valmikiramayan.net Prose Commentary

Desiraju Hanumanta Rao's prose rendering with embedded explanatory notes

The source gives a substantial biography of Parashurama here: the sixth avatar of Vishnu prior to Dasharatha's Rama, son of the sage Jamadagni and Renuka. When Jamadagni suspected Renuka of infidelity, he ordered Parashurama to behead her -- which he did without hesitation, then successfully begged his father to revive her, a test the source frames as proof of his capacity to kill without exception. When the sons of Kartavirya-arjuna later sacrificed Jamadagni as a human offering, Parashurama, enraged, eliminated the kshatriya bloodline across the earth thirty-seven times over, even cutting unborn heirs from their mothers' wombs and offering their blood in five streams known as shamantapanchaka. He won his divine weaponry through ascesis directed at Shiva, remains unmatched in archery though he prefers the axe for close, personal execution of cruel kings, and is a chiranjivi, one of the small number of beings who never die.