Saundatti-Yellamma
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Saundatti-Yellamma
A joint municipality in Belgaum District, Bombay, including the town Saundatti (Sugandhamrti, 'the sweet- smelling 7 ), the head-quarters of the Parasgad taluka, situated in 15 46' N. and 75 7' E., and Yellamma, a famous hill of pilgrimage 5j miles south-east of the former. Population (1901), 9,525. Saun- datti is an important centre of trade. The town is commanded by an old fort in tolerable repair. About 2 miles to the south are the ruins of an extensive hill fort called Parasgad, from which the tdhika derives its name. The municipality, established in 1876, had an average income during the decade ending 1901 of Rs. 12,400. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 10,600. The town was formerly the strong- hold of the Ratta chiefs (875-1250), It contains a Subordinate Judge's court, a dispensary, and a municipal middle school, besides five other boys' schools with 363 pupils and a girls' school with 55.
Yellarnma hill takes its name from a shrine of the goddess Yellamma which is held in great veneration throughout the Bombay Carnatic, About 100,000 pilgrims visit the shrine annually, women predomi- nating, and many of them come from great distances. On their way to the hill they give utterance repeatedly to a long-drawn cry, 'Ai Yel- lammo oh!' which resounds along the high roads for miles as it is taken up by successive bands of pilgrims. The shrine is built in the bed of the Saraswati stream, a tributary of the Malprabha. Though locally said to be about two thousand years old, the temple, exclud- ing the sanctuary, appears to have been built in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, on the site of an older building dating from the thirteenth. The temple stands in the middle of a courtyard sur- rounded by arcades of pointed arches. Fairs are held in honour of the goddess at the full moon of April-May and November-December.
A tax of half an anna is levied from each pilgrim, bringing in a revenue of about Rs. 5,000 to the municipality. In the early days of British rule women came to the shrine naked to pray for children or for the cure of skin disease. Hook-swinging was commonly practised at the shrine, and 175 persons were swung in 1834. Both of these prac- tices have been discontinued. Nothing is known of the origin of the shrine.
