||Om Namo Bhagavathe Vasudevaya ||

Chapter – 139 – The legend of Parashurama-3

Bhargava Rama/Parashurama was born as the fourth son of Sage Jamadagni and Devi Renuka.  King Karthyaveerarjuna of Kingdom of Hyheya was a disciple Maharishi Dhaththathreya had attained several boons pleasing his preceptor.  Once, he undertook hunting expedition through the dense wood followed by his men, after long hours of amusements in the woods, the King and his men were tired of hunger.  They went to the hermitage of Sage Jamadhagni and requested for the meal.  The king and his men were reverentially greeted by the Sage and revealed his pleasure to serve them with a sumptuous meal.  Soon after, a lavish meal was offered to the King and his men; they were served in various sweets and savories, Karththaveeryarjuna was awestruck at the hospitality of the Sage, came to know about the divine cow Kamadhenu who is the source of it.  Karththveeryarjuna had a desire to get hold of the cow under his custodian so that it will be helpful to serve the people in his assembly was flatly refused by the Sage.  But Karththaveeryarjuna forcibly took hold of the divine cow, was intervened by Sage Jamadagni and explained the reason for the possession of the cow for performing various Yagna and Yaga, serving the saintly men, ascetic, family and performing his daily rites.  But Karththaveeryarjuna was not willing to listen to any of the pleas of Sage Jamadagni, finally, he seized the cow from Sage and left the place.  Soon after, Bhargava Rama entered the hermitage and saw his father in extreme agony, informed his son about the visit of King Karththaveeryarjuna and his men who snatched away the divine cow Kamadhenu.  Bhargava Rama was enraged, took his powerful bow and arrived at the assembly of King Karththaverryarjuna, a fierce battle took place, Bhargava Rama sieved the head of Karththaveeryarjuna and brought back the cow.  It was the beginning of the repeated enmity of Kshatriyas and Bhargava Rama.

Once, Devi Renuka was gone to fetch water in Ganga.  There arrived the King of Gandharva Chinthrangadha with several Apsaras, they were having pleasing times in water sport.  Devi Renuka watched at them in surprise and did not notice the time.  When she came back, she found it was already too late to bring water for ablution for Sage Jamadagni who was extremely angered by her behavior, shrieked at her “Oh! Children, kill your mother, she has lost her chastity.”  None of the children were dared to kill Devi Renuka, but Bhargava Rama who was extremely fearless approached his mother and sieved her head off from the shoulder.  Sage Jamadagni was highly pleased with Rama who sincerely followed father’s command, revealed his willingness to give boon, Rama said “Oh! Sathyavathisutha/Father, I would like to have two boons from you.  Kindly restore the life of my mother, and she should not aware of the fact that I have severed her head.”  Thus, Bhargava Rama got rid of the sin of killing his own mother.

Years passed, once Sage Jamadagni was in deep meditation, there arrived the sons of King Heyheya with his men.  They severed the head of Sage Jamadagni and left the hermitage.  When Rama returned to the hermitage saw his mother and utterly shocked, she was sitting near the headless corpse of his father, beating her chest for twenty-one times and lamenting over the death of his father.  At that moment he took a vow to reduce the burden of Earth by killing the wicked Kshatriyas and performed final rites of his father in the pool of blood.  Bhargava Rama surrendered all his brilliance to Sri Rama during Lord Vishnu’s incarnation as the son of King Dasaratha and returned to Mount Mahendragiri for penance.  Thus,  Lord Parashurama put an end to those wicked Kshatriyas who were completely drenched in the material world and committed various crimes, and reinstated the twice-borns who were proficient in Vedic knowledge and knowledge of Bhramam  to elevate the souls to supreme Lord.