Jamadagni - Life and story

 https://online.fliphtml5.com/tncyi/autr/index.html#p=1

Holy Cows and Sun Protection

We saw the birth story of Kaushika and Jamadagni last week. (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/rajarishis-and-mixed-up-potions.html)

We saw in the episode on the birth of Kaushika, that the mother-daughter combine exchanged their potions. Accordingly, Jamadagni was born to Sage Richika and Satyavati.

True to his lineage, Jamadagni was a very learned and an exceptional scholar both in his study of the vedic texts but also in his knowledge and prowess of weapons. He mastered the art of weaponry without formal training with the help of his father.

There is an Aushanasa Dhanurveda that is supposed to have documented the art of warfare which was essentially a conversation between Jamadagni and Ushanas. Unfortunately, this valuable text has been lost to us forever.

After finishing his studies, he undertook a yatra around the country visiting many holy places. His travels once brought him to the court of King Prasenjit. The King had a beautiful daughter named Renuka.

Jamadagni fell in love with Renuka and the two were married. They retired to Jamadagni’s ashram and lived a happy life. They had five sons from the marriage -Ṛumaṇvān, Suhotra, Vasu, Viśvāvasu, and Rama.

The couple Jamadagni and Renuka were living on the banks of Narmada and engaged in a tapasvic life. Jamadagni received the celestial bow of Vishnu called Sharanga from his father Richika during this period.

Jamadagni’s prowess with the bow and arrow was legendary. A small story relating to this is very interesting indeed. One day, Jamadagni was practising his archery. He kept shooting the arrows and his wife Renuka had to pick them up and bring them back. After doing this for many times she was tired and sweating and her feet were sore in the scorching sun. 

So she started coming back slowly and this angered the Sage. Renuka told him that she was unable to bear the heat of the sun. Seeing her plight, Jamadagni got angry and shot many arrows towards the sun to hide the sunlight.

The Sun God appeared before him in the form of a brahmin and said, why was he shooting at the sun? Jamadagni replied that the heat was unbearable. The brahmin replied, “The Sun is doing its duty as defined by the laws of nature. The heat makes water evaporate and this comes back to the earth as rain for the benefit of crops and other living beings. Moreover, sun is constantly moving and it would be difficult to shoot the sun.” Jamadagni replied saying, his prowess with the bow and arrow was adequate to factor in the movement of the sun.

The Sun God, worried by now, surrenders to Jamadagni and tells him who he was. A laughing Jamadagni tells him, “I knew who you were. I wanted you to admit it.” Then he prostrates before the Sun God and requests him to give a method of protecting oneself against the heat.

The Sun God tells that people can use an umbrella and footwear to reduce the intensity of the sun. The Sun God also says that anyone donating these items to the brahmins and the needy will be blessed by him. This started the practice of giving umbrella and footwear as alms to the brahmins and needy.

One day Renuka went to the river to fetch water for the days pooja and ablutions. She saw the king and the queen enjoying themselves in the river. The beauty of the sight made her pause and observe it. She lost track of time and came back with the water late. Jamadagni gets angry and asks his son’s to behead her. 

Version 2 : Beheading for a little delay is a bit excessive. There is another version that says that Renuka used to make a fresh pot everyday. She used to get the water for the day. One day she tried making a fresh pot, but was distracted by the image of Lord Indra going across the skies. This led to the pot being misshapen. When she came with the misshapen pot, her husband using his yogic powers realises what happens. He gets angry with her.

He calls his sons and asks them to behead Renuka. Four of them refuse. Jamadagni curses the four of them. Parasurama agrees and beheads his mother.

Pleased with his obedience, Jamadagni tells Parasurama to ask for two boons. Parasurama asks his mother to be brought back to life as the first boon. For the second boon, Parasurama tells his dad to remove the curse from his brothers.

Once, King Kartavirya Arjuna visited Sage Jamadgani, and the sage served him a feast. The king was surprised to be served such a great feast in a humble hermitage. When Jamadagni tells him that his precious cow Kamadhenu gives the food required for the hermitage and its guests, the king is surprised. Kartavirya Arjuna covets the Kamadhenu for himself.

