On the Yellammagudda hill at Saundatti in the Belagavi region of Karnataka stands the celebrated temple of Renuka, worshipped as Yellamma — the universal Mother — one of the most revered Devi shrines of the Deccan. Her legend, drawn from the tradition of the sage Jamadagni and his son Parashurama, tells of Renuka's beheading at her husband's command and her miraculous restoration, from which she is honoured as a Mother who transcends death and grants grace.
Reached by a climb to the hilltop shrine, Yellamma draws immense crowds of devotees during her great full-moon fairs. Renuka Yellamma of Saundatti is a powerful and beloved folk-Mother of the Kannada and Marathi borderland.
