01Bhadra’s hill
The hill is named after Bhadra, a son of Meru who did tapas for Rama, and Rama appeared to him with Sita and Lakshmana. The forest around is held to be part of the Dandakaranya of the Ramayana, and Parnasala, about 30 km away, is shown as the place of Rama’s hut and of Sita’s abduction. The tradition of the temple says a village woman, Pokala Dammakka, found the murtis in an anthill and built a simple shrine over them.
02Ramadasu’s debt
Kancharla Gopanna was the tahsildar of Palvancha under Abul Hasan Tana Shah, the last Qutb Shahi sultan of Golconda. Around 1674 he used the revenue he had collected to build a proper temple for Rama here. Accused of misusing state money, he was jailed in Golconda fort for twelve years, and there he sang the kirtanas that made him Bhakta Ramadasu. The temple’s katha says two young men paid the whole sum to the Sultan in gold coins stamped with Rama’s name, and Gopanna was freed. The custom of sending pearls and silk to the Sita Rama Kalyanam on Rama Navami is traced to Tana Shah, and the state government still sends them.
The life of this place
- c. 1674Kancharla Gopanna builds the temple with Golconda revenue.
- 1687Golconda falls to Aurangzeb; the Qutb Shahi line that jailed Ramadasu ends.
Sri Rama Navami brings the largest crowds for the Kalyanam. Parnasala is a short drive downstream.
