Yellamma Temple, Savadatti – Legends

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.