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1. Birth of Parashuraam
2. Parashuraam and Sahastraarju, Parashuraam and Ganesh Jee
3. Parashuraam and Others - Raam, Lakshman, Ambaa, Bheshm, Karn
4. Other Incidents of His Life
5. Parashuraam's Temples

People say there are many Parshuraam, how many?

Mention of Parashuraam is made in several religious books - Maanas, Vaalmeeki Raamaayan, Mahaabhaarat, Bhaagvat Puraan.  He is the 18th Avataar among Vishnu's 24 Avataar and the 6th Avataar among His 10 Avataar. He is famous for his anger and killing for Kshatriya on the Earth 21 times. His character is strange. He is born Braahman but is Kshatriya by Karm. He is known as Bhaargav also. He is the great grandson of Maharshi Bhrigu. His lineage is Bhrigu -> Richeek -> Jamadagni -> Parashuraam. Parashuraam Jee was five brothers - Vasu, Vishwaavasu, Brihadyaanu, Bratwakanva and Raambhadra. Raambhadra was the youngest and most beloved son of his parents. Gaining the favor of Lord Shiv and Paarvatee and hence was called Parashuraam. His other names are Bhaargav, Jaamdagnya, Bhaargav Raam. In fact he was originally named Raam but to differentiate from other Raam (Shree Raam and Balaraam), and as he carried Parshu as his weapon, he was called as Parashuraam. Some say that his elder brother's name was Kalash.

In fact there are three Raam, Raam of Seetaa's husband, Balaraam - Krishn's elder brother and Parashuraam - a Kshatriya Braahman. Since the first Raam was the husband of Shree that is why he is commonly known as "Shree Raam"; the second Raam, Balaraam, was very mighty, that is why he is most popularly known as "Balaraam"; and the third Raam always had Pharasaa or Parashu with him as his weapon he is most popularly known as "Parashuraam".

Parashuraam Jee was trained by Shiv himself in archery and he had mastered it with all fine points. Pleased with him, Shiv bestowed him with an axe. (Parashu). Even Paarvatee also gave him many weapons. But he was a great enemy of Kshatriya. He did not teach any weapons to Kshatriya, that is why he did not teach Karn. According to mythology Parashuraam is a Chiranjeevee, He is still doing penance in Mahendra Giri in Eastern Ghaat. Kalki Puraan says that he will train the future Kalki Avataar in Martial Arts. But in MBH, Drone Parv, 70/1-24, Naarad Jee mentions to Srinjaya that Parashuraam, the son of Jamadagni,  as one of the 16 rulers who will also die with desires unfulfilled.

I think Chiranjeevee or immortal (See Seven Immortals) does not mean that "one would live for ever". It is just that he would live long, maybe for one Kalp only, because when Raam blessed Vibheeshan of being Chiranjeevee, He meant for one Kalp only  - but as Kaagbhushundi Jee who said in Maanas that he had been living for 28 Kalp is indeed exception of this meaning of Chiranjeevee and Rishi Maarkandeya Jee too who had accepted in Mahaabhaarat that he had seen several Pralaya (deluges). They really seem to be Chiranjeevee.

How Parashuraam Jee was Born?
Parashuraam Jee is said to be the incarnation of Vishnu and is immortal. Raajaa Gaadhi had a daughter named Satyavatee who was married to Richeek Muni. When Richeek Muni asked for Satyavatee from Gaadhi, he thought that Richeek Muni was not a worthy husband for her, so he said to him - "We are of Kushik Vansh, we are difficult for you, so bring 1,000 horses whose one ear is white and another one is black as fees". Richeek Muni understood, so he brought such horses from arun and married Satyavatee.

Once both Satyavatee and her mother asked Muni Richeek to give them sons. So Richeek Muni prepared Charu (Kheer type sweets) for both of them separately. Satyavatee's mother thought that Satyavatee's Charu should be better than hers, so she asked her daughter to give her own Charu to her. Satyavatee gave her own Charu to her mother and she herself ate her mother's Charu.

When Muni Richeek heard about this, he said to Satyavatee - "You have done a great harm. Now your son will punish the people, and your brother will be a Brahmvettaa (knower of Brahm)." Satyavatee got scared and tried to please her husband, then he said - "OK, then your grandson will be like that not your son." When the time came Satyavatee gave birth to Rishi Jamadagni.

Now there was a Rishi Renu whose daughter was Renukaa. He married his daughter to Jamadagni Rishi. She had several sons from Jamadagni, the youngest one was Parashuraam. His glory is famous. It is said that Bhagavaan Himself took Ansh (part) Avataar to end Haihaya Vansh in the form of Parashuraam. He emptied Prithvi from Kshatriya 21 times and donated it to Braahman. After this he did Ashwamedh, Baajapeya and other Yagya to cleanse himself and wanted to settle down somewhere for austerities, but where to settle as he had already donated the whole Prithvi to Braahman. If he settles down there, it means that taking back Prithvi which he has already donated to the people, and it was a wrongful act. So he threw his axe into the sea and asked the King of the Sea (Varun Dev) to give him the land up to where his axe fell in the sea water. Varun Dev did so and Parshuraam built his Aashram there. This stretch of land came to be known as Parashuraam Srishti. It is believed that on this land there will never be drought or disease ever.

