Parashurama (Vishnu's 6th avatar)
Parashurama Jayanti
The warrior-sage with the axe — the avatar who is still among us.
Tithi: Vaishakha Shukla Tritiya — Akshaya Tritiya day.
In the simplest words
Birthday of Parashurama — Vishnu's warrior-sage avatar with the axe, who taught that even limitless power must answer to dharma.
The story & purpose
Born to sage Jamadagni and Renuka, Rama-of-the-axe received his parashu from Shiva after fierce tapasya. When the arrogance of armed power — the haughty Kshatriya king Kartavirya and his line — crossed every limit, Parashurama answered, and tradition remembers him ridding the earth of tyranny twenty-one times.
He is counted among the chiranjivis — the deathless — still in tapasya on Mahendragiri, destined to be the guru of Kalki. The coastal belt from Konkan to Kerala is called Parashurama-kshetra: land the sea returned at the throw of his axe.
What is done
Vishnu-avatar puja
Parashurama worshipped with Vishnu mantras; his image or Vishnu's honoured with tulsi and pushpa.
Vrat till evening
Many keep a day's fast, broken after evening puja.
Shastra-vandana
A respectful remembrance that strength exists to protect dharma, never to parade.
Best timings
Puja in pradosh kala (early evening) is traditional, as his birth is placed in the evening hours.
Exact muhurat varies by city and tradition — for the precise hour, consult a local panchang for your location.
Worth knowing
He appears in both epics — teacher of Bhishma, Drona, and Karna in the Mahabharata; in the Ramayana he tests the young Rama, who strings his Vaishnava bow (Bala Kanda 74–76).
Sharing Akshaya Tritiya, his jayanti inherits the day's 'undiminishing' merit.
Kerala's origin-song 'Parasurama-sristi' still names him the coast's maker.
Mantras of this festival
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय
Dvadashakshara — the twelve-syllable mantra
Begin jaap →शान्ताकारं भुजगशयनं पद्मनाभं सुरेशं विश्वाधारं गगनसदृशं मेघवर्णं शुभाङ्गम् । लक्ष्मीकान्तं कमलनयनं योगिभिर्ध्यानगम्यं वन्दे विष्णुं भवभयहरं सर्वलोकैकनाथम् ॥
Shantakaram — Vishnu dhyana
Begin jaap →मङ्गलं भगवान् विष्णुर्मङ्गलं गरुडध्वजः । मङ्गलं पुण्डरीकाक्षो मङ्गलायतनं हरिः ॥
Mangalam Bhagwan Vishnu
Begin jaap →