Bhakta Ramadas

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Bhakta Ramadas

History of temple: Bhadrachalam

A sacred place that attracts lakhs of devotees from all over the

world, it is the abode of Lord Rama (The seventh incarnation of

SriMahavishnu). This hill place which is encircled by holy river

Godavari flowing towards southern direction is the famous shrine

Bhadrachalam-The name derived from Bhadragiri (Mountain of Bhadra-a

boon child of Meru and Menaka). According to a Ithihasas, the

significance of this shrine dates back to the Ramayana Era. This

coherent hill place existed in " Dandakaranya " Of Ramayana period where

Rama with his consort Sita and brother Laxmana had spent their

vanavasa- and Parnashaala(the place connected to the famous Golden

Deer and the place from where Sita was abducted by Ravana.) is also in

the vicinity of this temple site. It is at this Mandir site that, long

after Ramavatara, Bhagawan Mahavishnu manifested Himself as Rama again

to fulfil a promise He made to His Bhakta Bhadra, who continued his

Tapas through Yugas, praying for the grace of the Bhagawan Sri

Ramachandra murthy.

 

Exigency of Incarnation

The history depicts that the need emerged for the incarnation of

Vykuntha Rama to fulfill a long desire of his ardent devotee Bhadra.

 

Maharshi Bhadra

Bhadra performed penance at the bank of river Godavari in this "

Dandakaranya " to get grace of lord Rama and subsequently in the

countenance of his beloved God-the exulted " Rishi " implored Rama to be

seated on his head. But Rama who was in search of his consort Sita,

gave promise to his Bhakta that his desire would be fulfilled on his

way back, after finding Sita and accomplishing the process of

punishing the wicked Ravana and establish 'Dharma'. Thus the sage had

been in continuation of the frightened penance as Rama could not

accomplish the promise in Ramavatara. Then, Sri Mahavishnu manifested

himself as Vykuntha Rama and rushed to his devotee Bhadra, signaling

his arrival by blowing 'Shanku'(Conch), accompanied by his consort

Sita and brother Laxmana, resembling that of 'Gajendra Moksham'-Thus,

the moorthies of Rama (having four hands)-Shanku(Panchajanya-Conch)on

the right, Sudarshana Chakra at his left and Dhanurbhana (Bow and

Arrow in the rest two hands), Sita had condescended on the left lap of

Rama and brother (at Rama's left) have existed. And the hill place

where the Deities were seated on, was the head place of Bhadra

-achalam (hill), thus this shrine was transformed into Bhadrachalam.

 

 

The idols of Vykuntha Rama, Laxmana and Sita were found by Pokala

Dhammakka. Pokala Dhammakka, an ardent devotee of Rama lived in the

17th century and was an inhabitant of Bhadrireddypalem, a mile away

from this holy place. On one fine night, she had darshan of Rama in

her dream who said " the saints and sages are worshiping my embodied

moorthy settled on Bhadragiri " and asked her to trace them, perform

pooja and attain salvation. On the very next day morning she started

searching for the idols-peeped into an ant-hill and found the idols

hidden in it. She poured hundreds of pots of Godavari water on the

ant-hill which tardily dissolved and gave way for the appearance of

the hidden Deities. Since then, she used to perform pooja daily and

offer 'naivedyam' with fruits fallen from near palmyra tree and

constructed a mandapam of thatch hut with the help of local villagers.

Bhagawan Rama told Dhammakka that at a later date, one of his devotees

would construct a Mandir at this site. Dhammakka waited patiently for

the devotee. The devotee turned out to be Bhakta Ramadas.

 

Bhakta Ramadas and construction of temple

Bhadrachalarama temple was constructed by Kancharla Gopanna popularly

known as Bhakta Ramadas in the year 1674 A.D.

 

Kancharla Gopanna, popularly known as " Bhakta Ramdas " , a fervent

devotee of Rama, was born to Linganna Murthy and Kamamba in

Nelakondapalli village of Khammamett Taluk in 17th century (1620 AD).

