Parashuram Jayanti 2023: Titanic Encounter Between Ram and Parashuram

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A duel between two titans is a sight to behold, and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata are full of such titanic encounters. The heroic display of valour, the strength, the knowledge astounds the reader. We are talking about one such encounter that happened between Lord Sri Ram, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu and Lord Parashuram, the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu, as they meet for the first time.

The sparks fly violently but calm descends once Parashuram comes to know who Lord Ram is. Both were avatars, one born in the past and the other born more recently. Ram, being a Kshatriya is calm and valour personified at the same time. The other, being a Brahmin, was thunderstorm personified.

Who was Parashuram?

Parashuram was gifted with unusual powers by Vishnu himself as per a divine plan. He was the ferocious form of Vishnu which took birth to annihilate the misbehaving Kshatriyas who had gone beyond their dharmic limits and were abusing the ethics of governance. Once the massacre of Kshatriyas came to a close, after a long time, Parashuram had a chance to meet Rama, the last of the Kshatriya in the list, to face him, one to one.

A pleasant phase had arrived in Rama's life after mission of killing demons who bothered the sages, was completed, when he was led to the palace of Janaka, only to win a challenge that was posed by the Shivas dhanush. Winning the challenge hands down, in a court packed with the best of men in arms, he married Sita and the divine entities had become a couple.

Encounter with Parashuram

While Dasharatha, his son Rama and his wife Sita, were travelling their way back to Ayodhya, enjoying the pleasant weather and gentle and occasional dristles, travelled for a long distance. When they had just a step away from the city, the sky turned dusty, breeze of wind turned into ferocious gusts, and the omens indicated a change, that they saw a figure, of a Brahmin armed with a single axe, inside an aura of fire, emitting an unmatched radiance.

Sage Parashuram takes on Rama

In the fraction of a second, Sage Vasishtha intervened, and offered Arghya at Parashuram's Feet, and washed them. Unmindful of all this, still in a nasty mood, Parashuram walks up to Lord Shri Ram and gets ready to question and challenge him. After all he had only one last son of Kshatriya to encounter, in his life before he retired to ascetic life.Dasharath was aghast and pale with fright, as it was a life and death question for his dear son. Parashuram, settles himself and shoots a question at Ram. All the conversation that goes on from this point is not heard by the others, as this is a very divine and mystical conversation which the humans should not be participating in.

Parashuram tells Ram " I have heard people sing praises of you. Your prowess at breaking the Shivdhanush is really commendable. But I have Lord Vishnu's bow which I expect you to lift now. Otherwise, accept defeat or death at my hands. You will get lasting fame as the one who tried to encounter Parashuram. I just want to see your sharp shooting abilities. "

Rama's Fitting Response

Rama, without a word from his mouth, accepted this challenge and the bow built by Vishwakarma and regularly used by Vishnu, looked intimidating and invincible. Ram silently let the monologue continue. When Parashuram was done with his talk, Ram just lifted the bow with ease, strung the bow and fixed an arrow to it. He then drew the entire bow up to his ears, a feat only Ram was famous for, in the three worlds. This unsettled Parashuram a bit. To Ram, it was a child's play.

As Power withers away...

At this time, Parashuram felt a strange sensation creeping all over his body, and yes, his power was slowly making its way out and soon, he felt completely powerless and uncomfortable. Now Rama told him. I have fixed the arrows, lifted the bow and now there must be some target that I should be aiming this at. Suggest something, I don't want to aim my arrow at you, because you are a Brahmin and more so, much older than me in years. You talked ill of Kshatriyas which is why I would like to give you a befitting answer."

Parashuram was now reminded of an incident, where Lord Vishnu had given Parashuram all his powers and asked him to use it against Kshatriyas, who were a menace to earthlings. Once the job is done, Vishnu would appear before him and take away his powers."

Parashuram was by now convinced that Ram is Lord Vishnu himself and kneeling down to him, he accepted that he had been beaten at his own game. He surrendered all the powers of his tapasya and powers back to Ram and went towards the Mahendra Paravatha to continue his penance.

His Jayanti is widely celebrated with faith and devotion amongst his devotees and followers on this 22 April 2023.

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