bhadradri-sita-ramachandraswamy-temple-bhadrachalam

Bhadradri Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam

The Sri Sita Ramachandraswamy temple is a South Indian Hindu temple committed to Rama, the 7th incarnation of the god Vishnu. It is placed at the seashores of the Godavari River in the town of Bhadrachalam, part of the Bhadradri Kothagudem district in Telangana state. Often absolutely referred to as Bhadrachalam or Bhadradri, the temple is considered one of the Divya Kshetrams of Godavari and is likewise revered as Dakshina Ayodhya. In line with the legend, Vishnu regarded to Meru’s son Bhadra as Rama to answer the latter’s prayers. However, Vishnu forgot that Rama changed into a mortal human and regarded as Vaikuntha Rama with four arms. Sita and Lakshmana form part of the temple’s moolavar. The self-manifested moolavirat was determined within the seventeenth century through Pokala Dhammakka, a tribal girl dwelling in Bhadrareddypalem. After she constructed a mandapam for the idols, Bhadrachalam’s tehsildar Kancherla Gopanna constructed this temple in the course of the reign of Abul Hasan Qutb Shah. After Gopanna, Tumu Lakshmi Narasimha Dasu and Varada Ramadasu taken care of the temple’s rituals. Bhadrachalam follows the Vaishnavite Pancharatra Agama way of life, and its system of worship is modelled on that of the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. The temple has four entrances; the Rajagopuram is positioned at the northern entrance, that is referred to as the Vaikuntha Dwaram. The temple houses some of sub-shrines and some mandapams.

Bhadrachalam is terrific for its essential deity Rama. Consistent with the Brahma Purana, the temple’s deity is able to imparting information to folks that worship him. Gopanna used Bhadrachalam as a centre of the Bhajan culture to spread focus of the Vaishnavite lifestyle. The once a year Brahmotsavam is the most important pageant celebrated in Bhadrachalam; the important thing occasion is the Sri Sitarama Thirukalyana Mahotsavam, or the marriage of Rama and Sita on the eve of Sri Rama Navami. Different crucial festivals celebrated in Bhadrachalam are Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Vasanthotsavam, and Vijayadashami.

In the 17th century CE, Pokala Dhammakka, a tribal lady living in Bhadrareddypalem, determined the important icon of Rama in an anthill. She dissolved the anthill the use of the water from the Godavari River. With the assist of the villagers, Dhammakka built a mandapam (hall) and supplied prayers to the deities.Throughout the reign of Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (1672-1686), Kancherla Gopanna served as the tehsildar (sales officer) of Bhadrachalam.Gopanna was given the title of Ramadas (Rama’s servant) via Kabirdas, a Muslim saint who was impressed along with his charity.Following the Shah’s orders, Gopanna enforced the Jaziya tax, a penalty designed to pressure Hindus to undertake Islam.Staring at the dilapidated country of the temple, Gopanna determined to build a temple for the deity with the aid of raising donations.

Within the preliminary try, Gopanna received harsh grievance from the neighborhood Hindus for imposing the tax. Dejected by severa rebuffs, Gopanna decided to apply a part of the tax gathered to build the temple and face the effects. The temple became finished at a price of nearly six lakh varahas.After getting to know the reality, the Shah changed into enraged, and Gopanna changed into summoned to the courtroom. Gopanna explained that he in no way meant to misuse the treasury price range and deliberate to reimburse the usage of donations he predicted to receive within the future.The Shah ordered his soldiers to hold Gopanna if the sum become not repaid within twelve years, and imprisoned him.At the last day of the 12th year,Rama and Lakshmana appeared in Shah’s dream and repaid the whole sum in Rama madas (gold coins with Rama’s inscriptions on them). When the Shah wakened, he noticed real gold cash and launched Gopanna.He gave Gopanna a pension for life and donated the vicinity around Bhadrachalam as an endowment to the temple.Some students disregarded the concept of Rama paying the cash, pronouncing that the Shah had held a honest and impartial inquiry, found Gopanna innocent, and exonerated him with due Honor.

Years later, Tumu Lakshmi Narasimha Dasu of Guntur and his friend Varada Ramadasu of Kanchipuram offered prayers daily at Bhadrachalam and spent their existence there. After Varada Ramadasu’s demise, Narasimha Dasu carried his corpse into the Godavari and died by using drowning. The temple become a part of the Godavari district until the end of the Visalandhra movement, after which the city became merged into Khammam district in 1956.The temple’s renovation and administration had been undertaken via the endowment ministry of the government of Andhra Pradesh in 1958. Repairs have been made to the temple in 1960 underneath the supervision of the then-endowments minister Kalluri Chandramouli. In August 1986 the temple faced a severe risk from flash floods in the Godavari River. The primary streets and numerous systems, together with cottages, have been submerged in water for almost five days. Many neighborhood people took shelter in the halls of the temple. The kalyana mandapam (marriage corridor) become absolutely inundated except for its gopuram (temple tower). P. Seshacharyulu and other priests stayed in the temple and accomplished all the day by day rituals without any interruption in the course of the floods. The Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan throughout his time made a huge donation of Rs. 50,000 for this temple in the course of his time.

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How to reach

  • By Road: Bhadrachalam is well connected to all the major cities in Andhra Pradeshby state-owned bus services that frequently ply from all the major cities toBhadrachalam.
  • By Train: Bhadrachalam Road station is the nearest railway station, which is alsoknown as Kothagudem and is located just 40 kilometres from theBhadrachalam town. You can hire a taxi from the railway station that willtake you to Bhadrachalam.
  • By Air: Rajahmundry Domestic Airport is the nearest airport to Bhadrachalam, which is about 117 kilometres and the nearestinternational airports are at Hyderabad and Chennai, which are both325kms away from Bhadrachalam. From here you can hire a taxi toreach Bhadrachalam.
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How to reach

  • Nearest airport is Rajahmundry Domestic Airport
  • Nearest railway station is Kothagudem 
  • Nearest bus station is Bhadrachalam
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