Popularly known as Bhakta
Raamadaas, he was born Gopanna to Linganna Mantri (a surname he kept as a
result of one of his forebears being a minister at the court of a king) &
Kadamba (sister of Madanna, a brahmin minister to TaniShah), in 1620 in
Nelakondapalli, a small village in Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh. Since
childhood, he imbibed his family's interest in spirituality and composed
several keertanas on Rama. His devotion to Vaikunta Rama at the temple of
Bhadrachalam, a small village in the middle of the jungle on the northern banks
of the holy river Godavari, earned him his name Bhadraacala Raamadaas. His guru
was Raghunatha Bhattacharya.
During the reign of
Abdul Hasan Tana Shah, (the nawab of the Qutub Shahi Dynasty at Golconda),
Ramadas (Gopanna), thanks to his uncle Madanna, 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 and
his intense love for Lord Rama compelled him to build a temple at Bhadrachalam.
He collected money for the construction from the citizens, but 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. However, the nawab was furious and sentenced
Ramadas to 12 years in prison. Raamadaas thus earned the name Bandikhana
Raamadaas(meaning imprisoned Ramadas). Frustrated at god's indifference to his
pleadings, Ramadas composed some of the finest keertanas in his prison cell
(reminding Rama of his services in Ikshvaku Kula Tilaka).
It is said that Rama
& Lakshmana in the guise of two youngsters paid up his dues and got his
release papers. The golden coins paid by Rama are known as Ram Tanka coins
.They can be seen even today. These coins have the Pattabhishekam scene on one
side and the picture of another Rama Bhaktha, Hanuman, on the other side. The
nawab was moved and recognized the greatness of Ramadas and released him
immediately and gave him land around Bhadraachalam to continue his dedicated
service to Bhadraachala Raamamoorty. Ramadas spent the rest of his life on
these lands and composed further moving poems that were to inspire Tyaagaraaja:
in ksheera saagara sayana in Devagaandhaari, he says "Dhirudau Ramadasuni
Bandhamu dirchinadi Vinnanura Rama?" (O Rama! I have heard how You
obtained the release of the bold Ramadas from his prison life); in
brindaavanalOla in tODi, in kaligiyundE gada in keeravaaNi, in Emi dova balkuma
in saaranga and in Prahlaada Bhakti Vijayam he says "kaliyugamuna vara
bhadra calamuna nelakonna raamacandruni pada bhaktula kella varudanandagi
velasina shree raamadaasu vinutintu madin" (I praise Sri Raamadaas, who
shines in this world as the supreme devotee of Sri Raamachandra, who shines
forth from his seat at Bhadraachalam in this kali Yuga).
Other compositions are
positive invocations, favored by traveling minstrels, including the Tondaiman
rulers of PudukoTTai in Tamil Nadu, who popularized his songs. Among his other
accomplishments is the creation of the whole Ramayana story in the form of a
prose-poem, a Choornika. Ramadas described himself in this way in the last
verse of his Dasarathi Satakam: "Allana Linga Mantri Suthudu(son), Atreya
Gothrudu, Adi Sakha, Kancherla Kulothbhavudu, Gopakavindrudu."
Bhadraachala Raamadaas lived for 68 years.
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