Sri Parashuram Jayanthi is the festival commemorating the birth of Sri Parashu Ram, the sixth incarnation of Sri Maha Vishnu.
Sri Parashuram Jayanthi occurs on the Shukla Paksha Thrithiya of Chaitra month. For the year 2023, it falls on Saturday, 22nd April 2023. It also coincides with the day of Akshaya Thrithiya. The exact duration of the Thrithiya Tithi has to be ascertained from the respective regional calendars.
Sri Parashuram Jayanthi – Legends
The incarnation of Sri Parashu Ram was taken by Sri Maha Vishnu for the destruction of evil forces and for the protection of good and pious people. There are a few legends pertaining to Sri Parashu Ram. The emergence of Sri Parashu Ram is mentioned in Agni Puran and Vinayak Puran.
Birth
Sage Jamadhagni, one of the Saptha Rishis was married to Sri Renuka Devi. Bhagwan Maha Vishnu Himself was born to them as their Son. They named Him as Ram. Since Sage Jamadhagni was from the lineage of Sage Brihu, Ram was also called as Bhargava Ram.
Ram has learnt the Vedas and scriptures from His father. Though being a brahmin, Ram also had learnt use of war weapons.
Karthaveerya
One day, King Karthaveerya who had thousand hands and was ruling the three worlds was passing by the Ashram of Sage Jamadhagni. He was back from a hunting trip.
Seeing the Ashram, he visited it. He saluted the Sage and said that he would be leaving soon.
Sage’s hospitality
The Sage asked the King to have lunch there. The King said that he did not come alone and that he could not leave his troupe behind to have lunch for himself. He also told the Sage that he did not want to unnecessarily burden the Sage with more guests.
The Sage assured him not to worry. He asked him to bring his people along to have lunch.
Kamadhenu
The Sage had the holy cow named Kamadhenu. It was originally from the cosmic ocean. It was blessed to produce food for any number of persons.
The Sage prayed to Kamadhenu to produce food for all the visitors. Kamadhenu had made the sumptuous meals ready for all.
Feast
Karthaveerya and his team members had all taken the delicious and sumptuous lunch. They were all very pleased.
Karthaveerya asked the Sage as to how he had managed to arrange for the food. The Sage told him about Kamadhenu.
Greed
Karthaveerya became greedy. He asked the Sage to give the Kamadhenu to him. The Sage told him that he had the rights to only maintain and utilize the cow and not for donating it.
Karthaveerya did not pay heed to the Sage’s explanations. He simply tried to usurp the cow.
Retaliation
From each of the hairs of Kamadhenu, lots of warriors had emerged and fought with Karthaveerya. He had to make a hasty retreat.
While all these were happening, Ram was not in the Ashram.
Ram’s return
On returning to the Ashram, Ram had learnt of the treachery of Karthaveerya. He took the blessings of His parents and did severe penance on Bhagwan Shiva.
Bhagwan Shiva was pleased with the penance and gave him the boon to destroy Karthaveerya. He also had presented him with an axe. In Sanskrit, axe is called as “Parashu”. From then onwards, Ram was called as “Sri Parashu Ram”.
Vengeance
Meanwhile, Karthaveerya was biding his time to attack the ashram again. He knew that he could not have the Kamadhenu. He atleast wanted to penalize the Sage Jamadhagni.
He went there when Sri Parashu Ram was absent. He killed Sage Jamadhagni. When Sri Renuka Devi protested, he hit her also.
Sri Parashu Ram
Sri Parashu Ram had returned to the Ashram to find His father dead and His mother struggling with the last breadth. She told Him the events and passed away.
Sri Parashu Ram then reached Karthaveerya’s place, fought with him with the axe given by Bhagwan Shiva. In the end, Karthaveerya died.
Evil destruction
From then onwards, Sri Parashu Ram had destroyed the evil forces.
Kailash visit
Once Sri Parashu Ram visited Kailash to have the darshan of Bhagwan Shiva. At that time, Bhagwan Shiva was going into meditation. He had asked His Sons Ganesh and Karthik to stop anyone from disturbing Him during the meditation.
On seeing Sri Parashu Ram at the entrance, the Divine Kids stopped Him. Sri Parashu Ram got angry. With His axe, He had attacked Sri Vinayak.
Sri Vinayak did not respond because He knew that the weapon was given by His father. Due to the effect of the axe, a portion of Sri Ganesh’s protruding tooth got broken.
On seeing this, Sri Parvathi Devi got furious and was preparing to attack Sri Parashu Ram. Bhagwan Shiva who had done His meditation by this time stopped Sri Parvathi Devi from attacking Sri Parashu Ram. He told Her that Sri Parashu Ram was also like a Son to Him.
Sri Parashu Ram then apologized to Sri Shakthi and Sri Ganapathi.
Evolution
As per another legend, Sage Jamadhagni had a quarrel with his wife Renuka. When Sri Parashu Ram intervened, he had ordered Him to kill His mother. Sri Parashu Ram did that without hesitation to respect His father’s orders. However, with His spiritual powers, He had revived His mother immediately. Sage Jamadhagni also had understood the spiritual powers of his Son.
Sri Parashu Ram avathar is the sixth incarnation of Bhagwan Vishnu. It is also the first incarnation where Sri Vishnu appeared in full human form. It is believed that the death and re-birth of Sri Renuka Devi denote the begetting of children by the mothers.
God’s own land
Sri Parashu Ram is still believed to exist in this world. As per belief, it was Sri Parashu Ram who had created the land of Kerala by throwing His axe on the ocean. The land was formed wherever the sea had retreated. Hence Kerala is known as ‘’God’s own Country”.
Sri Parashu Ram Jayanthi – Rituals
It is considered beneficial to start any new auspicious venture on this day. Observing fast and making donations to the poor and needy are said to bring in auspiciousness.
