35 verses
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King! From the womb of Urvaśī, six sons were generated by Purūravā. Their names were Āyu, Śrutāyu, Satyāyu, Raya, Vijaya and Jaya.
bhīmas tu vijayasyātha kāñcano hotrakas tataḥ tasya jahnuḥ suto gaḍgāṁ gaṇòūṣī-kṛtya yo 'pibat
The son of Śrutāyu was Vasumān; the son of Satyāyu, Śrutañjaya; the son of Raya, Eka; the son of Jaya, Amita; and the son of Vijaya, Bhīma. The son of Bhīma was Kāñcana; the son of Kāñcana was Hotraka; and the son of Hotraka was Jahnu, who drank all the water of the Ganges in one sip.
Āyus prolific dynasty will be discussed later. First the dynasties of the others among the six sons are described in summary starting with Śrutāyu. Raya had a son called Eka. Jayas son was Amita.
The son of Jahnu was Puru, the son of Puru was Balāka, the son of Balāka was Ajaka, and the son of Ajaka was Kuśa. Kuśa had four sons, named Kuśāmbu, Tanaya, Vasu and Kuśanābha. The son of Kuśāmbu was Gādhi.
ekataḥ śyāma-karṇānāṁ hayānāṁ candra-varcasām sahasraṁ dīyatāṁ śulkaṁ kanyāyāḥ kuśikā vayam
King Gādhi had a daughter named Satyavatī, whom a brāhmaṇa sage named Ṛcīka requested from the King to be his wife. King Gādhi, however, regarded Ṛcīka as an unfit husband for his daughter, and therefore he told the brāhmaṇa, "My dear sir, I belong to the dynasty of Kuśa. Therefore, bring at least one thousand horses, each as brilliant as moonshine and each having one black ear, as a dowry."
It will be explained in a later chapter that the son of Gadhi, Viśvāmitra, became a brahmarṣi. In order to tell about the avatāra Paraśurāma coming in the dynasty of the daughter, first the story of the sage Ṛcīka is told. We are kṣatriyas of the Kuśa dynasty, very elevated. The horses should have one black ear, either left or right.
When King Gādhi said this, the sage could understand the King's mind. Therefore he went to Varuṇa and brought from him the one thousand horses and gave them to Gādhi. He then married the King's beautiful daughter.
Thereafter, Ṛcīka's wife and mother-in-law, each desired a son. He cooked sacrificial rice with mantras for both, and went to bath.
He cooked rice for his wife with brāhmaṇa mantras and rice with kṣatriya mantras for his mother-in-law.
Meanwhile, because Satyavatī's mother thought that the oblation prepared for her daughter, Ṛcīka's wife, must be better, she asked her daughter for that oblation. Satyavatī therefore gave her own oblation to her mother and ate her mother's oblation herself.
While the sage was bathing, and before he returned Satyavatīs mother thought that her daughters rice must be superior because the husbands affection for her. She asked for that share, and the daughter gave her the rice with the brāhmaṇa mantras in it. The daughter ate the rice with the kṣatriya mantras in it.
When the sage understood what had happened in his absence, he said to his wife, Satyavatī, "You have done something horrible. Your son will be a fierce kṣatriya, and your brother will be the best of brāhmaṇas."
You have done something horrible. Your son will be fierce kṣatriya (danòa-dharaḥ). Your brother will be a brāhmaṇa, Viśvāmitra. He will be described later.
Satyavatī, however, pacified Ṛcīka and requested that her son not be a fierce kṣatriya. Ṛcīka Muni replied, "Then your grandson will be a kṣatriya. Thus Jamadagni was born as the son of Satyavatī.
