ശ്രീ പരശുരാമ അഷ്ടകമ്

Eight verses to Parashurama, each ending on the same line — Renuka's son, Jamadagni's, I worship him — so that he is named by both parents every time rather than by his deeds. The portrait is a compound of opposites and the hymn does not resolve them. His body is white and his eyes are always red with anger; he is protector of the devoted, merciful, an ocean of mercy; the ornament of the brahmin line, carrying a bow, wearing the sacred thread, and holding in his hand an axe of great sharpness. The second verse is gentler still, calling him pleasant-formed and delightful and saluted by the gods, steadfast from birth in the vow of chastity, and lord among the yogins of yoga — and then closes the same verse by naming him the destroyer of enemies.