In the opening invocation chapter of this narrative poem, the verses 22 to 26 roughly translate as follows:

Let me offer worship to my family deity Narayana Adinatha. He resides in the sacred Ocean of Milk and removes the distress of all his devotees.

When Parashurama forced back the western sea, a new land was thus reclaimed from the waters and was named Konkana. Narayana manifested himself there.

Narayana resides within the hearts of all living beings, protecting them with loving kindness. I draw my inspiration for this work from His Grace.

Parashurama, scion of the Bhrigu line, wanted to complete a yajna in this land satisfactorily and for this purpose, he brought from Gaudadesa, (a part of ancient Vanga) my ancestor, the great sage Bharadwaja. I salute my great ancestor.

My deepest regards go to this greatest of great sages, my Gotraswami, who belonged to the Shakala branch of Rigvedis and who was the Adi Gauda Brahmana.

I have quoted from Sai Satcharita, but there are a number of other religious texts of the region, which also refer to the sacred creation of the land often referred to as Parashurama Kshetra. The date of the birth of this land through the receding of the Arabian Sea would therefore correspond to some period in the life of Parashurama.

The sixth avatar of Vishnu, Parashurama, is credited with a very, very long lifespan. He must have been fairly young while he kept busy avenging his father’s death by ridding the world of his time of a number of its Kshatriya kings and finally met his superior in Dasarathi Ram, the hero of Valmiki’s epic. He must have been much older indeed when his name occurs in stories of the epic Mahabharata or the Bhagavatapurana.

Let us look at his advent in Ramayana, Sage Valmiki’s epic.

In the seventy-sixth sarga of the first kanda, namely the Balakanda, the encounter between Parashurama and Rama is described. When Rama accepts the challenge offered by Parashurama and easily engages the bow of Vishnu, Parashurama knows he is vanquished. He foregoes the fruit of all his penances, the higher worlds, and offers to retire immediately to Mahendragiri in the South of the country.

Bereft of Sri Vaishnavatejas, the sage starts anew a life of austere penance on the slopes of the hill.

A legend talks of Karna, the Mahabharata warrior learning special astras from him.

Later, when Sage Shuka narrates the Bhagavata stories to King Parikshit, Arjuna’s grandson, he informs the King that Parashurama was still living in Mahendragiri (Slokas 25 and 26, Chapter 16 of the 9^th Skanda of the Bhagavata):

The lotus-eyed Bhagavan Rama, son of Jamadagni is going to be around even in the manvantara yet to come. Right now he is residing at Mahendradri, having given up use of weapons of any kind and therefore fully composed in mind. Siddhas, gandharvas and Charanas sing his praise.

That much should be enough about the longevity of the great warrior who turned into a sage. Having banished himself to the desolate and perhaps limited land west of the Sahyadri mountain range, of which the Mahendragiri was the southernmost part, the sage must have kept his wanderings strictly on the western mountain slopes, east of the sea. He must have sincerely wished for additional land-space for his wanderings, penances and yajnas and his austere wish must have been answered by the phenomenon described in the first chapter of Sai Satcharita. When did this happen? Did he have to wait till the time of the Mahabharata era and Sri Krishnavatara?

We can assume that the name Parashurama kshetra must have been in vogue for the entire west-coast of peninsular India, that must have been reclaimed from the sea. The distinctive names of Kerala and Konkana segments must have developed subsequently with the advent of different kings ruling them.

Apparently not, it appears. Valmiki has occasion to refer to Mahendragiri again in Kishkindha, Sundara and Yuddha Kandas, but whichever Ramayana characters are described by the poet in association with the hill do not include Parashurama again. It is just likely that the sage was already having enough free land to wander away from the hill, coming back to it regularly. Purely fortuitously, neither the Vanaras nor Rama and Lakshmana chanced to meet him, when they went that side. But Valmiki gives quite another broad hint, which can easily be missed.

In the 41^st sarga of Kishkindha kanda, Sugriva gives directions to the group of Vanaras led by Angada and having Hanuman and Jambavan as significant members. This group had to go in the southern direction. Sugriva’s instructions refer to places known to be present south of the Vindhyas right upto the island kingdom of Lanka. Thereafter, the further south oriented places described by Sugriva were not quite earthbound, as they led in steps to regions occupied by divine and semi divine beings till Yamaloka could be reached. We shall leave the esoteric para-terrestrial segment of the southern route alone. We find the king suggesting not a straight southbound route, but a zig-zag path going eastwards and westwards, with a continuous southern drag, so that all of Dakshinadesa would be covered. He happens to mention Andhra, Pundra, Chola and Pandya kingdoms as well as the Kerala kingdom. From Kerala they are redirected to the origin of the Kaveri , then again to the Tamraparni and then to Mahendragiri.

