Mahabharata – 165

by

Sankar Mukherjee

and

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                       Aadivamsavatarana Parva

Story of Parashuram

Bhisma continued—

In the past ,there was a great sage named  Jamadagni.He was killed by the great emperor & warrior  Kartaviryaarjuna. Rama, the son of Jamadagni slew the king Kartaviryaarjuna with his axe. Rama, cut off the thousand arms of Kartaviryaarjuna. Thus he achieved a most difficult feat of virtue in the world. Again he set out on his chariot  taking up his bow in his hand for the conquest of the world. And he threw his mighty weapons to erase the Kshatriyas from the face of the earth. And the great Parashuram by means of his sharp arrows annihilated the Kshatriyas all over the globe twenty one  times. And when the earth was thus deprived of Kshatriyas,the Kshatriya ladies  raised offspring by Brahmanas skilled in the Vedas. It has been said in the Vedas that the sons so raised belonged to one that had married the mother. And the Kshatriya ladies went to the Brahamanas not lustfully but impelled by the requirement of virtue. Indeed, it was thus that the Kshatriya race was revived.