Akritavarna Recounts Rama's Slaughter of Kshatriyas

Akritavarna spoke. He told the story of Rama Jamadagnya — the one who had appeared to Yudhishthira that very day — and how the enmity between him and the kshatriyas had begun. Rama's father, Jamadagni, had been killed by the sons of Kartavirya Arjuna, the Haihaya king who had once possessed a thousand arms. When Rama returned to the hermitage and found his father dead, he lamented in piteous tones and in many ways. Then he performed all the funereal rites. He burnt his father's body in the fire. And he swore: he would destroy all kshatriyas. He was alone. He was immensely wrathful. He was immensely strong in battle and valorous. He grasped his weapons and went out like the god of death himself. First, he killed Kartavirya's sons. Then he killed all the kshatriyas who were their followers. Then he did not stop. Rama, supreme among those who wield arms, removed kshatriyas from the earth twenty-one times. Twenty-one times he purged the warrior caste from the land. At Samantapanchaka — the place of five lakes — he built five lakes of a different kind: lakes of blood. There, the extender of the Bhrigu lineage offered oblations to his ancestors, pouring the blood of kshatriyas as an offering to the dead. Then Richika appeared before Rama in person. Richika was the grandfather of Jamadagni, the great sage of the Bhrigu lineage, the one whose austerities had made the family what it was. He restrained Rama. He told him: enough. Jamadagni's powerful son obeyed. He performed a great sacrifice. He satisfied the king of the gods, Indra, with offerings. He gave the earth itself to the officiating priests — to Kashyapa, the great-souled one. He constructed a golden altar ten vyamas long and nine in height — a massive platform of pure gold — and gave it to Kashyapa. With Kashyapa's permission, the brahmanas divided it into many pieces. Because they cut it into pieces, they came to be known as Khandavayanas — the dividers. Having given the earth to Kashyapa, the infinitely valorous Rama began to live on Mahendra, the king of mountains. There he remained, the axe still at his side, the memory of the blood still fresh. Thus did enmity arise between him and the kshatriyas of this world. The entire earth was conquered by Rama, whose energy is infinite.