Editing Parashurama (section)

=== Mahabharata ===
Parashurama is described in some versions of the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' as the angry Brahmin who with his axe, killed a huge number of Kshatriya warriors because they were abusing their power.<ref name="Conquest of Parasurama">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m07/m07067.htm|title=Drona Parva Section LXX|date=1883|publisher=Sacred Texts|work=The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa|access-date=15 June 2016|author=Ganguly KM}}</ref> In some versions, he even kills his own mother because his father asks him to in order to test his obeisance.<ref name="Leslie2014p64" /><ref name="daniel30" /> After Parashurama obeys his father's order to kill his mother, his father grants him a boon. Parashurama asks for the reward that his mother be brought back to life, and she is restored to life.<ref name="daniel30">{{cite book|author=Daniel E Bassuk|title=Incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity: The Myth of the God-Man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3iwCwAAQBAJ |year=1987|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-349-08642-9|page=30}}</ref> Parashurama remains filled with sorrow after the violence, repents and expiates his sin.<ref name="Leslie2014p64">{{cite book|author=Lynn Thomas|editor=Julia Leslie|title=Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrLKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77881-0|pages=64–66 with footnotes}}</ref> After his Mother comes back to life, he tries to clean the blood-stained axe but he finds a drop of blood which he was unable to clean and tries cleaning the blood drop in different rivers. This is when he moves towards the south of India in search of any [[holy river]] where he could clean his axe, finally, he reaches [[Thirthahalli|Tirthahalli]] village in [[Shimoga district|Shimoga]], Karnataka and tries to clean the axe and to his surprise, the axe gets cleaned in the holy river of [[Tungabhadra Dam|Tunga]]. With respect towards the holy river, he constructs a Shiva linga and performs pooja and the temple is named as Rameshwara temple. The place where Parashurama cleaned his axe is called Ramakunda.

He plays important roles in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' serving as mentor to [[Bhishma]] (chapter 5.178), [[Drona]] (chapter 1.121) and [[Karna]] (chapter 3.286), teaching weapon arts and helping key warriors in both sides of the war.<ref name="Karna the conqueror of the entire world">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03252.htm|title=Mahabaratha, Digvijaya yatra of Karna |date=1896 |publisher=Sacred Texts|work=The Mahabharata|access-date=11 June 2015|author=Kisari Mohan Ganguli}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Lynn Thomas |editor=Julia Leslie|title=Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrLKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77881-0|pages=66–69 with footnotes}}</ref>{{refn|group=note|The Sanskrit epic uses multiple names for Parashurama in its verses: Parashurama, Jamadagnya, Rama (his name shortened, but not to be confused with [[Rama]] of Ramayana), etc.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lynn Thomas|editor=Julia Leslie|title=Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QrLKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-77881-0|pages=69–71 with footnotes}}</ref>}}

In the regional literature of [[Kerala]], he is the founder of the land, the one who brought it out of the sea and settled a Hindu community there.<ref name="JonesRyan2006p324"/> He is also known as Rama Jamadagnya and Rama Bhargava in some Hindu texts.<ref name="Leslie2014p66">{{cite book|author=Julia Leslie|title=Myth and Mythmaking: Continuous Evolution in Indian Tradition |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7LKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63|year=2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-77888-9|pages=63–66 with footnotes}}</ref>  He is the only incarnation of Vishnu who never dies, never returns to abstract Vishnu and lives in meditative retirement.<ref name="Leslie2014p64"/> Further, he is the only incarnation of Vishnu that co-exists with other Vishnu incarnations Rama and Krishna in some versions of the ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata'', respectively.<ref name="Leslie2014p64"/>{{refn|group=note|These texts also state that Parasurama lost the essence of Vishnu while he was alive, and Vishnu then appeared as a complete avatar in Rama; later, in Krishna.<ref name="Leslie2014p64"/>}}