Bhadrachalam a town where the presiding deity is Lord Rama, is an important site of pilgrimage for Hindus. It is situated on the banks of the river Godavari. The town has a documented history of temple constructed in the year 1674 CE (370 years ago), is a Municipality in Khammam district, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located 312 kilometres (194 mi) east of state capital, Hyderabad. The town is connected to other major towns by rail and by road.
Bhadrachalam is about 130 kilometres (approx. 82miles) from district
headquarters Khammam and 320 kilometres from Hyderabad. The nearest railway station to Bhadrachalam is at a distance of 40 kilometres, in a town called Kothagudem. The railway station at Kothagudem was named as Bhadrachalam road due to its proximity to the important pilgrimage center.
In 1959 Bhadrachalam Revenue Division consisting of Bhadrachalam and
Nuguru Venkatapuram Taluks of East Godavari district, which were on the
other side of the river Godavari were merged into Khammam on grounds of
geographical contiguity and administrative viability.
Bhadrachalam's name has been derived from "Bhadragiri" (Mountain of Bhadra - a boon child of Meru and Menaka).Presently it is the biggest kshetra of Sri Rama after Ayodhya. It is the 17th century Shri Ram temple perches on a small hillock, encircled by the holy river Godavari flowing towards southern direction. Bhadrachalam attracts devotees from all over the world.
History
Bhadrachalam is situated in an area, which once formed part of the
Dandakaranya forest, visited by Sri Rama,Sita and Lakshmana during their
exile (vanavasam). The jungle in the vicinity of the temple was the
actual site of Rama's retreat and it was at the parnasala (32 km from
here) that he built a hut for himself and Sita and from where Sita was
abducted by Ravana.
The history of this shrine stands for the
significance of Ramayana Era, and vicinity of the temple had its
incongruous add mixture of another story which depicts the exigency of "
Sri Mahavishnu " to manifest himself as Rama long after Ramavatara was
to fulfill his promise to his Bhakta Bhadra (a mountain king), a sage
who had been continuing the frightened penance to get grace of Lord
Rama.The name Bhadrachalam derived from Bhadragiri (Mountain of Bhadra -
child of Meru and Menaka).
The temple at Bhadrachalam has the Archa Murthys of Rama,
Sita and Lakshmana and are considered to be Svayambhu Murthys
(self-manifested ones).Srirama appeared in a dream to a woman called
Pokala Dammakka and informed here about the existence of vigrahas on
Bhadragiri hills. To her surprise she found the "Vigrahas" and put up a
modest structure.Dhammakka, cleared jungle and offered puja to the deities.
Bhadrachalam Temple History
This shrine was built by a devotee of Lord Rama, Kancherla Gopanna popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu in the 17th century (1630 A. D.).
A sacred place that attracts lakhs of devotees from all over the
world, it is the abode of Lord Rama (The seventh incarnation of
SriMahavishnu). This hill place which is encircled by holy river
Godavari flowing towards southern direction is the famous shrine
Bhadrachalam-The name derived from Bhadragiri (Mountain of Bhadra-a boon
child of Meru and Menaka). According to an Ithihasas, the significance
of this shrine dates back to the Ramayana Era.
This coherent hill place existed in "Dandakaranya" Of Ramayana period
where Rama with his consort Sita and brother Laxmana had spent their
vanavasa- and Parnashaala(the place connected to the famous Golden Deer
and the place from where Sita was abducted by Ravana.) is also in the
vicinity of this temple site. It is at this Mandir site that, long after
Ramavatara, Bhagawan Mahavishnu manifested Himself as Rama again to
fulfil a promise He made to His Bhakta Bhadra, who continued his Tapas
through Yugas, praying for the grace of the Bhagawan Sri Ramachandra
murthy.
Exigency of Incarnation
The history depicts that the need emerged for the incarnation of
Vykuntha Rama to fulfill a long desire of his ardent devotee Bhadra.Maharishi BhadraBhadra
performed penance at the bank of river Godavari in this " Dandakaranya"
to get grace of lord Rama and subsequently in the 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'(Conch), accompanied
by his consort Sita and brother Laxmana, resembling that of 'Gajendra
Moksham'-Thus, the moorthies of Rama (having four
hands)-Shanku(Panchajanya-Conch)on
the right, Sudarshana 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) have 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.
