260
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 9, Ch. 16]
triḥ-sapta-kṛtvaḥ pṛthivīm kṛtvā niḥkṣatriyām prabhuḥ samanta-pañcake cakre śoṇitodān hradān nava
tat-raktena —by the blood of the sons of Kārtavīryārjuna;  nadīm —a river;  ghorām —fierce;  abrahmaṇya-bhaya-āvahām —causing fear to the kings who had no respect for brahminical culture;  hetum —cause;  kṛtvā —accepting;  pitṛ-vadham —the killing of his father;  kṣatre —when the whole royal class;  amaṅgala-kāriṇi —was acting very inauspiciously;  triḥ-sapta-kṛtvaḥ —twenty-one times;  pṛthivīm —the entire world;  kṛtvā —making;  niḥkṣatriyām —without a  kṣatriya  dynasty;  prabhuḥ —the Supreme Lord, Paraśurāma;  samanta-pañcake —at the place known as Samanta-pañcaka;  cakre —he made;  śoṇita-udān —filled with blood instead of water;  hradān —lakes;  nava —nine.
TRANSLATION
With the blood of the bodies of these sons, Lord Paraśurāma created a ghastly river, which brought great fear to the kings who had no respect for brahminical culture. Because the  kṣatriyas , the men of power in government, were performing sinful activities, Lord Paraśurāma, on the plea of retaliating for the murder of his father, rid all the  kṣatriyas  from the face of the earth twenty-one times. Indeed, in the place known as Samanta-pañcaka he created nine lakes filled with their blood.
PURPORT
Paraśurāma is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and his eternal mission is  paritrāṇāya sādhūnām vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām —to protect the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. To kill all the sinful men is one among the tasks of the incarnation of Godhead. Lord Paraśurāma killed all the  kṣatriyas  twenty-one times consecutively because they were disobedient to the brahminical culture. That the  kṣatriyas  had killed his father was only a plea; the real fact is that because the  kṣatriyas , the rul-