History of Parashurama

History of Parashurama

In Parashuram avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a brahmana(priest) in this world. He was brought in this world to avenge all kshatriyas who had become arrogant and were suppressing the Brahmans in the world. He was born to Jamadagni and Renuka, and belonged to the Brighu clan. Parashurama was always carrying an axe presented to him by Lord Shiva of whom he was an ardent devotee. Kartavirya a powerful king, once went to jamadagni’s home when he was out, and after a meal, stole the Kamadhenu cow, which was supposed to give endless quantity of milk. Jamadgni was enraged and he went and killed the king and brought Kamadenu back. On hearing this the son of the king came back and killed Jamadgni. 

Parasurama was enraged at this and went and avenged the death of his father by killing all kshyatriyas in 21 battles. His story is story of the supremacy of Brahmans over the kshatriyas.

 Mangaluru-Parashurama

Mangalore possesses a rich historical past. Mangaluru(Mangalore) which is bounded by the Arabian sea and the western ghats is Parashurama’s shristi and named after the goddess Mangaladevi.

It is believed that Parashurama, the sixth avathar of Vishnu, destroyed the Kshatriya kings and donated the land to sage Kashyapa. As he believed, staying in the land which he donated is not right. He made in-depth remorse of the past conduct and meditation of Lord Shiva on Sahyadri mountrain region looking for new land for him to take refuge. Lord Shiva moved by his prayers, appeared before him and said he will incarnate in the form of Lord Manjunatha for the benefit of mankind and asked him to meditate upon him at Kadalivana (which is now Kadri). 

When Parashurama took a look at Kadalivana which was far from Sahyadri mountain, it seemed to be ocupied by the ocean. Parashurama will approach the ocean king, requesting him to leave the Kadalivana for which Ocean king denies. Angry on the ocean king, Parashurama takes his axe, and roars on Ocean king. Ocean king frigtened on the Parashurama’s actions, steps back leaving behind the land for Parashurama. This is how Parashurama gets his shleter and this is the shristi of Mangalore, which is the city of goddess Mangaladevi.

Mangalore has different names for the city in different languages/communities of Mangalore. In Tulu, its called Kudla or Tulunadu, in Konkani, Mangalore is referred to as Kodial. Muslims/Beary refer to the city as Maikala,in Kannada they call it as Mangaluru and the Pandyan King Chettian, who called the city Mangalapuram, the Keralites refer to Mangalore as Mangalapuram. Also, in the 14th Century the Arabian traveler Ibn Battuta referred to Mangalore as Manjarur in his stories.

(Source: Wikipedia)