Thus we see that the region of Kerala is a reality to Sugriva, while, during Rama’s Bala kanda days it must have been waiting under the sea, to be reclaimed for humanity until Parashurama arrived at Mahendragiri. We can state that the natural phenomenon of the receding of the sea must have occurred sometime between the periods corresponding to the happenings of Bala Kanda and of Kishkindha Kanda.

It is not the purpose of the present article to assign definite dates for all the happenings described in Ramayana, Mahabharata or the puranas. To the extent historicity can be assigned to any part of the two epics, it is our limited submission, that the natural reclamation of a substantial portion of India’s west-coast, must have taken place during a period that could correspond to the interval between the death of King Dasaratha and the actual coronation of his eldest son.

The poet Ilango, author of the 3^rd to 5^th century Tamil epic Silappadikaaram, refers to a well developed and prosperous Cheranadu of which the great port city Vanji was the capital and King Chenguttuvan, Ilango’s brother was the ruling monarch. Chera is the Tamil equivalent of the Sanskrit word Kerala. Ilango describes the Northward movement of the Chera King’s army and in their initial treks beyond the Nilgiris, they come across dancers from Konkana and Kudagu regions. Ilango also talks of a distant ancestor of the king, who had provided food for the warriors fighting on both sides of the Kurukshetra war (of the Mahabharata) on all 18 days of its duration.

We can assume that the name Parashurama kshetra must have been in vogue for the entire west-coast of peninsular India, that must have been reclaimed from the sea. The distinctive names of Kerala and Konkana segments must have developed subsequently with the advent of different kings ruling them.

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of course divine intervention
written by partha, 2010-02-08 20:15:31

Dear Dr K,
Thank you for your very interesting insights.
In particular for recognizing the brainwashing that has been going on in recent centuries resulting in poor understanding of
itihasa.
It is perhaps easier to understand why the reclamation had been shaping in an east-prone southeastern curve rather than as
just a south eastern straight line. Both the orientation of the old Sahyadri range and the Central Indian ridge, which is a divergent plate boundary continuously producing new crust moving towards India's west coast determine its curvature.
I fully endorse your observation that the natural process of reclamation could not have taken place in less than 13 years, unless it was speeded up by divine intervention, by Varuna falling in line with Parasurama's wish, for instance.
Thank you and look forward to further observations on other parts of this series.
Warm regards. Partha

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History twinkles from the firmament of lore
written by kartha_pes, 2010-02-08 00:38:39

Dear Partha,
My visit, though much belated to this interesting series fetched me in a windfall of insights.
¨First, about the confusion prevailing vis-à-vis Ithihasas/Puranas and 'History'. It is interesting to know here that the word history and Veda have similar root meaning ‘to know’. When ‘History’ became part of Middle English in 14th century, the meaning was ‘story’. By 16th century, the meaning of history began to move away from the earlier understanding of the knowledge of objects determined by space and time", and passed on through memory.

Now, like the term religion, the Euro-centric, post medieval definition of history does not have any link to its earlier connotation. That also has led to the arrogantly absurd coinage of the term ‘Prehistorical’ times.

Hence, due to this our Ithihasas / Puranas and folklores have become ‘myths’ to many whose intellectual framework is ‘manufactured’ in the Macaulay-inspired education factories. Keeping that in mind, it was very refreshing to read your article.

¨If we look at the shoreline of the Parasurama Kshetra, from north to south, we find a smooth bend towards east. This interesting aspect may reveal some pointers to the modus operandi of the reclamation process – natural or forced.

¨The time gap between the Ram-Ram ‘confrontation’ and the events in ‘Kishkinda Kanda’ and ‘Sundara Kanda’ was roughly about 13years. It is probably not quite realistic to think that any natural formation of land from sea in the scale we are talking about. It, in other words, indicating the occurrence was forced or through divine intervention. Interesting!

These are some of the meandering tracks, I traversed while reading the article.
I shall continue reading the series and return from time to time.
Thanks & regards
Kartha

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Thank you
written by narensomu, 2009-05-31 22:49:15

Shri Swami
Thank you for the insight and information.I would surely check the site.

