Shloka 63
Rāma–Jāmadagnya-janma-kāraṇa and Kṣatra-kṣaya
Paraśurāma’s origins and the depletion/restoration of kṣatriya lineages
अरक्षेश्व सुतान् कांक्ष्चित् तदा क्षत्रिययोषित: । नरेश्वर! उन्होंने पुन: उन सबके छोटे-छोटे बच्चों-तकको शीघ्र ही मार डाला। जो बच्चे गर्भमें रह गये थे
arākṣeṣu sutān kāṁścit tadā kṣatriyayoṣitaḥ | nareśvara, punar api teṣāṁ sarveṣāṁ kṣudrakān bālān api śīghram eva jaghnuḥ | ye tu garbheṣu avaśiṣṭāḥ, tair eva punar iyaṁ sarvā pṛthivī vyāptābhavat | paraśurāmaḥ pratyekaṁ garbhasya prasave punar api taṁ vadhaṁ cakāra | tasmin kāle kṣatrāṇyaḥ kevalān alpān putrān rakṣituṁ śekuḥ || triḥ-saptakṛtvaḥ pṛthivīṁ kṛtvā niḥkṣatriyāṁ prabhuḥ ||
ਉਸ ਵੇਲੇ ਖੱਤਰੀ ਇਸਤ੍ਰੀਆਂ ਕੁਝ ਹੀ ਪੁੱਤਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਰੱਖਿਆ ਕਰ ਸਕੀਆਂ। ਇਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਉਸ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਨੇ ਇਕੀ ਵਾਰ ਧਰਤੀ ਨੂੰ ‘ਨਿਖੱਤਰੀ’ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤਾ।
वासुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the moral peril of unchecked vengeance: even when framed as retribution against a warrior class, violence that reaches the unborn and the very young exposes a conflict with broader dharma—especially the duty to protect the innocent and restrain wrath.
Vāsudeva recounts Paraśurāma’s repeated extermination of Kṣatriyas. A few children are saved by Kṣatriya women, and some survive in the womb and later repopulate the earth; yet Paraśurāma is said to kill even those born thereafter, making the earth ‘without Kṣatriyas’ twenty-one times.