Chandragutti Renukamba Temple located at

Shivamogga Shimoga, officially Shivamogga, is a city and the district headquarters of Shimoga district in the Karnataka state of India. The city lies on the banks of the Tunga River. Being the gateway for the hilly region of the Western Ghats, the city ...

district is a

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

dedicated to goddess

Renuka Mahur Renuka, also known as Yellamma Devi, is a Hindu mother goddess venerated predominantly in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. She is regarded as the mother of Parashurama, the six ...

. This is an ancient cave temple. It is located away from the town of Soraba and away from Sirsi and Siddapura towns in the district of

Uttara Kannada Uttara Kannada is a fifth largest district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belagavi districts to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shivamogga District, and Udupi District to ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

State of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Legend

The king of Chandragutti performed a yajna, a ritual performed to maintain peace and good health. He was blessed with a daughter (Renuka), who originated from the fire of this yajna. Later she was married to sage

Jamadagni Jamadagni () is a sage in Hindu literature. He is regarded in Hindu tradition to be one of the Saptarishi (Seven Vedic sages) in the 7th, and the current age of Manvantara.Avalon, Arthur ( Sir John Woodroffe) (1913, reprint 1972) (tr.) ''Ta ...

. She used to carry water in the pots created of mud and it is said she never dropped even a single drop of water because she used snakes as pads for the pot. But one day sage Jamadagni in is anger asked his son

Parashurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. Hindu tradition holds him to be the destroyer of the evil on Earth. According t ...

to kill Renukamba because of her mistake. Parashurama took his mother to the cave and cut her head. He then left her torso in the cave and took her head to his father. Sage Jamadagni then offered a boon to his son and Parasurama in turn asked for his mother’s life. Then Renukamba got her life back. This divine incident is believed to have taken place in Chandragutti.

References

{{Reflist Hindu temples in Shimoga district Devi temples in Karnataka Renuka Tourism in Karnataka

Legend

See also

References