The deities of Vykuntha Rama, Laxmana and Sita were found by Pokala
Dhammakka. Pokala Dhammakka, an ardent devotee of Rama lived in the 17th
century and was an inhabitant of Bhadrireddypalem, a mile away from
this holy place. On one fine night, she had darshan of Rama in her dream
who said "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 ant-hill and found the idols hidden in it.
She poured hundreds of pots of Godavari
water on the ant-hill which tardily dissolved and gave way for the
appearance of the hidden Deities. Since then, she used to perform pooja
daily and offer 'naivedyam' with fruits fallen from near palmyra tree
and constructed a mandapam of thatch hut with the help of local
villagers. Bhagawan Rama told Dhammakka that at a later date, one of his
devotees would construct a Mandir at this site. Dhammakka waited
patiently for the devotee. The devotee turned out to be Bhakta Ramadas.
Bhakta Ramadas and construction of temple
Bhadrachalarama temple was constructed by Kancharla Gopanna popularly
known as Bhakta Ramadas in the year 1674 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 (1620 AD).
He was nephew of Akkannna, the administrative head in the court of
Qutub shahi king Abul Hussan shah known as 'Taneshah' of Golkonda (he
was the last ruler of Golconda before Aurangazeb captured it in
1687A.D.) and was appointed by him as Tahsildar of 'Palvoncha Paragana'.
Thus he was discharging his official duties earnestly and collecting
revenues due to the Qutub Shahi kings 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 paragana were
proceeding to witness a Jatara at Bhadrachalam, became curious and he
too visited Bhadrachalam. He found the deities in an amazing appearance.
Ramadas, then asked the villagers to contribute liberally for the
construction of the temple.
After the contributions were found to be insufficient, the villagers
appealed him to spend the revenue collections for the construction of
the temple with a promise to repay the amount after harvesting the
crops. Accordingly, Ramadas constructed the temple with an amount of Rs 6
Lakhs collected from the land revenues without the permission of the
Qutub Shahi king Taneshah.
When the temple reached to the nearing completion, he had a problem
of fixing 'Sudarshana Chakra' at the crest of the main temple. He was
deeply distressed and fell into sleep. On the same night, Rama in his
dream asked him to have a holy dip in river Godavari where he will find
that-accordingly. On the next day morning Gopanna did so and found holy
Sudarshana Chakra in the river without much difficulty. He presumed that
Sudarshana Chakra itself was shaped up with the divine power of his
beloved God Rama.
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 Qutub shahi king Taneshah, the then ruler of Golkonda became a
devotee of Rama who realised the devotional spirit of Ramadas after his
imprisonment and took over the charge of temple administration. This
resembles the communal harmony amongst the Hindus and Muslims. The Qutub
shahi king realised Ramada'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 realised
that those divine looking persons were none other than Rama and Laxmana
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 gold coins can still be seen in
Bhadrachala Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy devasthanam).
Influenced by the Majesty of Lord Rama, the Golkonda Ruler Taneshah
earmarked the income derived from the said Palvoncha paragana which was
around to Rs 20,000 for the maintenance of the temple which was
continued during later Asaf Jahi's( Nizam's)period also.The custom of
offering Pearls (Mutyala Talambralu) on the occasion of Kalyana
Mahotsavam( Marriage ceremony of Lord Rama and Sita - a temple ritual-
performed on the auspicious Rama Navami day) to the deities sent on an
elephant through a specially sent messenger was also started by the
Qutub shahi king Taneshah which the later Asaf jahi's also followed.
That procedure of sending pearls to the Deities is still followed by
present state Government and the state Government continues to offer
Pearls during Sri Rama Navami Festival (Kalyana mahotsavam). Tumu
Narsimha Dasa,Tahasildar of Palwoncha paragana,along with his associate
Varada Ramadasa came here from Guntur and took over the charge of
Bhadrachalarama temple after Ramadas made inscribed the performance of
Nitya Poojas and sevas right from early morning "Suprabhata Seva" till
night "Pavalimpu Seva" before closure of the temple as "Silaasaasanaalu"
on these two pillars. This inscription gives details of daily dictum
and daily rituals also.
