||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.