The sage, pacified by his wife who did not want a kṣatriya son, then spoke. Then your grandson will be a kṣatriya. That grandson was Paraśurāma. Because of that, her son was Jamadagni.
tasyāṁ vai bhārgava-ṛṣeḥ sutā vasumad-ādayaḥ yavīyāñ jajña eteṣāṁ rāma ity abhiviśrutaḥ
Satyavatī later became the sacred river Kauśikī to purify the entire world, and her son, Jamadagni, married Reṇukā, the daughter of Reṇu. By the semen of Jamadagni, many sons, headed by Vasumān, were born from the womb of Reṇukā. The youngest of them was Paraśurāma.
Satyavatī became the Kauśikī River.
Learned scholars accept this Paraśurāma as a portion of Vāsudeva, destroyer of the dynasty of Kārtavīrya.2 Paraśurāma killed all the kṣatriyas on earth twenty-one times.
When the kṣatriyas, being excessively proud, covered by rajas and tamas, became irreligious, and became a burden for the earth, Paraśurāma killed them, though their offense was not great.
He destroyed the burden of the earth which was irreligious.
King Parīkṣit said: What was the offense that the kṣatriyas who could not control their senses committed towards Paraśurāma, the incarnation of the Lord, by which the kṣatriyas were repeatedly destroyed?
bāhūn daśa-śataṁ lebhe durdharṣatvam arātiṣu avyāhatendriyaujaḥ śrī- tejo-vīrya-yaśo-balam
yogeśvaratvam aiśvaryaṁ
guṇā yatrāṇimādayaḥ
cacārāvyāhata-gatir
lokeṣu pavano yathā
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: The best of the kṣatriyas, Kārtavīryārjuna, the King of the Haihayas, received one thousand arms by worshiping Dattātreya, a portion of a portion of Nārāyaṇa. He also became undefeatable by enemies and received unobstructed sensory power, beauty, influence, strength, fame and the mystic power by which to achieve all the perfections of yoga, such as aṇimā and laghimā. He roamed all over the world without opposition, just like the wind.
Once while enjoying in the water of the River Narmadā, Kārtavīryārjuna, extremely proud, surrounded by beautiful women and garlanded with a garland of victory, stopped the flow of the water with his arms.
Because Kārtavīryārjuna made the water flow in the opposite direction, the camp of Rāvaṇa, which was set up on the bank of the Narmadā near the city of Māhiṣmatī, was inundated. Rāvaṇa, considering himself a great hero, could not tolerate Kārtavīryārjuna's power.
Rāvaṇa, conquering the directions, was worshipping devatās at Māhiṣmatī. The river flowed back because of the obstruction created by Kārtavīryārjuna. Seeing his encampment flooded by the water of the Revā River, he could not tolerate his strength. He went to fight with him.
In the presence of the women, Kārtavīryārjuna, insulted by Rāvaṇa, easily defeated him, and confined him in the city of Māhiṣmatī, just as one captures a monkey, and then releases him.
Rāvaṇa was defeated (gṛhītaḥ) by him.
Once while Kārtavīryārjuna was wandering in a solitary forest and hunting, he approached the residence of Jamadagni.
Now his offense is explained in order to show why Paraśurāma killed him.
The sage Jamadagni, whose wealth was his austerity, received the King suitably, along with the King's soldiers, ministers and carriers, because he had a kāma-dhenu.
Havismatyā means because of a kāma-dhenu.
Kārtavīryārjuna, seeing the valuable cow, which greatly exceeded his own wealth, did not care for the reception. He with his men desired the cow.
Seeing the jewel of the kāma-dhenu by which Jamadagni could worship properly,
he did not care for the worship, because he desired the cow.
Because of pride, Kārtavīryārjuna encouraged his men to steal Jamadagni's kāmadhenu. Thus the men forcibly took the crying kāmadhenu, along with her calf, to Māhiṣmatī.
He encouraged his men to steal the kāma-dhenu.
When Kārtavīryārjuna had left with the kāmadhenu, Paraśurāma returned to the hermitage. When Paraśurāma heard about Kārtavīryārjuna's depravity, he became as angry as a trampled snake.