Also , I was under the impression that Parashurama Kshetra meant only the modern state of Kerala and only after reading Sai sat charita , it became clear that the Konkan region too was raised from the Sea by this great warrior sage.
As our knowledge of our own roots is extremely limited, thanks to our post- independence educational system, we need to put our own efforts to learn more .
In the absence of a Hari Katha culture that kept our previous generations informed, well written articles by people like Shri Partha and information by well informed persons such as yourself is very much appreciated.The power of the internet is to be thanked too.
Thank you again.
Regards
narensomu

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About Parashurama
written by S.V.Swamy, 2009-05-31 18:59:01

Sai Ram. While searching the net for some information about Parashurama, I came across this article and the discussions. I would like to comment on the following written by Shri Narensomu:

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It seems Jamadagni's wife Renuka and her Mother [ a Queen] were seeking a Son at the same time.
The Sage Jamadagni had asked them to take specifically desined mantra- fortified potions for the Queen , who sought a Son-future King and his own wife who sought a Rishikumar.
The two women, drank the mantra -fortified potion meant for each other[ by mistake] and thus Kshatriya minded Parashurama was born in a Rishi'shome and Brahman seeker Kousika/Vishwamithra was born to the Queen.
Correct me if this is wrong , but the story is intriguing from the gene/environment p.o.v.
---------------------------------------

It was not Renuka but her mother-in-law (Jamadagni's mother) and her mother who were involved in that mix-up. Jamadagni's father (Rucheeka, son of Chyavana and grandson of Bhrigu) gave that magical potion / rice pudding to his wife. When he found that his wife is pregnant, he saw with his divine insight that she was carrying the Kshatriya Teja meant for her mother! Pl. see the following link for the full story:

http://www.telugubhakti.com/telugupages/Sages/IndianSages.htm

Click for Parashurama for the story.

Thanks.

Swamy

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Food for thought
written by narensomu, 2008-12-26 02:47:53

Dear Dwai
Your comment made me think. Here is a link that leads to an image of Karumari Amman , the temple is near Chennai.
http://www.eprarthana.com/images/temples/gods/karumariamman.jpg
You can see the head on the foreground and the typical Mari [ means rain] Ammman Moorthy.
I think Mariamman has more in common with Sheetala Devi.Chinnamasta seems different and probably in pre Shankara TN , there was some widespread Tantric worship,.just my guess.
But it is said that Renuka , after the head transplant that is mentioned in the lore ,wandered in this region and eventually her severed head too was worshipped.One India-one culture-More proof.
What caused revulsion was the wikipedia article that inserts some Freudian twist -somewhere in the middle of the article-[Wendy-Courtight style ]to the Chinnamasta concept.
Regards
ns

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Renuka Devi == Chinnamasta?
written by Dwai Lahiri, 2008-12-24 11:19:22

Generally just behind the severed head a full, four armed Amman [ Amma /Devi/Mother] human figurine too is worshipped.

The visual that flashes in my mind's eye is that of Chinnamasta. Any relation between these two?

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...
written by karigar, 2008-12-24 09:53:06

Interesting background being unveiled in these discussions. Makes me want to go back & re-read the Epics & Puranas with a fresh mind.

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Renuka 's worship
written by narensomu, 2008-12-23 05:28:15

Very interesting discussions here.

Partha, Renuka Devi is also widely worshipped in the Northern districts of Tamilnadu-the name is also common here.The [ severed] head is worshipped.

As we grew up seeing those shrines in street corners, there was absolutely no revulsion attached to the worship , from our side.

Generally just behind the severed head a full, four armed Amman [ Amma /Devi/Mother] human figurine too is worshipped.

ps: A friend of mine from Maharashtra exclaimed "That state too?"when I said Kerala was raised from water.:-)

I think artificial state divisions have erased certain common, valuable cultural links.
Regards
ns

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Renuka Devi
written by P. Desikan, 2008-12-22 23:43:03

It is also of interest to see that Renuka Devi is held in great esteem in Karnataka, where she has many shrines.

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The Revival
written by P. Desikan, 2008-12-22 23:40:55

Thank you Karigar, Narensomu, Raju for your kind words and meaningful inputs.
Raju, your 5 points are well taken. The revival of Renuka as a boon from Jamadagni to his obliging son is part of the puranic lore.i would assume that both the killing of renuka and her revival are symbolic of 1) Parasurama patiently putting up with his angry father and listening to him and 2) Jamadagni finally getting satisfied that his wife was indeed blameless.
Jamdagni and family have been treated rather lefthandedly by most of the mainland puranic lore and it was upto the isolated westcoast to understand the great sage and resurrect him with its own research and puranas. Thus Parasurama and the westcoast can be said to have reclaimed each other.
I am anxious to get some information on the geological birthdate of Konkana-Kerala bhoomi.
Regards. Partha

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Parasurama and Myths
written by Raju, 2008-12-22 16:10:57

Hi Partha,

Thanks for writing a good article. After your article I did bit of research and came up with following information and questions.

