Devalok
From the epics · 2 tellings · Pan-India

Parashurama and his mother Renuka

Renuka, sent for water, lingers watching the gandharva king Chitraratha on the river. Her husband Jamadagni orders his sons to kill her; the four elder sons refuse and are cursed; the youngest, Rama, strikes off her head with his axe, and asks as his reward that she live again and remember nothing.

Who is in it

Texts: Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana

The story, beat by beat

  1. Renuka goes to the river and sees Chitraratha playing in the water with his women.
  2. She comes home late and changed, and Jamadagni sees it.
  3. He orders his sons one by one to kill her; the four elder sons will not.
  4. Rama, the youngest, cuts off her head with his axe.
  5. Asked to choose a reward, he asks that she live and not remember, and that his brothers be restored.

obedience mother anger restoration

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Mahabharata, Vana Parva 116

Pan-India Vaishnava

Renuka goes down to bathe and sees Chitraratha, king of the gandharvas, sporting in the water with his wives, and comes back confused and wet, and her husband reads it in her face. He calls his sons as they come home: Rumanvat, Sushena, Vasu and Vishvavasu. Each in turn is told to kill her, each stands dumb, and each is cursed to lose his wits and live like the beasts. Rama comes last. Kill your mother, sinful as she is, and do not grieve, says Jamadagni, and Rama takes the axe and cuts off her head. The father's anger passes. Ask what you like, he says. Rama asks that his mother live and not remember being killed, that his brothers be restored, that he himself be unbeaten in battle and live long. All is granted.

Mahabharata, Vana Parva 116 to 117, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883 to 1896)

Primary text (translation)

Bhagavata Purana 9.16

Pan-India Vaishnava

The Bhagavata makes the lapse smaller and the deed larger. Renuka, at the Ganges for water, watches Chitraratha with the apsaras and lets the hour for the fire offering pass; afraid, she sets the pot before her husband with folded hands. He orders his sons to kill her and they refuse. He orders the youngest to kill her and his brothers, and Parashurama, knowing his father's power, does it at once. Pleased, Jamadagni offers a boon, and Parashurama asks that his mother and brothers live again and not remember being killed by him. They wake as if from sleep.

Bhagavata Purana 9.15 to 9.16 (Vedabase)

Sources: Mahabharata, Vana Parva 116 to 117, tr. K. M. Ganguli (1883 to 1896); Bhagavata Purana 9.15 to 9.16 (Vedabase)

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