Apparently I've noted some confusion regarding the confrontation between Parasurama and Rama in the Ramayana on this newsgroup.  The confusion tends to be due to various artistic renderings of the Ramayana.  Thus I figured I would post a summary of what happened in the original Valmiki which I found PARTICULARLY INTERESTING FROM AN INTERNAL ENERGY PERSPECTIVE (not something typically portrayed in various plays). Rama and Lakshmana had been taken by Viswamitra when they were sixteen years old.  They were trained in the ordinary martial arts, charioteering etc. but were deemed to possess no 'missiles' or divine weapons and thus Dasratha was unwilling to part with them. Viswamitra first attempted to impress on Dasratha that he needed Rama and Lakshmana to defeat certain Rakshasas which he could not handle.  The advisors of Dasratha didn't believe his claim and told Dasratha that he must have some other purpose in mind which he didn't want to express but it should be safe to trust a man of Viswamitra's caliber with the two youths.  Dasratha gave in and allowed the two young warriors to leave.  Viswamitra took them out twelve miles and immediately starts them on internal energy training.  Viswamitra was impressed with Rama from the beginning and complimented him on being a worthy son of Kausalya.  After a while, I haven't checked how many years but intend to, Viswamitra apparently decided to take the two youths to Mithila to show them the bow of Shiva which nobody in the Janaka line had been able to string thus far.  Rama of course managed to string it but breaks it subsequently and thus wins the hand of Sita in marriage.  An invitation was sent to Dasratha for the wedding of both Rama and Lakshmana to Sita and Urmila respectively.  So far so good, the two princes got married. After the marriage as the entire family is returning along with their army from Mithila to Ayodhya.  Viswamitra has conveniently excused himself to go for a penance in the Himalayas confirming my suspicious that he set the whole thing up in the first place, for as soon as the marriage completes he exists stage left after having set the stage for the battle royal. As the marriage party passes through the forests, they are accosted by Parasurama.  Dasaratha seems quite worried and questions if Parasurama intends to kill them because they are Kshatriyas.  Parasurama ignores Dasratha and speaks directly to Rama quite rudely.  He asks him to string a second bow which he has brought with him and fit it with the divine arrow of Vishnu and if Rama should be successful then Parasurama will fight with him in single combat.  Rama is described as having been silent thus far due to regard for his father.  Now he is described as quite upset and angry.  He tells Parasurama that since he hates Kshatriyas and deems them weak and powerless he will indeed witness his prowess on that day.  Rama gathering his 'tapobala' takes the bow from the hand of Parasurama and now Parasurama realizes that he has made the mistake of his life by challenging Rama because as Rama approaches him, he can sense his internal energy. Parasurama feels his spiritual or internal energy drained by Rama as he is taking the bow from his hand.  Rama manages to successfully string the bow, but Parasurama who had promised him single combat can no longer move!  (I've seen this kind of internal energy demonstration by some on ordinary people, typically the weaker a person is the easier for him to lose control of his body once the practitioners turn on the 'juice', but surely Parasurama was considerably stronger)  Parasurama is literally immobilized as if his nerves can no longer function due to the energy field of Rama.  Rama fits the arrow of Vishnu onto the bow.  He tells Parasurama that since he is a Brahmin and because he is related to Viswamitra (maternal uncle) he will not kill him. But all the lokas won by Parasurama through asceticism, Parasurama is described as being able to move unhindered within the three realms of Vishnu,  (Vishnu is given three regions of the body and I suspect he could move his energy freely within the realms),  Rama decides to take that ability AWAY FROM HIM (this I never knew could be done)!  Rama says that the divine arrow of Vishnu never misses its target and it is interesting that this particular weapon seems intended to damage Parasurama's internal energy PERMANENTLY and that too specifically to disturb the flow of the energy between the three realms! Parasurama subsequently is quite humbled, but he takes comfort in the fact that at least he was defeated by someone who is the 'ruler of the three realms' or in spiritual terms understood as someone who has conquered the three realms of Vishnu.   This is what is artistically portrayed in various Ramayana renderings as Parasurama envisioning Rama as Vishnu himself!  But apparently a lot of the detail is left out. Hmm, very interesting stuff..

Jack and Jill were not Hindu.   beefEATER < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote in message   The whole hinduism is a Jack & Jill story.   But these stupid hindu   intellectual  morons   take is a s a fact even though they know it is NOT real.