The Mahur Renuka Devi temple in Maharashtra is a very famous Hindu temple, where lakhs of devotees visit every year to get HER blessings.
Renuka Devi was a princess and married to a powerful sage named Jamadagni.
She had five sons, including Parasurama (the 6th incarnation of Lord Vishnu).
With her devotion to her husband and chastity, she gained power to create a new pot everyday with sand and carried water in it, to her husband for his prayers. She twisted the available snake and kept on it her head to support the pot.
One day, when Renuka went to a river to fetch water, she was attracted to a Gandharva and lost her power of making the sand pot.
Knowing this, the furious Jamadagni fired out Renuka. She went into a thick forest and started to meditate.
When Eknath and Joginath appeared in front of her, she asked for advice to calm down her husband.
As imagined, Jamadagni was angry and ordered his sons to cut her head, despite her perfect purifications. When they refused, he burnt them into ashes. Parasurama, who was not on the scene, came to know about this and he behead his mother for her infidelity.
Being satisfied by the Parasurama’s obedience, Jamadagni offered a boon, through which Parasurama brought back the life of his mother and all his brothers. Surprisingly, Renuka’s spirit expanded and stood as a whole in Mahur, as a Goddess.
Another story says that when Parasurama tried to behead his mother, she escaped into a low- caste locale. However, Parasurama found her and while slashing her head, he killed a low-caste woman, who tried to protect her.
When they came alive, Renukas head was attached to the other woman and vice versa. Since Jamadagni accepted the body of Renuka with the head of other woman, Renuka remained there as a Goddess and is being worshipped by the low-caste people as Yellamma.
It is also believed that Parasuram took rival against the King Sahastrarjuna, who killed Jamadagni and Renuka for the Kamadhenu, the divine cow.
When God Dattatreya tried to retrieve their life, Parashuram turned back to see his mother that Renuka Mata stayed on the place to favor her devotees.
