410 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
roce, whilst into thine I had introduced all these qualities of quietude, knowledge, and patnence which constitute the perfection of a Brahmin. Since thou hast acted in contravention of my design a son shall be born to thee who shall live the dreadful, martial, and murderous life of a Kshatriya and thy mother’s offspring shall exhibit the peaceful disposition and conduct of a Brahman.” As soon as she had heard this, Satyavati fell down and seized her husband’s feet, and said, ‘My lord, I have acted from ignorance; show kindness to me, let me not have a son of the sort thou hast described; if thou pleasest, let me have a grandson of that description.’ Subsequently she bore Jamadagni, and her mother gave birth to Vishvamitra. Satyavati became the river called Kausiki. Jamadagni wedded Renuka, the daughter of Renu, of the family of Ikshvaku; and on her he begot a son called Parashurama.”
The following additional details about Parashuram’s family history is given in the Venaparvan of the Mahabharata:
“ [1] Jamadagni and Satyavati had five sons, the youngest of whom was the repubtable Parasurama. By his father’s command he kills his mother (who by the indulgence of impure desire, had fallen from her brevious sanctity), after the four elder sons had refused this matricidal offen, and had in consequence been deprived of reason by their father’s curse. At Parasurama’s desire however, his mother is restored by his father to life, and his brothers to reason; and he himself is absolved from all the guilt of murder; and obtains the boon of invincibility and long life from his father.”
This second class war took place in the reign of the Haihaya king Arjuna the son of King Kartavirya. To understand it correctly it is necessary to divide it into two parts for there are two stages in it. The trouble began with the Brahmans claiming certain prerogatives and powers exclusively for themselves and King—Arjuna scouting them in most contemptuous terms. As the Anushasanparvan of the Mahabharata puts it.
“ [2] Then ascending his chariot glorious as the resplendent sun, he exclaimed in the intoxication of his prowess, ‘Who is like me in fortitude, courage, fame, heriosm, energy, and vigour?’ At the end of this speech a bodiless voice on the sky addressed him: ‘Thou knowest not, O fool, that a Brahman is better than a Kshatriya. It is with the help of the Brahman that the Kshatriya rules his subjects. Arjuna answers ‘If I am pleased, I can create, or, if displeased, annihilate, living beings; and no Brahman is superior to me in
1 Muir Vol. I, pp. 450.
2 Muir Vol. I, pp. 454.