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The Other Rama: Matricide and Genocide in the Mythology of Parasurama

By (author) Brian Collins

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A systematic analysis of the myth cycle of ParaÅ›urÄma (""RÄma with the Axe""), an avatÃ¡ra of Viá¹£á¹‡u with a much darker reputation. The Other RÄma presents a systematic analysis of the myth cycle of ParaÅ›urÄma (""RÄma with the Axe""), an avatÃ¡ra of Viá¹£á¹‡u best known for decapitating his own mother and annihilating twenty-one generations of the Katriya warrior caste in an extermination campaign frequently referred to as ""genocide"" by modern scholars. Compared to RÄma and Ka, the other human forms of Viá¹£á¹‡u, ParaÅ›urÄma has a much darker reputation, with few temples devoted to him and scant worshippers. He has also attracted far less scholarly attention. But dozens of important castes and clans across the subcontinent claim ParaÅ›urÄma as the originator of their bloodline, and his mother, ReukÄ, is worshipped in the form of a severed head throughout South India. Using the tools of comparative mythology and psychoanalysis, Brian Collins identifies three major motifs in the mythology of ParaÅ›urÄma: his hybrid status as a Brahmin warrior, his act of matricide, and his bloody one-man war to cleanse the earth of Katriyas. Collins considers a wide variety of representations of the myth, from its origins in the MahÄbhÄrata to contemporary debates online. He also examines ParaÅ›urÄma alongside the Wandering Jew of European legend and Psycho's matricidal serial killer Norman Bates. He examines why mythmakers once elevated this transgressive and antisocial figure to the level of an avatÄra and why he still holds such fascination for a world that continues to grapple with mass killings and violence against women.