Bhadrachalam Temple Details
Sri Lakshmana Sametha Seeta Ramachandra Swamy, Bhadrachalam. The
speciality of this temple is the main Deity faces westside towards river
Godavari. The temple at Bhadrachalam is located on a small hillock. The
idol of Sri Rama (moolavar) has distinctive features. The deity is in
the padmasana pose with four hands, (Chaturbuja Rama) holding the bow
and arrow in the front two hands, and Sankha and Chakra in the rear
hands. The Sankha is held in the right hand and the Chakra in the left,
indicating that having completed the destruction of the "rakshasas" with
the Chakra, the Lord is assuring the world of peace and protection as
represented by Sankha. To the left of Sri Rama is Sita and Lakshmana is
on her left. But in the utsava vigrahas, Sita and Lakshmana are on
either side of Rama, he is also known as "Vaikuntha Rama".
The faces of the four pillars in the muhamandapa contain exquisite
image of Ashtalakshmi, 18 forms of Lord Siva, Dasavatar, 12 Azhwars,
etc. The ceiling of this mandapa contains the figures of a three-petal
lotus, made out of a single piece of granite stone. Apsara women adorn
the inner portion of the muhamandapa and the sanctum.The
octagonal-vimana (tower) over the sanctum is a three-storey construction
with granite stones. The other face of the Vimana contains beautiful
stone images depicting the 48 forms of Lord Vishnu, Garuda, Simha,
Somaskanda and Dakshinamurthy. The sanctum is that the sikhara (dome)
crowning the vimana is carved from a single block of granite, weighing
about 36 tonnes.This is the biggest in the recent centuries.
The Sikhara is crowned with Sudarsana Chakra, which Ramadas got from
the Godavari. The eight-faced Chakra with thousand corners contains
Sudarsana Murthi, engraved in the centre.Nearby in the temple complex
stands three pillars — "Ramakoti Kratu Sthamba" among the 108 such
pillars installed in various pilgrim centres in this country by Sri
Ramanujar.On the sides of the pillars are carved inscriptions of
"Samkshipta Ramayana" in Sanskrit in Devanagari script. One of the
pillars contains the verses from "Dasarathi Sataka" written by Ramadas
with a white marble stone of his image in front.
Another Unique feature of this Temple town is there are two Kshetra Palakas for the main temple. Those are:
- Sri Yogananda Jwala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy (Lord Narasimha)
- Sri Annapurna Kasi Vishweswara Swamy (Lord Shiva)
In the above two temples also the main Deities face westside towards
river Godavari. These two temples are sub temples to Seeta Ramachandra
Swamy Temple and are equally important with the main temple. Both these
sub temples are also located on small hillocks as Sri Rama temple, but
Lord Shivas' temple is located in the higher ground along with Nava
Gragahs and Vignadipathi Vinayakudu (Lord Ganesh). These temples are
also equally significant along with the main temple of Lord Sri Rama.
One more place, well known and famous, and it is called
"Gnanamandiram" which is located in top hill. from here we can see the
curve of Godavari River and the complete view of Bhadrachalam. inside
the Gnamandiram we can see and read the "Ramayanam" on stone plates.
Festivals at Bhadrachalam
Two festivals are most important here at Bhadrachalam -
- Annual Kalyanotsavam on the eve of Sri Rama navami, during Sri Rama Navami(march-April) there is a huge influx of pilgrims not only from Andhra districts, but also from other distant places to attend the wedding of Lord Rama with Sita.
- Vaikunta Ekadasi (Mukkoti). Sree Seetaramachandra swamy will give darshan through the Vaikuntha dwaram on the eve of Mukkoti(December–January).
Geography
Bhadrachalam is located at 17.67°N 80.88°E. It has an average elevation of 50 metres (164 feet).
Location
Bhadrachalam is located in Khammam District, Andhra Pradesh at a distance of over 309 km slightly northeast of Hyderabad. Situated on the banks of Godavari River, Bhadrachalam is 161 kilometres from Rajahmundry and 201-km from Vijayawada. It is home to a famous pilgrimage shrine and is considered to be the abode of Lord Rama, situated on the banks of holy river Godavari.
In 1959 Bhadrachalam Revenue Division consisting of Bhadrachalam and
Nuguru Venkatapuram Taluks of East Godavari district, which were on the
other side of the river Godavari were merged into Khammam on grounds of
geographical contiguity and administrative viability.
