Renuka Devi-Yellamma Thalli

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Dear Tammudu Sainath, You have collected information on your favourite deity quite admirably. (Read additional information here at this link: http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/yellamma/yellamma.htm) Yellamma, is also known as the goddess of the devadasis, loosely translated as `Servant girls of the gods.' "Devadasi" has a different connotation now because of the corrupt fuedal practices but they were women who willingly came to temples to serve God/Goddess and adopted a sanyasini way of life, danced and sung the glories of the Divine. To such a lore does Yellamma(Renuka Devi as called by common people) On various auspicious days of the year, scores of young girls are `given away' at the temples of Yellama in an act of `devotion' to the Goddess Yellamma. The rites that accompany this act are often conducted by hijras who are worshippers of the goddess, which explains their presence in huge numbers. The worship of Yellamma has always been associated with rituals and drama. In a custom that has come down the ages, devotees of the goddess take vows that should their wishes be fulfiled, their daughters will be `given away' to Yellamma. Some parents pray for the fulfilment of a wish or cure from a disease. The Devadasi system has taken a painful route now and frankly speaking I would not support any Devadasi system in the wildest of imagination. It pains me that in spite of the injustice being meted out to women in the name of devotion, women worshippers far outnumber the men here.This is slowly changing though with rise in modernity. The temple of Goddess Yellamma is a popular pilgrimage site for shakti devotees. A V S Rao discovers the mythological roots of this centuries-old temple. Savadatti is a popular place of pilgrimage situated in Belgaum. You would be interested to know that there is a temple dedicated to Goddess Yellamma there too. This Goddess is the tutelary deity of thousands of families in Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Parashurama with his mother Yellamma Thalli and other deities Every day, hundreds of pilgrims visit the temple with great devotion. The congregation is especially large, crossing the ten lakh mark on two auspicious days – Banada Hunime and Bharathi Hunime. The century-old temple of Yellamma is situated atop Yellamagudda, amidst picturesque Ramalinga Hills about 5 km from Savadatti village. Between Savadatti and the temple is the magnificent fort of Pareshghad, dating back to the 10th century. The off shoots of Western Ghats which cover this area have given rise to seven hillocks. The seven valleys near Navil Teertha where the serene Malaprabha river flows silently, have been named Yelukolada Yellamma, meaning Yellamma of the Seven Valleys. The name is mentioned repeatedly as Sugandhavarthi and also as Soundaryavirthi in inscriptions. In the earlier periods, under the rule of the Bhaisas and later the Rattas, it was a celebrated Jain centre. It was also the original capital of the Rattas during the l2th and 13th centuries. When the capital was later shifted to Venunagara, the present city of Belgaum, Savadatti lost its significance as a seat of administration. According to mythology, Sage Jamadagni and his pious wife Renuka lived in their ashrama near this hillock on the banks of river Malaprabha. On one unfortunate day, Renuka happened to see an amorous couple engaged in water sport and mentally admired and lusted the man in the water sport(a Yadu king).She is then supposed to have been adultrous having had an affair with a yadu prince of mArtikavata, which led to our illustrious ancestor Sage Jamadagni's wrath at the impious act mentally as he could pick her vibrations even mentally at a distance and bade his children to chop off Renuka's head. None of them agreed except Parasurama, who came forward to carry out his father's orders. Taking his famous axe, Parasurama cut off his mother's head without thinking twice to obey His mentor,father and Guru. Jamadagni was accused by some modern interlocutors as being unjust to her (but I realized their knowledge did not go beyond the tale narrated in the Amar Chitra Katha comics, where jamadagni merely say she had 'sinned' without any reference to what the sin was. After all this was for kids). But from the genuine versions of the tale we see this is entirely unjustified. jamadagni was pretty dutiful to reNukA. The tale goes that the mighty Jamadagni was practising archery, when