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98 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
arrival of Parasurama, preceded by hurricane which shook the earth and prostrated the trees, and by thick darkness which veiled the Sun. He was fearful to behold, “brilliant as fire, and bore his axe and a bow on his shoulder. Being received with honour, which he accepted, he proceeded to say to Rama, the son of Dasaratha that he has heard of his prowess in breaking the bow produced by Janak and had brought another which he asked Rama to bend, and to fit an arrow on the string ; and if he succeeded in doing so, he (Parasurama) would offer to engage with him in single combat.”
“Rama replied that though his warlike qualities are condemned by his rival, he will give him a proof of his powers. He then snatches, in anger, the bow from the hand of Parasurama, bends it, fits an arrow on the string ; and tells his challenger that he will not shoot at him because he is a Brahman, and for the sake of his kinsman Visvamitra ; but will either destroy his superhuman capacity of movement, or deprive him of the blessed abodes he has acquired by austerity. The gods now arrive to be witnesses of the scene. Parasurama becomes disheartened and powerless and humbly entreats that he may not be deprived of his faculty of movement lest he should be incapacitated from fulfilling his promise to Kasyappa to leave the earth every night but consents that his blissful abodes may be destroyed.”
With this exception Rama had no rivalry with any of the other Gods. He managed to be where he was. With regards to other Gods there is a different story to tell. Poor creatures they became nothing more than mere toys in the hands of the Brahmins. Why did the Brahmins treat the Gods with so scant a respect ?
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