MAARKANDEYA presents MAHAABHAARATHAM

(The SH in this name is pronounced like a lightened 'sh' in 'she', roughly like one between 's' in 'son' and 'sh' in 'she'. )

Parashuraama was a great saint of the Bhrigu dynasty . He was the youngest son of sage Jamadagni (Jamadagni was Richeeka and Sathyavathi. He was a great master of archery too. Richeeka was Bhrigu's son. bhrigu was born from Brahma.). His original name was Raama , simply . He became known as Parashuraama since he wielded a divine axe (parashu= crooked axe). He was the sixth incarnation of Vishnu . He was a bit irate and spiteful too .

Though a Braahmana , he was known for his martial skills , archery that is . His knowledge of asthras was very great . That almost all the famous leading archers of the day were his disciples shows his place in that faculty . The kourava stalwarts Bheeshma and Drona were his disciples. Karna too learnt archery from him but was cursed by him in the end because the sage did not appreciate Karna's lying to him that he (Karna)was a braahmana. His father was once killed by the Hehaya princes . To revenge that, Raama undertook anti-kshathriya campaigns 21 times, all the while unbeaten . He offered propitiations to his manes with the blood of the enemies , making five pools of it and allayed his anger. That area with those five pools of blood was later known as Shamanthapanchakam (shamantha=placating, panchakam=set of five) in Kurukshethram. He earned the epithet 'Parashuraama' from his usual weapon parashu, a kind of axe which he obtained from lord Shiva . Akrithavrana ( called Sumaha too ) was described as his charioteer .

His life span was unimaginably long , since he appears both in Raamayanam and Mahaabhaaratham . In Raamaayanam , he had an encounter with Raama of Kosala province ,who was also an incarnation of vishnu himself , and lost to him . Again in Mahaabhaaratham , he had to stand against his own disciple Bheeshma for the cause of Amba , only to lose on the 23 rd day of the fight . Other than these two occasions, no mention of his defeat was found anywhere . Few knew that his father Jamadagni too was an excellent archer himself .

Sage Romasha and sage Akrithavrana related the story of Parashuraama to Yudhishthira when they met during the Paandavas' exile in the forests.

"After praying to Naaraayana, Nara, Sarasvathi and Vyaasa, then one should read the Jayam."