Parasurama and Myths

#1 Extermination of Ksatriya 21 times

The credit for this myth goes to Mahabharata and Bhagavata Puranas. The Haihayas and Brahma and Agni Purana talk about the death of Kartaviyas death at the Parasuramas hand in the Haihaya genealogy, stultify themselves when they mention it in a late discourse on the avatars of Vishnu, The other Puranas viz Vaya, Matsya, Padma, Linga, Kurma and Vishnu which mention Kartaviryas death at the hand of Parasurama are totally unaware of it. Padma Puranas clearly say that Parasurama did not quarrel with Iksvakus. (Parasuramas mother Renuka was daughter of Iksvakus who were on his side in war with Haihayas). In fact Brahmanda Puranas say that only few generations later the Haihayas attacked Iksvakus king Bahu remembering the former hostility. The genuine Puranic evidence makes it clear that Parsurama attacked his enemies only once.

#2 Rama, Bhisma and Parasurama.

Parasurama was an ancient risi of Rig Vedic age. His father Jamadagni, nephew of Raja-risi Visamitra, has been clearly mentioned in the Aitareya Brhamana and contemporary of Harischandra. Yet both the Ramayana and Mahabharata have anachronistically made him suffer defeat at the hands of Rama and Bhisma. This looks like desire of Rama and Bhisma admirer to glorify their heroes at the expense of another might hero Parasurama.

#3 Parasurama killed his mother – Renuka.

Puranas talk about Renuka survival of assassination of Jamadagni, father of Parasurama, at the hands of sons of Haihayas king Karatavirya. Who can Renuka be alive and also be killed by Parasurama on the orders of Jamadagni who is no more?

#4 Long life of Parasurama

It is possible that Parasurama did have long life but I believe it cannot be more the gap dates between Rig Vedic period and Mahabharata which I believe to be over 1000 years.

#5 Parasurama & formation of West coast of India.

Parasurama was a great risi of Rig Vedic age. We need show connection between Ramayana and Rig Vedic period studies and we also need to look at formation of coast line/regressions of the sea to get a better understanding.

Thanks.
Regards,
Rajendra Rajput

Note: Reference for 1, 2 and 3
Retrieval of History from Puranic Myths
by P. L. Bhargava.

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Reclamation
written by narensomu, 2008-12-21 13:06:18

Karigar
I was also thinking of another angle to this whole reclamation issue. Now it is done everywhere , not out of any altruism but out of pure greed.
Probably that's why the Sea comes back and says "Oh, yeah, you talk reclamation? I 'll show you reclamation!"
But when advanced souls do that, it is for the benefit of the World and hence it works may be?
Btw,Here is the complete Shirdi Sai Satcharita
http://www.saibaba.org/saisatc.html
There is lot there for the knowledge seeker.HemadPant's humility is touching. For the mundane seeker,who submits endless requests on behalf of self and friends, there is more than enough.
Yours truly falls under the latter category. :-)
Regards
ns

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...
written by karigar, 2008-12-21 10:50:03

NS

Thanks for the points. Both yr response to the article, & to my Q on 'reclamation'...

I must've heard the Jamadagni story a long time ago (but sort of forgot...), so thanks for refreshing it in context.

Also, is the Sai Satcharita mentioned here available on web? Just curious.

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A coincidence
written by narensomu, 2008-12-17 06:35:28

Dear Partha
Thank you for the well researched article.
I have just finished reading the Sai Sat charita and was surprised to see the reference to Konkan , the reclaimed land.I had assumed Kerala was the only piece of land reclaimed by the great sage.
I remember reading about another issue [ genes vs environment classic question]
It seems Jamadagni's wife Renuka and her Mother [ a Queen] were seeking a Son at the same time.
The Sage Jamadagni had asked them to take specifically desined mantra- fortified potions for the Queen , who sought a Son-future King and his own wife who sought a Rishikumar.
The two women, drank the mantra -fortified potion meant for each other[ by mistake] and thus Kshatriya minded Parashurama was born in a Rishi'shome and Brahman seeker Kousika/Vishwamithra was born to the Queen.
Correct me if this is wrong , but the story is intriguing from the gene/environment p.o.v.

Karigar
Today we fill Seas and make artificial Islands out of them.We also reclaim land for building activities.
It must been surely possible for people of supreme yogic powers to reclaim land by their sankalpa alone-or for that matter build bridges over Oceans.
The Geological changes may have been caused by a special individual's sankalpa.
Regards
ns

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...
written by karigar, 2008-12-14 21:09:30

Thanks Partha, for that well referenced piecing together of Parshurama's sojourns with the Konkan & Kerala areas. The Epics indeed are a rich lore on the history & geography of Bharatavarsha, if only one has the eyes to look.

Putting on the 'modern scientific' hat, it is possible that the stories capture some congruent geological changes which led to this 'land reclaiming' by Parshurama?

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