Mahur (Renuka Mata)

Mahur in the Nanded area of Maharashtra is associated with the right cheek of Sati, and the Devi here is Renuka, who is also known as Ekvira. The Bhairava is named as Dattatreya. This is a notable pairing, because Dattatreya is better known as a combined form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and as a teacher of ascetics, so the Bhairava role here shows how peeth traditions absorb local sacred figures.

Renuka is the mother of the sage Parashurama in Puranic literature, and her story of devotion, suffering and restoration is told in the Mahabharata and the Puranas in several versions. Mahur is regarded in local belief as the place with a strong claim to her sanctuary, and Dattatreya is said to have his own seat on a neighbouring hill. Like many Deccan sites, it is also revered as a sacred place of the Dattatreya tradition, so pilgrims often connect the two.

Mahur is counted among the three and a half peeths of Maharashtra in the popular reckoning, though the exact composition of that group is told differently in different regions. The standard Daksha yajna narrative gives the frame, and the existence of rival attributions for the right cheek, which is also mentioned elsewhere in the list, shows once more that the Tantra Chudamani and the Pithanirnaya do not agree on every body part.