Mahur

Mahur lies among the hills of the northern Deccan and is known both for its fort and for the temple of Renuka. The goddess is revered here as the mother of Parashurama, and her hilltop shrine has drawn pilgrims across the region. The fort occupies another height overlooking the surrounding country, giving Mahur both sacred and military importance.

The fortified hill passed through the hands of successive Deccan rulers. During his rebellion against the Mughal emperor Jahangir, Prince Khurram, later Shah Jahan, took refuge at Mahur with his family. His son Aurangzeb was among them. The episode illustrates the value of the hill fort to a claimant seeking shelter amid the struggles of the seventeenth-century Deccan, while the nearby shrine continued to anchor a much older pilgrimage tradition.