Jai Sriman Narayana !!
Badrachalam is
one of the Abhimana Kshetram (Temples were visited and praised by the revered
Rishis and Saints) located on the river banks of Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.
The
legend has that Rishi Bhadra , son of Meru was an ardent devotee of Lord
Rama. He underwent severe penance on a
hill located here for several thousand years.
Lord Rama was pleased at the devotion of Rishi Bhadra and appeared
before him with Goddess Sita and his brother Lakshman, blessed Rishi Bhadra with
Salvation. The hill where Rishi Bhadra
performed intense penance was known as Bhadragiri/Bhadrachalam.
Another
legend associated with this temple is that Lord Rama appeared on a dream of
Smt.Pokala Sammakka, a zealous devotee of Lord Rama lived in Bhadrireddypalem a
mile away from this sacred hill. Lord
revealed his presence as idols in the hills of Bhadragiri. She meticulously followed the divine
instruction of Lord. She cleared an
ant-hill situated in this hill with the several pots waters carried from river Godavari
and found the idols of Lord Rama. The
present structure of this temple is situated on the place where the idols were
found was the origin of this temple.
The
place where the temple sited is surrounded by the sacred river Godavari was one
of the significant places existed dates back to the Great Epic Srimad Ramayana
Era. This hill was known as
Dandakaranyam, the place where Lord Rama with his brother Lakshman and Goddess
Sita lived in a hermitage during their exile from Kingdom Ayodhya.
Badrachalam
temple was built in the year 1674 A.D. by Baktha Ramadas Maharaj/Badrachala
Ramadasar/Kancharla Gopanna an ardent devotee of Lord Rama. Badrachala Ramadas Maharaj was born in the
year 1620 to Linganna Murthy and Kamamba in Nelakondapalli Village, Khammamett
Taluk in Andhra Pradesh. His nephew
Akkanna was one of the administrative officials in the court of Nawab Abdul
Hassan Shah. Sri Ramadas Maharaj was a
zelous devotee of Lord Rama was got appointed as Tahsildar with the influence
of his nephew. He was earnestly
performing his duties of collecting revenues from the villagers, with chanting
Rama Nama unperturbed and feeding the devotees of Lord. Sri Ramadas Maharaj happened to visit this
hill temple – Badrachalam. The
astonishing and mesmerizing splendor of Lord Rama, Goddess Sita and Lakshman
captivated the entire attention of Sri Ramadas Maharaj. He urged the villagers to contribute
profusely to build a temple for the divine couple. The fund collected was insufficient to build
the proposed structure of this renowned temple.
The villagers requested Ramadas Maharaj to spend the money he collected
as revenue for the construction with a promise to repay the money immediately
after the harvest. Sri Ramadas Maharaj
spent a huge sum for the construction of this temple with the revenues
collected without the knowledge of Nawab.
Sri Ramadas Maharaj continued to face problems in different ways; he
found difficulty in installing Sudarsana Chakra on the main shrine. But the most compassionate Lord appeared in
his dream and instructed him to find it in the river Godavari. Shortly another trouble followed him in the form
of his imprisonment for miss management of public fund. He was jailed in Golkonda fort for 12 years
and tortured him in many ways. During
his despondent life in the jail, he composed many sacred verses praising the
glories of Lord in his beautiful composition ‘Dasarathi Sathakam’.
Nawab
was astounded at the unparallel devotion of Sri Ramadas Maharaj while he was in
the Jail in Golkonda, later Nawab deeply regretted at this and he himself became
an ardent devotee of Lord Rama. The shocking revelation was when Lord Rama and
his brother Lakshman appeared before the Nawab as Ramoji and Lakshmanoji and
paid off all the money utilized for the construction of the temple by Sri
Ramadas Maharaj. The next morning Nawab
woke up with a great astonishment that the divine children were none other than
Lord Rama and his brother Lakshman. Subsequently
all the money collected from the divine children kept at the feet of Sri
Ramadas Maharaj and he was released. But
Sri Ramadas Maharaj graciously accepted two coins from the cluster and it is
still with the Devasthanam of Badrachalam Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple.
Golkonda
ruler continued to provide gold coins and pearls for the maintenance of the
temple and on the special occasions like Sri Rama Navami and wedding celebration
of the divine couple. The temple inscriptions
on the two pillars reveals the details of Nitya Pujas carried out on this
temple on daily basis from ‘Suprabhatha Seva’ till ‘Pavalimpu Seva’.
2 comments:
it is said that Saint Ramadas had kept a pet parrot in a cage for 12 years during his childhood due to which he had to suffer in Jail for 12 years . His famous kriti " Nannu Bhrovamani Cheppave" in prasise of Goddess Seetha ,the consort of Rama was recited during his imprisonment after which lokamata urged Rama to forgive all his sins and bless him. Similarly The Nawab who was a Bhrahmin Priest in previous birth was also a ardent devotee of Rama and prayed for his darshan. He used to do Abhishekam with water from river Godavari. As he did not have patience after 99 pots of Abhishekam he broke the 100th pot and could not attain darshan. In his next birth Rama and Lakshmana gave him the first darshan afterword gave darshan to Bhadrachala Ramadas. Sri Rama Jayarama, Jaya Jaya Rama
Very informative.
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