ஏகவீரிகா (ரேணுகா) தேவி கோயில் (மகூர்)Ekaveerika (Renuka) Devi Temple, Mahur

Sthala Mahātmyam

Ekaveerika (Ekavira) at Mahur, invoked as 'Mahurye Ekaveerika', is the eighth Maha Shakti Peetha, set on Mahurgad hill in Nanded district. Tradition identifies the goddess with Renuka, wife of sage Jamadagni and mother of Parashurama; by one account the head of Renuka is worshipped here as Ekaveerika while her body is venerated as Renuka Devi. The peetha is an ancient seat of tantric worship, where the self-manifested (swayambhu) face of the goddess is enshrined in a modest hall-and-sanctum. Mahur is sacred also as a Datta-kshetra, revered as the birthplace of Lord Dattatreya, with the temples of Renuka/Ekavira, Dattatreya and Anasuya crowning three separate ridges of the range. Among Maharashtra's celebrated 'three-and-a-half' Shakti Peethas, Mahur is one, and Ekavira is the kuladevata of many Maharashtrian families. Chief festivals are Navaratri and Dussehra, Datta Jayanti, and the great fairs on full-moon days, when pilgrims climb the forested Mahurgad to seek the Mother's blessings.