The Other Rama presents a systematic analysis of the myth cycle of Parasurama ( Rama with the Axe ), an avatara of Visnu best known for decapitating his own mother and annihilating twenty-one generations of the Ksatriya warrior caste in an extermination campaign frequently referred to as genocide by modern scholars. Compared to Rama and Krsna, the other human forms of Visnu, Parasurama has a much darker reputation, with few temples devoted to him and scant worshippers. He has also attracted far less scholarly attention. But dozens of important castes and clans across the subcontinent claim Parasurama as the originator of their bloodline, and his mother, Renuka, is worshipped in the form of a severed head throughout South India.

Using the tools of comparative mythology and psychoanalysis, Brian Collins identifies three major motifs in the mythology of Parasurama: his hybrid status as a Brahmin warrior, his act of matricide, and his bloody one-man war to cleanse the earth of Ksatriyas. Collins considers a wide variety of representations of the myth, from its origins in the Mahabharata to contemporary debates online. He also examines Parasurama alongside the Wandering Jew of European legend and Psycho’s matricidal serial killer Norman Bates. He examines why mythmakers once elevated this transgressive and antisocial figure to the level of an avatara and why he still holds such fascination for a world that continues to grapple with mass killings and violence against women.