How to reach Temple Town Bhadrachalam
By bus
From Khammam, It is better to go catch a Bus for Bhadrachalam. Direct
rail connectivity from khammam doesn't exists. 2.5 Hours journey from
Khammam to Bhadrachalam by bus.
By train
Khammam to Badhrachalam_Road a passenger train does its service(Train
No. 57254). From Badhrachalam_Road every 15 min a bus service available
to Badhrachalam town.
| Mode | Distance | Time | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bus only | 120 km | 2.5 to 3 hours | Rs. 80 |
| Train+Bus | 77+40 km | 3 to 4 hours | 13+30 |
Other Important Temples in Bhadrachalam
Besides Sri Seeta Ramachandra Swamy Temple the other Important Temples in the Town are as follows:
- Sri Annapurna Kasi Visweswara Swamy Temple
- Sri Yogananda Jwala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple
- Sri Govinda Raja Swamy Temple (Tatagudi)
- Sri Sai Baba Temple
- Sri Abhayanjaneya Swamy Temple
- Sri Raja Rajeshwari Temple
- Sri Ayyappa Swamy Temple
- Sri Harnath Baba Mandir
- Sri Amba Satram Temple
There are also some more temples. There are many places to visit
around Bhadrachalam surroundings. Some of the other important temples in
Bhadrachalam are as follows:
- Sri Venkateshwara swamy temple (near Ambedkar centre, Busstand, BCM)
- Sri Krishna Temple (on the way to Raamalayam)
- Sri Durga Devi Temple (near ITDA)
- Sri Kodanda Rama Temple (near police station, BCM)
- Sri Kodanda Rama Temple Morampalli banjar
- sri Uma Rama liageswar alyam near Ambedkar centre v.colony BCM
Besides the above temples other significant temple in Bhadrachalam is
Lord Shiva temple near to main temple and Kalyana mandapam is
"Sadhuvula Matham". There is a belief that an underground way is present
from this temple. This temple has been recently renovated.
Visiting places in and around Bhadrachalam
Parnasala
This is supposed to be the exact spot where Rama, during his vanavasa
in Dandakaranya, constructed a hermitage and spent his exile with his
consort Sita and brother Laxmana. Agastya had selected this spot for
Rama and is about 35 km from Bhadrachalam.
The picturesque display of some scenes of vanavasa could be seen at
Parnashala. One can see the foot prints of Sita devi, Mosaic of Maarecha
in the guise of golden deer and Ravana in the guise of Sanyasi for
Bhikshatana.
Also found in the vicinity are Sita Vaagu-where she had
bathed and collected the turmeric and Kunkum from nearby stones and the
marks of her saree on the rock near Sita Vaagu. These are all the
visiting places for the pilgrims. As Ravana kidnapped Sita, the deity at
Parnashala is called Sokarama. The tracks of the chariot of Ravana
while kidnapping Sita can be seen on the mountain on the other side of
the river bank at Parnashala temple.
Jattayu Paaka (Yetapaka)
This Place is situated from 2 km away from Bhadrachalam. According to
Itihasas, the bird Jatayuvu, a devotee of Rama had obstructed Ravana
while he was proceeding on the chariot after kidnapping Sita. After the
fearful battle between Ravana and Jataayuvu, the heavily injured bird
had waited at this place in search of Rama. A wing of this bird fell at
Rekkapalli, about 55 km from here, in V.R. Puram Mandal.
Dummugudem
Here Rama is called the Atmarama. The story reveals that Rama killed
14000 demons headed by the brothers Khara and Dushana. As the village
was said to be built upon the ashes of these demons, the place is named
after as Dummugudem.
Gundala
It is a place 5 km away from the sacred town Bhadrachalam, where
springs of hot water could be traced on the river bank when we dig a pit
at any place in this area. It is believed that the divine trios (Brahma
Vishnu Maheswara) had their dips in winter season according to Brahma
Purana.
Sree Rama Giri
This place is situated on the bank in the down stream of river
Godavari, about 55 km from here. The deity of Yoga Rama Temple is on a
hill and is named as Ramagiri.
Venkatareddipeta
This place is situated 12 km away from bhadrachalam, where lord venkateswara swami kalyan will celebrate every year.
Gannavaram
This place is situated 25 km away from bhadrachalam, where BOTLAMMA will receive prayers from the devotees.
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