम् राम पितृ पैतामहम् महत् |
क्षत्र धर्मम् पुरस् कृत्य गृह्णीष्व धनुर् उत्तमम् || (Bala kanda 75th Sarga 24 -27 Slokas)
तत् एवम् वैष्णवम् राम पितृ पैतामहम् महत् |
क्षत्र धर्मम् पुरस् कृत्य गृह्णीष्व धनुर् उत्तमम् || (Bala kanda 75th Sarga 24 -27 Slokas)
“On hearing the
unregenerate and highly perfidious murdering of my father, I rancorously
extirpated Kshatriya-s as and when they are born, that too not for one time, going
around the earth... and on getting the entire earth under my control I
performed Vedic-ritual, and at the end of that Vedic-ritual, I gave all that
earth to sage Kashyapa, a sage with divine soul and with pious observances, as
a ritualistic-generosity... and I am at present on Mt. Mahendra practising
ascesis and thus conjoined are the powers of ascesis in me."
"On hearing about the breakage of Shiva's longbow, then I promptly
came here. Thereby, oh, Rama, wield this supernatural and superlative longbow
of Vishnu, which is passed on to me from my forefathers and my father. Keep
your fealty to Kshatriya-hood in view, and wield this as you have wielded
Shiva's longbow”
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The Story of Parasurama also appears in Mahabharata, wherein it was mentioned that Drona obtained all his divine weapons from the former.
Drona heard that the illustrious Brahmana Jamadagnya, Rama
the son of Jamadagni, had expressed a desire of giving away all his wealth to
Brahmanas. Having heard of Rama's knowledge of arms and of his celestial
weapons also, Drona, who set his heart upon them as also upon the knowledge of
morality that Rama possessed, set out for the Mahendra mountains.
Arrived at Mahendra, Drona approached Rama the son of
Jamadagni, worshipped Rama's feet, and told him that he came there with the
desire of obtaining his wealth.'
On hearing him, Rama said that he gave away his gold and
whatever other wealth he had to Brahmanas! He further stated that the earth
also, to the verge of the sea, decked with towns and cities, as with a garland
of flowers, was given unto Kasyapa. And, he added that he was left with his body
only and his various valuable weapons and that he was prepared to give either his body or his
weapons.
Drona prayed to give him all his weapons together with
the mysteries of hurling and recalling them and Rama gave all his weapons to
Drona,
-------------------------
If we study these 2 stories in depth, we will find 2 contradictions.
1) If the Parasu Rama the son of Jamadagni extirpated Kshatriya-s many times by going around the earth, then lineage of both Ikshvaku's, to which Dasaratha belonged, and Nimi's, to which Janaka belonged to, must have been broken, as Parasu Rama might have eliminated Kshatriya-s of both lineages.
However, while describing the lineages of Ikshvaku's and Nimi's during the marriage ceremony of Sri Rama and Sita, Sage Valmiki did not mention about breakage of those lineages due to Parasu Rama's adventures.
2) In Mahabharata it was mentioned that Drona obtained all his divine weapons from Parasu Rama.
Mahabharata followed Srimad Ramayana, as mention about Sri Rama can be found in Mahabharata but not about Pandavas in Srimad Ramayana. Many such instances can be quoted.
So if Parasu Rama distributed all his riches along with entire land on earth to Kashyapa and retired to Mt. Mahendra for practising ascesis, how can he still wait for Drona of Mahabharata era for imparting knowledge in divine weapons and then retire to Mt. Mahendra?
The answer is clear.
Parasu Rama existed only in Mahabharata era but not in Srimad Ramayana era. Some learned Vaishnavites might have inserted at a latter date the story of Parasu Rama confronting Sri Rama, the son of Dasaratha, in Srimad Ramayana to make believe the readers that Rama the son of Jamadagni was holder of Supreme Vaishnava Bow and he was infact the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Hence, we can conclude that Parasu Rama was not the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
There is a clue in Yoga Vasishta. Sage Bhusunda tells Vasishta that he has lived through many Kalpa's of Brahma and had seen Hiranyaksha twice, Daksha losing yagna 3 times, Parashurama 6 times, wearer of moon defeating Sakra 8 times, Shiva and Arjuna fight 10 times etc.
ReplyDeleteSo, the events repeated again and again. Ramayana and Mahabharata happened many times during different Kalpas of Brahma !.
This creation is a dream city of the infinite consciousness Brahman - Yoga Vasishta, like Movie Matrix :-)
Yoga Vasishta is a complex version of Gita.
Refer to Hindu Units of time which shows time dilation between different planes of existence.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your analysis. Valmiki Ramayana indicates that Parshurama wasn't Vishnu incarnation
ReplyDeleteRead Tripura Rahasya (Haritayana Samhita), which describes parasurama's journey after he lost to Rama. How he met dattatreya and then changed his path (in spirituality)
ReplyDeleteDear Nuzen Norm,
ReplyDeleteThanks for going through my Blog, and offering your remarks.
As far as I understood, Tripura Rahasya deals mainly with Self Realisation.
It might have been presented in the form of dialogue between Lord Dattatreya and Parasurama. However, Ramayana, which predates every Purana, contains many interpolated stories.
One among such interpolated stories is the clash between Rama and Parasurama.
In fact the major part of Bala Kanda, in which Parasurama was mentioned, is an interpolated one.
Please read articles under G.35.01 and G.35.02
Thanks once again.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteParashurama is also mentioned in Ayodhya Kanda and Yudha Kanda. So Parashurama did exist in Ramayana era. Parashurama meeting Rama is also in Mahabharata.
ReplyDelete