Another Version of Parashuraam's Birth
The character and activities of Parashuraam have been described in the Shaanti and Van Parv of the Mahaabhaarat. In the Van Parv, Richeek Rishi is mentioned as the son of Maharshi Bhrigu. There, it is written that Bhrigu gave the oblation to Satyavatee and her mother. Satyavatee’s son, Jamadagni, married King Prasenjit’s daughter Renukaa. Renukaa gave birth to five sons of which Parashuraam was the youngest. The five sons were Rumanvaan, Sushen, Vasu, Vishwaavasu and the youngest, Parashuraam. According to another opinion, they were Vasu, Visvavasu, Brihadbhaanu, Brihatkanva and Raam. Parashuraam satisfied Mahaadev on Gandhamaadan Mountain and by his benediction, received a very dazzling Parashu (chopper) weapon. Therefore, His name became Parashuraam: "pasuna kuthaarakhya Shastren raamah ramanam Yasya".

Note
Although Bhaagvat Puraan, 9/9 says that Parashuraam Jee was the youngest son of Jamadagni, But I read on Internet that he was the eldest son of his parents, and Renukaa was the adopted daughter of King Prasenjit. It also says that she had 5 sons - Parashuraam, Rumanvant, Sushen, Vasu and Vishwaavasu.

Parashuraam Jee was born on Vaishaakh Shukla Triteeyaa, Akshaya Triteeyaa. Not many people know that in Tretaa Yug when wealth and power corrupted the Kshatriya and they started oppressing and tormenting other casts, including killing the Braahman, Parashuraam Jee, the 6th incarnation of Lord Vishnu, worshipped Lord Shiv and got the Divine axe with which he killed the evil Kshatriya and restored Dharm on Prithvi.

It was Parashuraam who first gave the Shree Vidyaa – Shree Chakra worship to the world in his treatise known as the Parashuraam Kalp Sooktam.

He fought the advancing ocean and saved the lands of Konkan and Maalaabar - the Mahaaraashtra - Karnaataka - Kerala West coastline. He created a temple of worship in Kerala and taught the famous martial arts "Kalari Payattu". He also created the Goa-Konkan land just by shooting an arrow.
[From Sacred Objects Group, Apr 13, 2009]

Reason of Parashuraam's Birth
Found on Internet -

Once Sage Naarad visited Vishnu's abode Vaikunth. Now Vishnu's main weapon is Chakra (Divine Disc - sharp-edged swinging wheel), known as Sudarshan Chakra. Nobody can face it and it is without fail. This Chakra is associated with a Deity named Sudarshan (that is why it is called Sudarshan Chakra). Sudarshan always boasted that Vishnu was all powerful only because of him, He could not have killed anybody if he had not been with Him. Naarad used to ignor his boasting and praised Vishnu all the time, but on that day hearing that he got angry. Hearing the anger of Naarad Jee Vishnu called Sudarshan and said to him - "Dear Sudarshan, It is true that I could kill many demons only because of you, but now you go and be born on Prithvi as a 1,000-armed hero and I will also come as a son of a sage and then we will match our powers there." After this Sudarshan could not live in Vaikunth any more.

Kritaveerya, Kaaartveerya Arjun's father, was born in Chandra Vansh (Lunar Race) and was childless for a long time. Later a son was born to him, but unfortunately he was without arms. But the child practiced austerities for Daattaatreya Bhagvaan and got 1,000 arms from him along with other boons and became well known with many names - Sahastraarjun, Sahasbaahu, Sahastrabaahu. Vishnu incarnated as Parashuraam in Jamadagni's house, fought with him, and killed him. Thus Vishnu killed him without the help of Sudarshan or Sudarshan Chakra.
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Parashuraam’s character and activities have been described in the Vishnu Puraan, Matsya Puraan, and Kalikaa Puraan as well as Sahyaadri Khand. In these scriptures, there are some differences from the above-mentioned description. It is said there that due to the sin of killing his mother, the Parashu stuck to Parashuraam’s hand and he had to go to Kailaash to perform austerities in order to remove the sin. That is why he became known as Parashuraam.

Parashuraam Jee and His Disciples

Among Parashuraam's disciples, Pitaamaha Bheeshm, Drone and Karn are well-known disciples. He always taught military arts to Braahman, although Bheeshm and Karn were the exceptions, in fact only Bheeshm is the exception because Karn lied to him that he was a Braahman and only that is how he could become his disciple, otherwise he did not teach to Kshatriya. And when he came to know that Karn lied to him, he cursed him and took all his education back from him. Besides the followings, his other disciple were - his parents (Jamadagni and Renukaa), Maharshi Kashyap and Aditi, Maharshi Atri and Anasooyaa, Dattaatreya and Vashishth.

