Badrachaa Ramadasu

 

# Know your Heroes

Devotees of Rama- Badrachala Ramadasu (1620 -1688)

Badrachala Ramadasu was born in 1620 in present day Telangana. His parents Linganna Murthy and Kamamba were devout people and lived in the village of Nelakondapalli. They named their son Kancherna Gopanna.

Kancherla’s uncle, Akkanna, got his nephew a job as a tahsildar of Palvoncha Paragana. The region was under Mughal rule at that time and the Nawab was Qutab Shahi Sultan Abu Hassan Tana Shah. Gopanna went to the Paragana with his wife Kamala who was expecting their child. He did his duties honestly and sincerely and was well liked and respected by people of the Paragana. Gopanna was an ardent devotee of Rama and used to compose and sing many kritis (songs) in praise of Lord Rama.

There are many versions of why Gopanna was arrested by the Shah.  It is believed that one of Tana Shah’s wife Sitara, wanted to get the job of the tahsildar for her nephew and was upset that Gopanna got the job. Sitara and her nephew made many attempts to discredit Gopanna. Once when he was returning through the forest after collecting the taxes, their men attacked him and tried to steal the tax money. A tiger came and scared the robbers away. Even in such a moment, Gopanna composed a song likening the tiger to Rama and said, “Now that I have seen You, I want to see Seethamma.”

Having failed in that attempt, Gopanna’s enemies were waiting for another opportune moment. Once Gopanna visited Bhadrachalam and saw the place where Rama and Sita spent some time during their exile. He also visited the place that was known as the spot where Shabari (https://bharatiyastories.blogspot.com/2024/02/dashdharma-patience-shabari.html) moksham happened. Gopanna was distressed to see the local temple of that place in a state of ruin. That temple was also renowned as the spot where Rama was supposed to have given darshan to another devotee Potana and blessed him to write the Bhagavatham.

Gopanna decided to construct a temple for Lord Rama at that place. Upon hearing his intent, the local populace where willing to part with a lot of money and jewellery to construct the temple. Gopanna started the construction of the temple.

The donations of the local population where not adequate to fund the construction and Gopanna ran out of money half way through the construction. He did not know how to proceed. The local people, primarily farmers, requested him to use their tax money that was supposed to be given to Tana Shah. They promised him that once the harvest was over, they will compensate the money along with the next year taxes.

Gopanna was reluctant and decided to take Tana Shah’s consent. He sent a scroll requesting for permission from the Nawab. Unfortunately, Sitara and her nephew intercepted the communication and did not show it to Tana Shah. After waiting for many weeks, Gopanna decided to take silence as consent and used the tax money to fund the construction of the temple.

Gopanna becomes Ramadasu

While the temple construction was in full swing, Gopanna was worried that the temple needed a Sudarshana Chakra and was unable to find a suitable one. It is said that once when he went to bathe in the Godavari, he found the Sudarshana Chakra in the water. On another occasion, when Gopanna’s son died after falling into a hot vessel, he came back to life. It was believed by the local people that Hanuman was sent by Rama and his mere shadow made the child come to life. Due to all these occurrences, Gopanna was very popular among the local people.

In the meantime, Tana Shah realised that the tax money from this Palvoncha Paragana was not received. His wife and her nephew immediately told the Nawab that the funds were being misused for temple construction without telling him about the letter seeking permission. Enraged at this, the Nawab without doing any proper enquiry, ordered Gopanna to be arrested and put in the Golconda jail.

Gopanna was kept in a solitary confinement in the Golconda jail for twelve years. During this period, he composed many krithis on Rama praising him, beseeching him and scolding him. When this did not work, Gopanna decided to appeal to "the power behind the power" and appealed to Sita Ma and sang the beautiful kriti Nannu brovame Cheppave Sithamma Thalli.

One night Tana Shah was woken by up two men who asked to see him. He gave him an audience and they returned the amount owed by Gopanna along with interest. They took a release order from him and gave it to the jailer at Golconda fort. Next day Tana Shah realized that the gold that was given by the strangers had a strange emblem. His ministers told him that it was the emblem of Ayodhya Rama. Tana Shah realized his mistake and begged for forgiveness and donated the money to the Rama temple being constructed by Gopanna.

Gopanna was distraught that he did not get the darshan despite his devotion. Then he had a dream where he got the darshan of Rama with Ma Sita, his brothers and Anjenaya. Rama told him that he will attain moksha on completion of his mortal life.

Gopanna dedicated the rest of his life to the service of Lord Ramachandra and the Bhadrachalam temple.

Some of his well known and oft sung kritis include Paluke Bangara Mayenna, Paahi Ramaprabho, Sreerama Neenama Emi Ruchira, Garuda Gamana Ra Ra. There are many many more beautiful gems that Bhadrachala Ramadasu left us with.