A sacred place that attracts lakhs of devotees from all over the world, Bhadrachalam is the abode of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Sri Mahavishnu. This hill place, which is encircled by the holy river Godavari flowing towards the southern direction, is the famous shrine of Bhadrachalam. The name is derived from Bhadragiri, which means “Mountain of Bhadra,” a boon child of Meru and Menaka. According to the Ithihasas, the significance of this shrine dates back to the Ramayana Era.
This coherent hill place existed in the “Dandakaranya” of the 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. This place 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 fulfill a promise He made to His Bhakta Bhadra, who continued his Tapas through Yugas, praying for the grace of the Bhagawan Sri Ramachandra murthy.
The history depicts that the need emerged for the incarnation of Vykuntha Rama to fulfill a long-standing desire of his ardent devotee Bhadra. Maharishi Bhadra performed penance at the bank of river Godavari in this “Dandakaranya” to get the grace of Lord Rama. Subsequently, in the countenance of his beloved God, the exalted “Rishi” implored Rama to be seated on his head. But Rama, who was in search of his consort Sita, gave a 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 establishing ‘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 the 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 transforming this shrine into Bhadrachalam. The deities 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 slowly 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 the nearby palmyra tree and constructed a mandapam of a thatched 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 the 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 the 17th century (1620 AD).
He was the nephew of Akkannna, the administrative head in the court of Qutub shahi king Abul Hussan shah, known as ‘Taneshah’ of Golkonda (he was the last ruler of Golconda before Aurangazeb captured it in 1687 AD), and was appointed by him as Tahsildar of ‘Palvoncha Paragana.’ Thus, he was discharging his official duties earnestly and collecting revenues due to the Qutub Shahi kings 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 curious, and he too visited Bhadrachalam. He found the deities in an amazing appearance. Ramadas then asked the villagers to contribute liberally to the construction of the temple. After the contributions were found to be insufficient, the villagers appealed to 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 without the permission of the Qutub Shahi king Taneshah. When the temple was nearing completion, he had a problem fixing ‘Sudarshana Chakra’ at the crest of the main temple. He was deeply distressed and fell asleep. On the same night, Rama appeared to him in his dream and asked him to have a holy dip in the river Godavari where he would find it. The next day morning, Gopanna did so and found the holy Sudarshana Chakra in the river without much difficulty.
He presumed that the Sudarshana Chakra itself was shaped with the divine power of his beloved God Rama. Soon after the construction, his miseries started. He was dismissed from service for mis-utilization of revenue for constructing the temple and was kept in jail for 12 long years in Golkonda Fort, where he 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 Qutub Shahi king Taneshah, the then ruler of Golkonda, became a devotee of Rama who realized the devotional spirit of Ramadas after his imprisonment and took over the charge of temple administration. This resembles the communal harmony among Hindus and Muslims. The Qutub Shahi king realized Ramadas’s devotional spirit and dedication towards Rama when Rama and Laxmana repaid 6 lakh Mohurs by exposing themselves as Ramoji and Laxmoji, the servants of Bhakta Ramadas, to get the release of their devotee from imprisonment. Taneshah gave a 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 the next morning, realized that those divine-looking persons were none other than Rama and Laxmana and made arrangements to get the release of Gopanna. He prayed to forgive him by placing all the gold Mohurs received the previous night at the feet of Gopanna. But he refused to take back those Mohurs except two as a mark of divine significance. (Those two gold coins can still be seen in Bhadrachala Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy devasthanam).
Influenced by the Majesty of Lord Rama, the Golkonda Ruler Taneshah earmarked the income derived from the said Palvoncha paragana, which was around Rs 20,000, for the maintenance of the temple. This practice continued during later Asaf Jahi’s (Nizam’s) period also. The custom of offering Pearls (Mutyala Talambralu) on the occasion of Kalyana Mahotsavam (Marriage ceremony of Lord Rama and Sita – a temple ritual performed on the auspicious Rama Navami day) to the deities sent on an elephant through a specially sent messenger was also started by the Qutub Shahi king Taneshah, which the later Asaf Jahis also followed. That procedure of sending pearls to the deities is still followed by the present state government, and the state government continues to offer pearls during Sri Rama Navami Festival (Kalyana mahotsavam).