Parashuraam Jee and Bheeshm
When Bheeshm abducted Kaashee's three princesses to marry to Vichitraveerya, his half brother, the eldest one Ambaa didn't want to marry him. She wanted to marry Shaalv Kumaar. Although Bheeshm sent her back to Shaalv Kumaar with all respects but still he did not accept her. So she demanded justice from the King of Hastinaapur, that "when I was abducted, I had Var Maalaa in my hands, I had the choice to choose my husband, now I choose Bheeshm to marry me". But Bheeshm said - "I made it clear there only that I did not go there to marry myself, I went there to marry my brother. Secondly everybody knows that I have taken vow not to marry lifelong. So I cannot marry her."

Note
Since Bheeshm did not have to marry, in spite of announcing that he was not the candidate, how could Ambaa choose him? And besides that he went there only on behalf of his brother Vichitraveerya, not for himself; why Ambaa continuously blamed him, and even Parashuraam Jee insisted him to marry Ambaa?

Then Ambaa wanted to take revenge of her insult. She went to Parashuraam as he was Bheeshm's Guru, and he would not disobey his Guru. But Bheeshm did so. At this Parashuraam challenged him for a dual fight. The fight lasted for 28 days. In the end Brahmaa Jee had to intervene to stop that. Otherwise also nobody could die, because Parashuraan Jee was immortal and Bheshm had the boon of Ichchhaa Mrityu from his father Shaantanu.

Parashuraam Jee and Drone
When Drone could not get any means of living after his education, and he found his wife Kripee struggling even with the food for his child Ashwatthaamaa, he went out to bring a cow for his son. He heard that Parashuraam was leaving for Sanyaas and he was distributing his wealth, including Prithvi, he went to him with the hope to get something from him. But when he arrived there, he found that he was already late. He had already donated everything. But when he saw Drone, he did not consider proper to disappoint him, so he said - "If you are interested I can teach you the use of some weapons and some tactics of warfare." Drone got ready to learn that so he taught him the use of several weapons and many tips of warfare. Soon Drone became the master of military arts.

Parashuraam Jee and Karn
Karn was also a disciple of Parashuraam. Karn's father Adhirath went to Drone to get his son educated as he was showing interest in archery etc. But Drone refused to teach him saying that "You are a Soot-Putra, I do not teach them." Karn got very disappointed hearing this then he went to Parashuraam Jee and lied there that he was a Braahman. Then only he could learn archery and other weaponry from him. Parashuraam Jee was very happy with the progress of his disciple, so when Karn's education was over, he did not ask Guru Dakshinaa from him, rather he said - "Disciples like you are difficult to get, so I am proud of being your Guru. You nned not to give any Guru Dakshinaa when I will need it, I will ask for it." But one day...

Indra saw that Karn has been successful to get best education and he could compete with his son Arjun and he did not want that, so he thought of a plan. Once Parashuraam Jee was sleeping keeping his head in Karn's lap that a scorpion (Indra) crawled up Karn's body and started stinging him. But Karn didn't move. Scorpion's stings made his body bled, but still he didn't move at all with the fear that his Guru will woake up. When Parashuraam Jee woke up, he found Karn's body bleeding. He asked him what had happened. Karn told him everything. He said - "You cannot be a Braahman, you must be a Kshatriya, because Braahman cannot have such tolerance. It is only Kshatriya who has this much tolerance. Tell me the truth, who are you? And why did you tell lie to me?" Karn got silent first then he said - "I am Soot Putra." Parashuraam Jee was very angry at this, so he said - "You have taken the knowledge by lying. This type of education is not useful, so Whatever knowledge you have gained from me, you will not remember it when you need it most." And he went away. When Karn wanted to use the knowledge learned from Parashuraam (invoking of Brahm Astra) on Arjun to kill him he forgot the Mantra to invoke it.

Parashuraam Jee and Kalki Avataar
Parashuraam Jee trained Ayyappa also just as he trained Karn in the Mahaabhaarat and according to Kalki Puraan, he will train the future Kalki Avataar also in Martial Arts..

Pilgrimage Places Created by Parashuraam
See   Parashuraam Kshetra

Parashuraam Jee is a Chiranjeevee
It is said that Parashuraam Jee lived 29 generations before Shree Raam, that is why he could not have confronted Him.
But this reason has no basis to meet Shree Raam, because Parashuraam Jee is still alive. He is living on Mahendra Parvat and waiting for the next incarnation of Vishnu - Kalki Avataar to come. He will teach Him Marshal Arts.

Parashuraam Jee was born in the 19th Tretaa Yug (in the transition period between Tretaa and Dwaapar Yug according to Mahaabhaarat. Parashuraam was born in a dynasty which was predominant in Divine radiance (Brahm Tej ) and kindled with the radiance of the fighting spirit (Kshatriya Tejas). He is described as having a mammoth physique, matted hair on the head, bow on the shoulder and holding an axe (Parashu) in the hand.

Agratah chaturovedah prushthatah sasharam dhanuh
Idam braahmam idam kshatram shaapadapi sharaasdapi
Meaning: Knows four Ved by heart, means has full knowledge of them. Has arrows and bow on the back, means has valor; which also means has both, radiance of Braahman and of Kshatriya. Parashuraam will defeat anyone that opposes him, either by a curse or by shooting an arrow.

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