Bjagawan Parashuram is the sixth Avatar of Lord Vishnu. He is the youngest son of sage Jamadagni and his wife Renuka. Once Renuka devi gets mentally filled with desire on seeing a king and queen indulge in foreplay while bathing. The sage comes to know of this and asks his sons to behead their mother. None of the son is ready except Parashuram who goes ahead and obeys the sage. The sage pleased with his obedience offers Parashuram a boon in return. Parashuram ji asks that his mother may come back to life which the sage grants.
Taken on its face value, the story seems strange and crude. But as always the stories from Purana are quite symbolic. Here the death and rebirth of Renuka devi might well indicate the emergence of new possibilities as the old dies. This is indicated because the head that is transfixed on Renuka devi after beheading is of a woman low in caste and stature, named Yellamma. The story may well indicate the fall of Renuka devi to a lower state through her thoughts that wandered in the realm of carnal desire. However her inner consciousness was quite pure and by accepting the head of a lowly woman she rose to the stature of a goddess herself. She is revered as Yellamma devi, a form of the Divine Mother revered and worshipped by the outcaste, the transgenders and the fallen. The legend therefore is about a goddess who accepts the fall to redeem the fallen.
Affectionately,
Alok Da