He was nephew of Akkannna, the administrative head in the court of

Nawab Abul Hussan shah known as 'Taneshah' of Golkonda (he was the

last ruler of Golconda before Aurangazeb captured it in 1687A.D.) and

was appointed by him as Tahsildar of 'Palvoncha Paragana'. Thus he was

discharging his official duties earnestly and collecting revenues due

to the Nawabs in continuation of daily preaches -Chanting of

'Ramanama' and the feeding the poor at his house. Ramadasa, who heard

the news that the villagers of palvoncha paragana were proceeding to

witness a Jatara at Bhadrachalam , became curios and he too visited

Bhadrachalam. He found the deities in an amazing appearance. Ramadas,

then asked the villagers to contribute liberally for the construction

of the temple. After the contributions were found to be insufficient,

the villagers appealed him to spend the revenue collections for the

construction of the temple with a promise to repay the amount after

harvesting the crops. Accordingly, Ramadas constructed the temple with

an amount of Rs 6 Lakhs collected from the land revenues with out the

permission of the Nizam Nawab.

 

When the temple reached to the nearing completion, he had a problem of

fixing 'Sudarshana Chakra' at the crest of the main temple. He was

deeply distressed and fell into sleep. On the same night, Rama in his

dream asked him to have a holy dip in river Godavari where he will

find that-accordingly. On the next day morning Gopanna did so and

found holy Sudarshana Chakra in the river with out much difficulty. He

presumed that Sudarshana Chakra itself was shaped up with the divine

power of his beloved God Rama. Soon after the construction, his

miseries started. He was dismissed from service for mis-utilisation of

revenue for constructing the temple and was kept in jail for 12 long

years in Golkonda Fort and was tortured. Unable to withstand the

miseries, Ramadas implored Rama to relieve him by singing many

praising and emotional songs which got popularized from the stanzas of

'Dasaradhi Sathakam' and 'Keertanas' of Bhakta Ramadasa.

 

 

 

The Nizam Nawab Tanishah, the then ruler of Nizam's territory became a

devotee of Rama who realised the devotion spirit of Ramadas after his

imprisonment and took over the charge of temple administration. This

resembles the communal harmony amongst the Hindus and Muslims. The

Nizam Nawab realised Ramadas'devotional spirit and dedication towards

Rama, when Rama and Laxmana repaid 6 lakh Mohurs exposing themselves

as Ramoji and Laxmoji, the servants of Bhakta Ramadas to get release

of their devotee from the imprisonment. Thanisha gave voucher to these

divine looking persons who approached him at his house during late

night. Then they kept the voucher under the pillow of Gopanna where he

was jailed. Tanishah who woke up on the very next day morning realised

that those divine looking persons were none other than Rama and

Laxmana and made arrangements to get release of Gopanna and prayed to

forgive him by placing all the Gold Mohurs received last night at the

feet of Gopanna. But, he refused to take back those mohurs except two

as a mark of divine significance. (Those two can still be seen kept in

Bhadrachala Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy vaari Devasthanam).

 

Influenced by the majesty of Lord Rama, Golkonda Ruler Tanishah

earmarked the income derived from the said Palwoncha paragana which

came to Rs 20,000 and odd for the maintenance of the temple which was

continued during Nizam's reign and offering Pearls (Mutyala

Talambralu) on the occasion of kalyana mahotsavam (Sri Rama Navami) to

Deities on an elephant through a specially sent messenger. That

procedure of sending pearls to the Deities is still followed by

present state Government and continues to offer during Sri Rama Navami

Festival (Kalyana mahotsavam). Tumu Narsimha Dasa,Tahasildar of

Palwoncha paragana,along with his associate Varada Ramadasa came here

from Guntur and took over the charge of Bhadrachalarama temple after

Ramadas made inscripted the performance of Nitya Poojas and sevas

right from early morning " Suprabhata Seva " till night " Pavalimpu Seva "

before closure of the temple as " Silaasaasanaalu " on these two

pillars. This inscription gives details of daily dictum and daily

rituals also.