Avatāra or Cirajīvin? Paraśurāma and His Problems: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Paraśurāma, the Mahābhārata hero best known for decapitating his mother and exterminating twenty-one generations of Kṣatriyas in a campaign of “varṇicide,” is possessed of a list of seemingly opposing attributes. He is at once an avatāra and a cirajīvin (“long-lived one”), a Vaishnava deity and a Śaiva devotee, a Brāhmaṇa and a Kṣatriya, a Vedic sage and a Tantric hero. His story, with its themes of matricide, violations of varṇāśramadharma, extreme violence, and exile, presents problems for sectarian communities who would
assimilate him into their theo-cosmology, even if they find it necessary to list Paraśurāma as an avatāra to establish their lineage or facilitate the spread of their influence. In this essay, I will briefly explore the ways in which the problem of Paraśurāma’s divinity is addressed by three groups: the medieval Pāñcarātrins, the Gauḍiya Vaishnavas of sixteenth century Bengal, and the Citpāvans of the eighteenth century Marāṭhā Sāmrājya.