By Bhadhrachalam is a town situated in Telangana. It is a famous place because of the Sri. Sita Rama Swamy Temple. It is located on the hills of Bhadhra giri.
This temple is considered as one of the Divya Kshetrams of Godavari and is also know as Dakshina Ayodhya . According to the legendary of our Puranas Vishnu appeared to Meru mountain ‘s son Bhadra as Sri.Rama to answer his prayers. But, Vishnu forgot that Rama was in a mortal human form and appeared as Vaikuntha Rama with four hands. Sita and Lakshmana are also part of the temple’s moolavar (Main Diety).
The self-manifested moolavars were discovered in the 17th century by Pokala Dhammakka, a tribal lady living in Bhadrareddypalem. Then she built a mandapam for the idols, Bhadrachalam temple follows the Vaishnavite Pancharatra Agama tradition, and its system of worship that takes place in Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam. The temple has four entrances; the Rajagopuram is located at the northern entrance, which is called the Vaikuntha Dwaram. The temple houses a number of sub-shrines and few mandapams also.
Bhadrachalam is famous for the main deity Vaikuntha Rama, a form of Sri Rama that is not found anywhere else in the country. According to Brahma Purana, the temple’s deity is capable of giving knowledge to those who worship him with devotion
During the reign of Abdul Hasan Tana Shah, (the nawab of the Qutub Shahi Dynasty at Golconda), Ramadas (Gopanna), with the help his uncles was appointed as a Tahsildar for Palvancha Paragana which included Bhadrachalam, a pretty and picturesquely situated temple town on the Godavari river. Ramadas was always distracted due to the love for Lord Rama compelled him to build a temple at Bhadrachalam. He collected money for the construction from the citizens, but it was not enough. So he borrowed from the tax revenue of the nawab and gave his God a worthy abode, vowing to return the money. After knowing this the nawab became furious and sentenced Ramadas to prision for 12 years. Raamadaas thus earned the name Bandikhana Raamadaas(meaning imprisoned Ramadas). Due to the frustration at God’s indifference to his pleadings, Ramadas composed some of the finest keertanas in his prison cell reminding Rama of his services and why he is not helped by him still..
After 12 yrs Rama & Lakshmana in the guise of two youngsters paid up his dues and got his release papers from the Nawab. The golden coins paid by Rama are known as Ram Tanka coins. They can be seen even today in the Bhadhrachalam temple museum.. These coins have the Pattabhishekam scene on one side and the picture of another Rama Bhaktha, Hanuman, on the other side. The nawab was recognized the greatness of Ramadas and released him immediately and gave him land around Bhadraachalam to continue his dedicated service. Ramadas spent the rest of his life on these lands and composed lot of Keerthans..
. Bhakta Rmadas used Bhadrachalam as a centre for the Bhajan tradition to spread awareness of the Vaishnavite tradition. The annual Brahmotsavam is the biggest and grand festival celebrated in Bhadrachalam; the main event is the Sri Sitarama Thirukalyana Mahotsavam, or the marriage of Rama and Sita on the eve of Sri Rama Navami. Other important festivals celebrated in Bhadrachalam are Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Vasanthotsavam, and Vijayadashami. Every evening in the temple they have Cultural programs. They do a procession on the four mada streets. And end the day of the program with the accounting of the money they got for the day in the Hundi.
In the temple premises they have a huge stampam where all the songs written by Ramadas are stored. And also you can get the darshan of Lord Hanuman.
You can also visit the close by places by a steamer boat, which takes you to the surrounding temple and can enjoy the boat ride. You can visit Panchavati ( where Ravana came as a sadhu and kidnapped Sita Devi). Close by there are places to voist where Sita Mata used to wash their clothes and the sacred Pasupu, Kumkuma stones she used. From their little bit further you can also see the Lord Shiva temple where they used come to pray.
Bhadhrachalam is a beautiful and peaceful temple to visit and get the blessings of Mooksha Rama.
