According to Hinduism, whenever Lord Vishnu saw the dominance of unrighteousness and injustice on earth, he took incarnation in various forms and established religion. One of those incarnations is Lord Parashuram, who is considered to be the sixth incarnation of Shri Hari. Parashuram Jayanti is celebrated every year on the Tritiya of Shukla Paksha of Vaishakh month. Akshaya Tritiya also falls on this day, which further increases the religious significance of this date.
When is Parashuram Jayanti 2025?
This year Parashuram Jayanti will be celebrated on 29 April. According to the Panchang, Tritiya Tithi will start from 29 April and will last till 2.12 pm on 30 April. Lord Parashuram was born during Pradosh Kaal, hence his Jayanti will be celebrated on 29 April.
Incarnation of Lord Parashurama
According to Skanda Purana, Lord Parashurama was born from the womb of Renuka on Vaishakh Shukla Tritiya. Therefore, Parashurama Jayanti is celebrated on Vaishakh Shukla Tritiya (which is known as Akshaya Tritiya). Lord Parashurama was born about 8 lakh 75 thousand 7 hundred years ago in the 19th part of Treta Yuga.
There are different opinions of scholars about the birthplaces of Lord Parashurama, who tell different places as the birthplace of Lord Parashurama. But most of them consider Janpaav mountain near Indore in Madhya Pradesh as the birthplace of Lord Parashurama. The name of Parashurama’s father was Maharishi Jamadagni.
Purpose of incarnation
According to the Puranas, when the Kshatriya class crossed the limits of tyranny and arrogance, then Lord Parashurama resolved to free the earth from their atrocities. He freed the earth from Kshatriyas twenty-one times. He was committed to the establishment of religion, justice and dignity.
Parshuram: Knowledgeable in both scriptures and weapons
Lord Parashuram was not only an expert in war, but also in scriptures. He taught weapons to many great warriors and kings. It is said that great warriors like Bhishma Pitamah, Karna and Dronacharya were his disciples.
Why did Lord Parashuram kill his mother?
This is mentioned in Shrimad Bhagwat Purana. One day, Parashuram’s mother went to the bank of the river Ganga to collect Gangajal. When Renuka was filling water from the Ganga, the ship of King Chitrarath Gandharvaraj, son of Gandharva Mritikavat, stopped there. Chitrarath started playing water sports there with his Apsaras. Renuka thought that when these people leave after taking a bath, I should go to the ashram with clean water for worship and evening prayers.
Being from the Ikshvaku Kshatriya lineage, Renuka’s thoughts were free. She did not know the ethics created by the Bhargavas. She started thinking that she was also a princess and if she had been married to a prince, she could have also enjoyed water sports and entertainment like other princesses.
Renuka’s mind was not able to remain stable due to mental disorder. Due to which she could not fill water in the vessel. She returned to the ashram late in the evening with wet clothes without taking water. By this time the sun had set. Seeing her in this form, Maharishi Jamadagni came to know everything through his yogic knowledge. He became angry. He said, “Now your mind is engaged in another man. Now you have lost the right to be my better half.”
He said, “The body of a Brahmin is for rigorous penance and meditation. This body is not for petty worldly work.” On this Renuka said, “Only your image lives in my heart. I don’t think of anyone else except you. Whatever was in my mind, I have told you. Now you decide what is right according to Dharma.”
On this Maharishi Jamdagni got angry and asked his four elder sons one by one to kill Renuka. But all the sons refused to do so. After this he said the same thing to Parshuram as well. And he asked him to kill his elder sons as they disobeyed his order. On this Parshuram obeyed his father’s orders and without any delay beheaded his mother and four brothers. Maharishi Jamdagni was very happy on this. He asked Parshuram to ask for a boon.
Parashurama said, “May my mother and brother come back to life and not remember me killing them. May all their sins be destroyed. May I live a long life and there be no one to face me in battle.”
Maharshi Jamadagni blessed him and said so. Maharishi blessed Parashurama with a free death and brought his mother and brothers back to life.
The story of the destruction of Kshatriyas
It is said that Parashurama freed this earth from Kshatriyas 21 times. Once, King Kartavirya Arjuna of the Haihaya dynasty attacked the ashram of Parashurama’s father Maharishi Jamadagni and killed him. After his death, Renuka also committed sati with Maharishi Jamadagni. This incident shook Parashurama. Burning in the fire of anger and vengeance, he vowed to free the earth from Kshatriyas 21 times.
Holding his axe, Parashurama started killing the Kshatriyas. He filled five lakes with the blood of the Kshatriyas. This place in Kurukshetra, Haryana is famous as Samantapanchaka.
Maharshi Richik was the grandfather of Parashurama. He was disturbed to see this terrible bloodshed. He asked Parashurama to stop this bloodshed. Maharshi Richik’s teachings
This impressed Parashurama. He adopted the path of forgiveness and gave up his bitterness towards the Kshatriyas. He organized the Ashwamedha Yagna and donated the conquered land to Maharishi Kashyap.
After giving up arms, Lord Parashurama went to Mahendra mountain. There he started living in an ashram and immersed himself in spiritual knowledge.
Belief related to Parashurama
Lord Parashurama is the only Vishnu incarnation who is still alive in the form of Chiranjivi. He is engaged in penance at a secret place in the Himalayas and it is said that at the end of Kaliyuga, he will provide divine weapons to Sri Kalki, the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
Parshuram Jayanti is not only the day of remembrance of Lord Parashurama, but this day also teaches us that when Adharma is at its peak, then anyone can take up arms to protect Dharma. This festival is the confluence of Dharma, Tapa, and Parakram, which gives direction to life.
Come, on this Parashuram Jayanti, let us also take a pledge that we will follow the path of truth, raise our voice against injustice, and move towards self-development by destroying the unrighteousness within us.
