Yellamma Temple, Savadatti –
Legends
As per legend, Renuka Devi (also
called as Yellamma) was the daughter of the king Renu of Kubaj country and the
wife of the sage Jamadagni. The king Renu performed a yagna for the welfare of
his kingdom. Pleased with Yagna, the gods blessed him with a girl child. The
king named her as Renuka. When Renuka reached eight, Sage Agastya advised the
king to get his daughter married to Sage Jamadagni. The king married her
daughter to the sage Jamadagni. Sage Jamadagni lived along with his wife Renuka
lived in the Ramshrung mountains.
Renuka helped the Jamadagni in
all of his tasks of performing various rituals and puja. Renuka would wake
up early in the morning to bathe in the Malaprabha River with
complete concentration and devotion. Her devotion was so powerful that she was
able to create a pot to hold water made only of sand, one fresh pot every day.
She would fill this pot, on the bank of the river and would use a snake which
was nearby, turning it into a rope-like convolution and placing it on her head,
so that it supported the pot.
Thus, she brought the water to
Jamadagni for his rituals of oblation. Renuka gave birth to five
sons: Vasu, Viswa Vasu, Brihudyanu, Brutwakanwa and
Rambhadra. Rambhadra was the youngest and most beloved, gaining the favour of
Lord Shiva and Parvati and hence called Parashurama (the
sixth incarnation of Vishnu). One day when Renuka went to the river, she
saw Gandharva spirits playing. These were young couples carelessly
frolicking in the water with abandon.
For a moment, she lost her
concentration and devotion and fantasized about playing in the river with her
husband. She wished she and her husband had such fun sometimes too, living so
close to such a beautiful place. After some time, Renuka came to her senses and
cursed herself for her indiscretion. She hurriedly bathed, as she had lost
precious time, and tried to create the pot, but was unable to as she had lost
her concentration. She even tried to catch the snake, but it disappeared.
Disappointed by this, she
returned to the ashram in shame. Seeing Renuka returning empty-handed, Jamadagni became
furious and angrily ordered her to go away. After being cursed by her husband,
Renuka went east and sat in the forest to meditate. In her penance, she met
with the saints Eknath and Joginath; she prayed to them and asked to gain the
mercy of her husband. They first consoled her, then instructed her to follow
their advice exactly as told. They told her to purify herself, first bathing in
a nearby lake, and then to worship a Shivalinga, which they had given to
her.
Next, she should go to the
nearby town and beg for rice from the houses. After collecting the rice, she
was to give half to the saints and cook the remaining half, adding jaggery,
partaking of the cooked rice with full devotion. They said that if she
performed this ritual for three days, she would be able to visit her husband on
the fourth day. Jamadagni was still furiously angry with Renuka and ordered his
sons to punish their mother. One by one, four of them refused flatly.
Jamadagni, who possessed the power to burn anyone to ashes with his one look,
was so angry that he went berserk and turned four of his sons into four piles
of ashes.
Parashurama, who was not there
when this happened, found his mother weeping by the piles of ashes when he
arrived, and his father was still raging mad. Jamadagni told him what happened
and ordered him to behead his mother for her infidelity. Parashurama had to
think quickly. Knowing his father's powers and the extent of his anger,
Parashurama immediately obeyed his father, using his axe. His father then
offered a boon to Parashurama, who asked for his mother and brothers to be
brought back to life.
To everybody's astonishment,
Renuka's spirit multiplied and moved to different regions. This miracle
inspired her sons and others to become her followers and worship her. She is
also revered as one of the Saptamatrika or seven divine mothers, who protected
the earth and its rulers. The goddess is also known as Yelumakkaltai, meaning
the mother of seven children in Kannada language. She is a cult figure
worshiped by the pastoral community of the Dhangar and Kurumbas of southern
Maharashtra and North Karnataka.
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