This place is holy Bhadragiri or Bhadrachalam or Bhadradri, the name derived after the mountain Bhadra, the boon child for Meru and Menaka (Merudevi). Meru who was childless performed penance for a long time and he was blessed with twins named Bhadra and Neela who became great devotees of Lord Vishnu.
Meru instructed his sons to perform penance, one on the bank of the river Godavari and the other at Puri, to be blessed by the Lord Sri Rama and Sri Krishna respectively. Rama and Lakshmana, were searching for Seetha came to Bhadragiri. The mountain king who was performing penance, Bhadra requested Lord Rama with Seetha and Lakshmana to be seated on his head, so that the teeming millions may attain salvation through an easy and simple process of archana and Darshana.As Rama was in search of Seetha and in that process, he wanted to punish the wicked and establish Dharma, he promised to fulfil Bhadra's selfless wish after finding his consort. He could not fulfil his promise to Bhadra before leaving for Vaikunta. Bhadra continued the penance which made Brahma and others agitated. So, Lord Vishnu came from Vaikunta. Once more in the form of Rama, with Seetha and lakshmana, to fulfil the cherished wish of Bhadra. Having been immensely pleased with the great devotion and faith of Bhadra's, Lord Rama said "My son i am much pleased with your tapas.This place from now on will be named after you, People will ever remember you first and then think of me and they will all be realised of their sins, and they will be blessed with salvation. There are various ways to attain salvation, but in Kaliyuga, easiest is to worship me at this Bhadradri". Bhadra embraced Rama instantaneously transformed himself into an anthill, preserving the details inside.
The history depicts that the need emerged the incarnation of Vykuntha Rama was that to fulfill a long desire of his ardent devotee Bhadra. The Saint Bhadra - Bhadra performed penance at the bank of river Godavari in this " Dandakaranya " to get grace of lord Rama and in 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', accompanied by his consort Sita and brother Laxmana, resembling that of 'Gajendra Moksham ' - Thus, the moorthies of Rama (having four hands) - Shanku on the right, 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) are 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. Pokala Dhammakka found the idols of Vykuntha Rama, Laxmana and Sita. Pokala Dhammakka, an ardent devotee of Rama lived in 17th century was inhabitant of Bhadrireddypalem, a mile away from this holy place .On new fine night, she had darshan of Rama in her dream and was told by lord Rama that " 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 anthill and found the idols hidden in it. She poured hundreds of pots of
Bhakta Ramadas and construction of temple.
Bhadrachalarama temple was constructed by Kancharla Gopanna popularly known as Bhakta Ramadas in the year 1630 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 (1630 AD) .He was nephew of Akkannna, the administrative head in the court of Nawab Abul Hussan shah known as ' Taneshah ' of Golkonda and was appointed by him as Tahsildar of ' Palvoncha Paragana '. Thus he was discharging his official duties earnestly and collecting revenues due to 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 paragon were proceeding to witness Jatara at Bhadrachalam, He too out of curiosity visited Bhadrachalam. He found the deities in an amazing appearance, Ramadas then asked the villagers to contribute liberally for the construction of the temple .The villagers in response appealed him to spend the revenue collections for the construction of the temple with a promise to repay the amount after harvesting the crops. As such 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 temple reached to nearing completion, he had a problem of fixing 'Sudarshana Chakra' at the crest of the main temple. He deeply distressed and fell into sleep. On the same night, Rama in his dream asked him to have a holy dip in river
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 realized the devotion spirit of Ramadas after his improsionment. And took over the charge of
The Nizam Nawab, Tanishah realized Ramadas's 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 realized that those divine looking persons were none other than Rama and Laxman 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 continued to offer during Sri Rama Navami Festival (Kalyana mahotsavam).
Sila Saasanaalu Tumu Narsimha Dasa, Tahasildar of Palwoncha paragana, along with his associate Varada Ramadasa came here from
Legends
This temple is intimately connected with the life of the saint composer Bhadrachala Ramadasa who was known as Gopanna. Gopanna the Tasildar of Bhadrachalam (second half of the 17th century) is said to have utilized money from the government treasury to build this temple, and was imprisoned in a dungeon at
Legend has it that the son of Meru - Bhadra performed penances towards Rama here. Kabirdas, a muslim by birth is also closely associated with this temple. It is believed that the images of the deities miraculously disappeared when Kabir was refused entry into the temple and that they reappeared miraculously upon his being permitted to enter.
Sri Rama temple, situated on the northern bank of Godavari in Khammam district, is dedicated to Sita and Ramachandra Murti. The hill is named after Bhadra, son of Meru, who did penance to have darshan of Sri Rama. A visit to this shrine will leave an indelible impression in the minds of the pilgrims. The holy soil is believed to have been trodden by Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana during their stay at Dandakaranya. Parnashala, a place about 35 km away, stands testimony to the epic events.
Festivals: Sri Ramanavami (March-April) and Kalyana Mahotsavam, celebrated in a grand manner here, attract thousands of devotees. Pilgrims take a holy dip in
Location: Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh
Transportation: Rail: Bhadrachalam is 200 km from
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