Parashurama was the son of sage Jamadagni and his wife Renuka, living in a hut.

They have a
celestial cow called Surabhi who produces all they desire.[1] A king named Arjuna Kartavirya – not to
be confused with Arjuna Pandava[6][note 1] – learns about it and wants it. He asks Jamadagni to give it to
him, but the sage refuses. While Parashurama is away from the hut, the king takes it by force.
[1]
Parashurama learns about this crime, and is upset. With his axe in his hand, he challenges the
king to battle. They fight, and Parushama kills the king, according to the Hindu mythology. [3] The
warrior class challenges him, and he kills all his challengers. The legend, states James Lochtefeld,
likely has roots in the ancient conflict between the Brahmin caste with religious duties and the
Kshatriya caste with warrior and enforcement role.[1][2] However, the Hindu texts are not consistent,
and there has been a dispute on whether he was a Kshatriya or a Brahmin. [7]
In some versions of the legend, after his martial exploits, Parashurama returns to his sage father
with the Surabhi cow and tells him about the battles he had to fight. The sage does not congratulate
Parashurama, but reprimands him stating that a Brahmin should never kill a king. He asks him to
expiate his sin by going on pilgrimage. After Parashurama returns from pilgrimage, he is told that
while was away, his father was killed by warriors seeking revenge. Parashurama again picks up his
axe and kills many warriors in retaliation. In the end, he relinquishes his weapons and takes
up Yoga.[8]
Parasurama legends are notable for their discussion of violence, the cycles of retaliations, the
impulse of krodha (anger), the inappropriateness of krodha, and repentance.[9] According to
Madeleine Biardeau, Parasurama is a mythical character constructed in ancient Hindu thought as a
fusion of contradictions, possibly to emphasize the ease with which those with military power tend to
abuse it, and the moral issues in circumstances and one's actions, particularly violent ones. [10]
[11]
According to Biardeau, in the Parashurama legend:
The violent Brahmin is condemned, ultimately transformed (Jamadagni [his father] rids himself of
anger and is slain without resisting; Rama [Parashurama] retires, his mind at peace, to his mountain
refuge).

— Madeleine Biardeau[12]

According to David Shulman, "Parashurama carries to a mythic extreme an enduring Brahmin

conflict: on the one hand, restraint, purity, nonviolence, detachment; on the other, inherent power,
and the recurring temptation to use it in the violent pursuit of an uncompromising vision". Indeed,
states Shulman, the Parashurama myth implies that "the Brahmin can never be wholly free of
violence, although it fails to specify its precise nature".[13]