All the gods who were watching the spectacle praised Sri Rama to their heart's contentment and left for their respectiveplaces. Dashratha was happy to see that the unexpected danger was warded off easily and continued his journey to Ayudhya with his entourage.
We know that Parashurama lost his power when he met Sri Rama. We also know that he went Mount Mahendra and began to do penance. His ancestors( the Pithru devatha) came to know about his miserable plight and they came to him and adviced him saying, " Rama, here after do nothing byt tapas. There is a holy river by name Vadhoosara. It is a divineriver. If you have a dip in it, you will gain your lost lusture. Go and do it immediately Don't worry, By the way,there is a special place in that river called Deeptoda and that is the holiest spot in the river. One of your ancestorssage Brigu performed tapas at that spot and as a result of it, the place will give you immediately result. Go thereand have a dip in that spot and get back your lusture." Parashurama went to the spot without wasting any time and had a bath in the holy water and regained his divine body. Dronacharya, the son of sage Bharadwaja was studying in hisfather's ashram. After mastering vedas and vedangas, he had a desire to study archery. He studied archery to someextent and when he desired to expertise in it, he came to know that there was a great person who could teach himand that was Parashurama, the son of Jamadagni. He also came to know that Parashurama destroyed all his enemies with thehelp of his skill in archery. This made him resolve to go to Parashurama and study archery and a lot of other things under him.
He left for Mount Mahendra with a number of his friends. He made oblations to the great sage and said,"I am Droanathe son of sage Bhardawaja and I have come here to seek your blessings. I am here to seek a great gift from you.""O best among brahmins, welcome to you. Please be clear. What do you seek from me?"said Parashurama. "The wealthI seek from you is of a permanent nature" said Drona.
O great sage Drona, I am sorry, you came a bit late. I have gifted away all the wealth I have acquired to brahmins.All the land I had won was gifted away to sage Kshayapa. I have this mortal body of mine and a number of divineweapons and the knowledge as to how to use them you can get either of these two said Parashurama.
"O revered one, the great wealth I seek from you is the wealth of the rare divine weapon and skill relating to theuse and retrieval of those weapons I have come here just for that. Please bless me with them,"implored Droana.Parashurama taught Droana the uses of various divine astras he had and also their retrieval. He also taught him certainritualistic features of those divine weapons. Droana was happy that he was blessed with all that he desired for and returned to his ashram.
The story of Karna
Karna who figures in the Mahabharata, especially in the Kurushetra war was known as the son of a charioteer or Suthaputra.Suta means one drives a chariot. Karna, was actually born of Kunti, blessed by the sun god. She was a maiden when hewas born. This Karna being the son of the sun god, had irresistible enthusiasm for fighting. As a boy he was greatelyinterested in learning and mastering the use of weapons of various types. He went to Droanacharya and learnt archery.He was eager to learn the use of brahmashatra the most powerful among the divine weapons. Droana refused to teach the use of the weapon saying that the art couls be mastered by only chaste Kshatriyas or brahmanas and the son of a charioteer like him was not entitled to that knowledge and skill. He thus refused to impart that skill to Karna.Karna was disappointed, but he rewarded Drona for all that he had taught him. He took his blessings and permissionand made for Mount Mahendra. He met Bhargava Ram with the hope of becoming his diciple and learn the use of divineweapons. According to tradition, hefell at the sage's feet and said,"I am a brahmin boy of Bhargava clan and I havecome here to learn from you." He conducted himself as a brahmin boy would. Parashurama ascertained his family backgroundand other details and began to teach him archery and shastras. Karna's politeness and obediencce won him his teacher's love and confidence. During his stay on the Mahendra ranges, he had the good fortune to come into contact with a numberof gandharvas, rakshasa, Yakshas and devas who frequented the place very often. Karna began to practise archery vigorouslyas he was motivated by the presence of the semidivine beings. The gandharvas, were very much attracted by his greatskill in archery and he became their favourite, with his humility, devotion and his ability to control his senses, hebecame Parashurama's favourite disciple. Finally Parashurama taught Karna the use of the divine Brahmastra and its retrieval techniques Karna's joy knew no bounds and he bean to practise the art with redoubled vigour. He wanted tobecome perfect in what he had learnt.
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