Taking up his fierce axe, his shield, his bow and a quiver of arrows, Paraśurāma, unable to tolerate this, chased Kārtavīryārjuna just as a lion chases an elephant.
While entering the city Kārtavīryārjuna saw him.
Kārtavīryārjuna sent seventeen fearful akṣauhiṇīs of soldiers, along with elephants, chariots, horses and infantry soldiers equipped with clubs, swords, arrows, spears, studded clubs, lances. But Paraśurāma alone killed all of them.
He sent fearful akṣauhinīs along with elephants and various weapons.
Skilled in the use of his axe, moving with the speed of the mind and the wind, wherever the destroyer of the enemies troops move about, the severed necks, legs and arms of the enemy along with their chariot drivers and carriers, fell to the ground.
Skilled in using his axe, acting with the speed of the mind and the wind, first seeing the great numbers of troops, he worked quickly to destroy them, and when they were almost all killed, slowing down somewhat and acted like the wind. Wherever he went, there the heroes fell.
Seeing his soldiers whose bodies, armor, flags and bows were cut to bits by the arrows and axe of Paraśurāma on the battlefield muddy with torrents of blood, Kartavīryārjuna in anger rushed forward.
Haihayaḥ means Kartavīryārjuna.
Then Kārtavīryārjuna, with his one thousand arms, simultaneously fixed arrows on five hundred bows to kill Paraśurāma. But Paraśurāma, the best of fighters, released enough arrows with only one bow to cut to pieces all the arrows and bows in the hands of Kārtavīryārjuna.
Kārtavīryārjuna strung the arrows to kill Paraśurāma, but Paraśurāma cut all the bows along with all the arrows.
As Kartavīryārjuna was running quickly towards him on the battlefield, uprooting mountains and tree, Paraśurāma, with his sharp axe, forcefully cut off his arms, like cutting off the hoods of a snake.
Acalān means mountains. He cut off his arms, just as one cuts off the hoods of a snake.
agnihotrīm upāvartya savatsāṁ para-vīra-hā samupetyāśramaṁ pitre parikliṣṭāṁ samarpayat
Paraśurāma cut off the head of armless Kārtavīryārjuna, which was like a mountain peak. When Kārtavīryārjuna's ten thousand sons saw their father killed, they all fled in fear. Then Paraśurāma released the kāmadhenu, which had undergone great suffering, and brought it back with its calf to his residence, and gave it to his father, Jamadagni.
Paraśurāma described to his father and brothers his activities in killing Kārtavīryārjuna. Upon hearing of these deeds, Jamadagni spoke.
O great hero! O Paraśurāma! You have unnecessarily killed the king, who is supposed to be the embodiment of all the devatās. Thus you have committed a sin.
O dear son! We are all brāhmaṇas and have attained respect because of our quality of forgiveness. It is because of this quality that Lord Brahmā, the guru of this universe, has achieved his post.
Arhaṇatām means being worthy of worship.
The splendor of a brāhmaṇas qualification, like the effulgence of the sun, shines by the quality of forgiveness. The Supreme Lord is pleased with those who are forgiving.
The splendor (lakṣmīḥ) related to the brāhmaṇa (brāhmī) shines by forgiveness, like the effulgence of the sun.
O son! Killing a king who is an emperor is more sinful than killing a brāhmaṇa. Thinking of the Lord, remove the sin by serving holy places.
The word ca indicates also that he should purify himself by yama and niyama.
Acyuta-cenanaḥ also means with consciousness that never fails. This indicates the cit-śakti of the Lord. The Lord endowed with his cit-śakti, does not have to perform atonements, but does so to teach the people.
Thus ends the commentary on the Fifteenth Chapter of the Ninth Canto of the Bhāgavatam for the pleasure of the devotees, in accordance with the previous ācāryas.
The Fifteenth Chapter describes how Paraśurāma,1 descending in Pururavās line from the son of the daughter of Gādhi killed mighty Kārtavīryārjuna, who stole the kāma-dhenu.