The king offers a million cows and half his kingdom in exchange of Kamadhenu. Jamadagni refuses to part with Kamadhenu, the same way Vasishta refused with Kaushika.

The king goes back to his palace and sends his minister Chandragupta to get the cow. The minister wanted to please his king. He dragged the reluctant Kamadhenu towards the capital Mahismati. Unable to bear the helpless animal in distress, Sage Jamadagni followed suit. The king’s men and the minister beat up Jamadagni and took Kamadhenu to their capital city Mahishmati. 

Renuka waited for long for her husband to come back to the ashram. When he did not come back, she went in search of him. Seeing him beaten up badly and lying in a pool of blood, Renuka fainted. The sons come back from their chores and see their parents wounded and distressed.

Jamadagni is revived at the point of death by Sage Shukracharya using the divine medicine Mruta Sanjeevani. Mruta Sanjeevani is supposed to be a precious herb that can revive people who are wounded and/or near dead. This is the herb that Hanuman gets during the battle between Rama and Ravana. When Indrajit uses a divine astra, Rama, Lakshmana and the entire army gets seriously wounded and were comatose. Sushena tells Hanuman to go to the Himalayas and get four herbs – Mruta Sanjeevani, Visalayakarani, Santanakarani and Suvarnakarani. Of these Mruta Sanjeevani revives a someone who is comatose or nearly dead. Visalyakarani can heal wounds inflicted by weapons. Santanakarani can help in joining severed limbs or heal fractures. Suvarnakarani is for restoring body complexion to its original colour. When Hanuman reaches the mountain range, he is unable to find the herbs. Not wanting to waste time, Hanuman did the simple thing of getting the mountain.

Coming back to Jamadagni and family, although the Sage is back from near death, the hermitage lost the Kamadhenu. The learned brahmins are also upset at the arrogance and violence meted out to them. Unable to bear the disrespect shown to his father and his continuing distress because of Kamadhenu being lost, Parashurama goes to Mahismati to teach the king a lesson and to get Kamadhenu back. He meets Kartavirya Arjuna and his army outside the city gates and manage to defeat and kill them. Parasurama gets Kamadhenu back to the ashram. 

To get rid of the sins of the killing, Jamadagni ordered Parashurama to perform penance in a mountain. When Parashurama left for the mountains as per his father’s orders.

While he was away, Kartavirya Arjuna’s son leads his army in the place of his father and come to Jamadagni’s hermitage. Angered by the death of their king, Kartavirya Arjuna’s men behead Jamadagni. This lead to Renuka going into a distress and committing sati after circumambulating the funereal pyre 21 times.

Renuka devi became a legend due to her complete devotion to her husband during his lifetime and her love for him which led her to commit sati. She is worshipped as a Goddess in certain parts of the country.

In some parts of the country, the same deity is worshipped as Yellamma or Mariamma. As always with us there is a story to that.

It is said that Jamadagni had realised that Renuka was a divine being. He wanted to help her exit the worldly body and that is why the beheading was done. Parashurama understood this and that is why he agreed to behead his mother.

A village girl who was standing nearby got agitated and tried to prevent it. In the confusion both the women lost their lives. When Jamadagni granted Parashurama a boon, he asked that the women be brought to life. In a hurry, the body and the head of the women got mixed up.

Parasurama looked at the body of the village girl Mathangi with Renuka’s head and said Mariamma. She is the one worshipped as Renuka Devi or Mariamma. Jamadagni named the village girl who had Renuka Devi’s body as Yellamma. These two deities are very popular in villages especially for curing diseases.

Having lost both his parents due to the unusual and unending greed of the Kshatriyas, Parashurama vows to get rid of the world of all Kshatriyas. He goes around the world killing all kings. But he does not harm the women and children. Everytime the queen is pregnant or there are young princes in the palace, they are spared by Parashurama.

Parashurama goes around the world 21 times getting rid of kshatriyas equivalent to the number of times his mother went around his father’s funereal pyre.