she used to go and collect the arrows he used to shoot at the targets. She was distressed in course of this activity by the sun's heat, when Jamadgni is supposed to have threatened to hit the sun with his great astras. This had the gods give reNukA shade to help her with the sun. But there is not much doubt despite later day euphemisms that she did clearly have an affair with the prince of mArtikavata, and adultery as per Hindu law warranted punishment, ever since the day uddAlaka AruNi saw his mother commit it. But many have asked me the question what happened to reNukA after her son rAma restored her to Jamadagni's grace. The history states that she indeed redeemed herself. Renukamatha with her youngson Prashurama at her back (It is popularly said: Mathrudrohi: Parashurama, Pithrudrohi: Prahalada, Brathrudrohi: Vibhishana, Gurudrohi:Arjuna..drohi means betrayer in sanskrit but if you measure it with the Nayaya,dharma and sathya of the situation, they have not committed any sin or droha) It was then that Sage Jamadagni calmed down and told Parasurama to ask for a boon for having obeyed his order without even a single thought of compassion for his own mother. Parasurama who was a clever brahmin asked the boon of resurrection of his mother and pleaded that sometimes people might err based on circumstances and that death is a heavy punishment. As desired by Parasurama, Renuka was resurrected by Jamadagni reluctantly but the head which had been chopped off had decayed a bit and Jamadagni Maharshi was not ok with that and asked him to bring the head of a pious lady he could find. Parashurama Krodhabhattaraka Parasurama chanted certain Tantric incantations and preserved the remaining part of the body and then he searched everywhere for a deadbody and found the head of a dead washerwoman who bore semblance of his mother and without any castiest thought that she was of a lowr community he attached it to the "munda"(decapitated body) of his mother and gained happiness looking at that face as that of his own mother.(This is purpotedly the reason why Renuka Devi alias Yellamma(Yella+ Amma=Washer woman) is worshipped by people of a lower strata too. Artist's version of Yellamma(See this websource for another castiest version of the story: http://www.simoncharsley.co.uk/yell.html) Later, Karthavirya killed Sage Jamadagni in order to snatch sway the celestial cow Kamadhenu. Karthavirya severed the head of Jamadagni.Although Jamadagni was revived later his wife Renuka had to suffer widowhood for four days which she patiently bore by keeping the head of her husband on her lap and going into samadhi temporarily.But not before She valiantly fought for her husband!Though the head was of a washerwoman who resmbled the "old head", the earlier medhas(intellect) was transferred out of an act of compassion by the seer to his wife. The fierce vItahavyas,as the story goes, protected by the Atreya's prayogas, bent on revenge, breached the defenses of jamadagni and attacked him while he was deep in meditation. While a once fiery archer, the old bhR^igu was now in meditation and his valiant sons including Parasurama were far away. reNukA boldly picked up jamadagni's weapons and stood in the path of the vItihotras, tAlajhanga and tuNDikeras who rushed in with their bows upraised. They struck her their missiles and killed her. It is said she received 21 wounds before falling down unconsious.Then they struck jamadagni with the dattAtreya missiles. jamadagni's brahman power was vaporized by the weapons charged with the atri's brahman power and he dropped dead. With that the Atreya had got back the brahman power of the atris that had been sucked out by our fiery ancestor aurva The pious Renuka was considered as a Shakti and was worshiped in Savadatti as Yellamma Devi. Since then, Yellammagudda has become an important place of pilgrimage. Just outside the Yellamma temple is the shrine of Kalabhairava of the Nathapanthis. To the west lies the shrine of Parasurama. In front of the temple is a pond cut out of solid rock full of fresh flowing water, which is divided into three smaller ponds called Yenne Honda, Arisina Honda and Kumkuma Honda or Jogula Bavi. The water in these ponds is believed to possess curative properties. Generally, pilgrims bathe in these ponds before entering the temple. The neem leaves have great significance in this temple. In the olden days, the devotees used to enter the temple almost naked, covering their bodies only with sheaves of neem leaves. The British Government banned