01Son of Jamadagni
Parashurama was born in the line of Bhrigu, son of the rishi Jamadagni and Renuka, and carried the axe, the parashu, that Bhagwan Shiva had given him. When King Kartavirya’s sons killed his father, he made war on the arrogant kshatriyas of the earth again and again, twenty-one times, the Puranas say, then gave the whole earth to Kashyapa and withdrew to tapas on Mount Mahendra. Valmiki has him speak of it himself on the road from Mithila. He is the sixth avatar of Vishnu, and he lived on into the age of Rama.
02The second bow
Dasharatha’s wedding party was on its way home when the sky darkened and Parashurama appeared, matted hair, axe on his shoulder, bow in hand. Vishvakarma, he said, had made two great bows; one was Shiva’s, which Rama had broken, and the other had come down from Vishnu through Richika and Jamadagni to him. String this one, he told Rama, and then fight me. Rama took the bow from his hands, strung it, set an arrow to it, and asked what he should strike: Parashurama’s power to move through the worlds, or the worlds he had won by tapas.
03He knew who stood before him
Parashurama asked Rama to spare his movement, because he had promised Kashyapa he would not stay on the earth by night and had to return to Mahendra. Let the arrow destroy my worlds, he said; I know you are Madhusudana, the imperishable, and it is no shame to be overcome by the lord of the three worlds. He walked round Rama in reverence and left. Rama gave the bow into Varuna’s keeping.
Parashurama is one of the seven chiranjivis. In the Mahabharata he teaches Bhishma, Drona and Karna, and his jayanti is kept on Akshaya Tritiya in Vaishakha.