Parasurama Temple, Thiruvallam (Thiruvananthapuram)

 temple, place with historical importance, place of worship, nonresidential building

Parashurama Temple, Thiruvallam

This is the only Parashurama temple in Kerala.

Parashurama (also known as Parasurama, Bhṛgupati, Bhargava, Bhargava Rāma, Jamadagnya ), a Brahmin, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, belongs to the Treta yuga, and is the son of Jamadagni and Renuka. Parashu means axe, hence his name literally means Rama-with-the-axe. He received an axe after undertaking a terrible penance to please Shiva, from whom he learned the methods of warfare and other skills. He fought the advancing ocean back thus saving the lands of Konkan and Malabar. The coastal area of Kerala state along with the Konkan region, i.e., coastal Maharashtra and Karnataka, is also sometimes called Parashurama Kshetra (Parashurama's country). Parashurama is said to be a "warrior Brahman", the first warrior saint. His mother is descended from the Kshatriya Suryavansha clan that ruled Ayodhya and Lord Rama also belonged to.

The mythological story about Kerala was a land rose from the sea where the axe- landed thrown in penance for waging the terrible war by Parasuram, the 6th incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who massacre the evil kings 21 times over to repeal their force from earth.Many Pilgrims visit this temple for 'Balitharpanam'. People make offerings to their ancestors, after taking a dip in the holy river. There is wide belief that the great monk Adi Shakara made the Bali for his mother at this place.