this ritual, stating that it was obscene and an affront to their refined sensibilities. Camphor, salt, oil, coconuts and plantains are the main offerings to the goddess. During the time of worship, devotees beat a special drum. A silver palanquin is used to take the goddess in procession around the temple on the evenings of Tuesdays and Fridays. The temple of Yellamma is constructed in ancient Dravidian style, an amalgamation of later Chalukyan and Rashtrakuta styles of architecture, with the usual enclosures and the sanctum sanctorum. There are three main entrances enclosed by high walled compound. The temple itself is devoid of any significant architectural grandeur. From the historical and architectural point of view, it is believed that the ancient shrine originally belonged to the Jain school of the 16th century, as evidenced by the sculpture on the pillars. The idol of Yellamma Devi itself in the sanctum does not appear to bear the characteristics and attributes of a Hindu Goddess, as she is holding a lotus flower in her hand, similar to Padmavathi Devi, the Jain Yakshi. One of the edicts discovered in the temple refers to this goddess as Jataka. It is beyond doubt that Jain religious influence played a prominent role at that time. Some scholars are of the opinion that this shrine was originally a Jain Basadi of Parshwanatha Tirthankara, later converted into a Hindu temple after 1250 AD. Krishnadevaraya. During the reign of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar, Tirumala Nayaka, one of the feudatories of the time, is said to have renovated the shrine and beautified it with a Deepa Stambha or lamp pillar and Mahadwara in 1515 AD. Legends and myths apart, in the olden days, the temple came to be associated with the devadasi cult. However, this bad practice has now been banned by the Government. The annual fair for goddess Yellamma is held in the month of Chaitra which attracts lakhs of pilgrims and visitors. Now you were asking why eunuchs perform worship of Yellamma, it is very simple: When Jamadagni Maharshi ordered his four other sons to kill their mothers, none of them had the courage to kill their own mother, only Parasurama the fire and krodhabhattaraka killed his own mother to obey his father.His father was no doubt pleased with Parasurama but was angry with his other four children and said "You despite being Brahmins feared like this.So all the 4 of you become eunuchs at his very instant and worship this Newly formed Renuka Matha with Bhakthi"(Brahmins of yore were more courageous than Kshatriyas and used to practice various amrtial arts and used to use them only for self-defence,as a body exercise, in times of war, for protecting the weak and for teaching Kshatriya clan, never to harm anyone) Also, one more story is that(which might be false and exagerrated version given by the eunuchs there) that when Parasurama beheaded his mother, the head multiplied in every region and one became hundreds and hundreds became thousands and that is why they worship the head. Yet another story regarding Renuka Devi which you might find interesting to ponder upon the real significance: This follows from the dattAtreya purANa and bhR^igu-vaMsha (and its mahAkAvya). The bhArgavArchana-dIpikA mentions a peculiar tale in it: jamadagnI was killed by tAlaja~ngha and others while he was performing japa. reNuka readies to cremate him, and moved by the pangs of separation herself jumps into the funeral pyre. At this point indra rescues her from the flames and finds that her body is full of blisters. He sends a cooling shower on her and then appoints her as the deity of viral skin infections, commonly called shItalA, thus the name Shitala Devi is ascribed to Renuka Matha.Shitala is known in Tamizhnadu as Maari, Ammai,etc It would be worthwhile to note that shrI gaNapati Muni, the chela of Ramana Maharishi, curiously comments that at the time of the production of the Chandodarshana the young daivarAta was not particularly well-versed in saMskR^ita composition. He says these mantra-s came out of his mouth while he was meditating near the reNukAMbA temple and he [gaNapati muni] collected the full and clear ones into and recorded them.Your reference of Dattatreya in Tripura Rahasya is good. Also, there is a story regarding the Ekavira-Renuka devi installation in Mahur and the propitiation.(Some feel they are Mahanubhava tales) Btw,FYI: Mahur is considered the Shakthi-Peetha for Renuka Devi A lotus to the cool Blue feet of Renuka Thalli... Jaya Jhrumbini! Yours yogically,