Parashurama

Parashurama, Rama with the axe, is the sixth avatar of Vishnu, a Brahmin sage and warrior who carries a parashu, an axe given by Shiva. He is counted among the seven immortals who are believed to be alive still. In Odisha, tradition places him on Mahendragiri, the high hill in Gajapati district in the Eastern Ghats, where a Parashurama Kund and an image are shown to pilgrims. The Mahabharata names Mahendra mountain as his dwelling. Parashurama Jayanti falls on Akshaya Tritiya. The sources found do not describe a separate temple of Parashurama in Odisha.

According to the Puranas, Parashurama was the son of the sage Jamadagni and Renuka. When the king Kartavirya Arjuna took away the sage's sacred cow, or when his sons killed Jamadagni, Parashurama took up his axe and fought the warrior rulers of the age. Tradition says he cleared the earth of unjust...