Bhadrachala Ramadasu

Bhadrachala Ramadasu
A statue of Bhakta Ramadasu singing a song in Rama's praise
Background information
Birth name	Kancharla Gopanna (Goparaju)
Also known as	Ramadasu, Bhakta Ramadasu
Born	c. 1620 Nelakondapalli, Golconda Sultanate (present-day Khammam District, Telangana, India)
Died	1688 (aged 68) Bhadrachalam
Genres	Carnatic music
Occupation(s)	Tehsildar and Vaggeyakara
Website	bhadrachalaramadasu.com

Kancharla Gopanna (Telugu: కంచర్ల గోపన్న) (c. 1620 – 1688), popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu or Bhadrachala Ramadasu (Telugu: భద్రాచల రామదాసు), was a 17th-century devotee of the Hindu god Rama, a saint-poet and a composer of Carnatic music. He is a famous Vaggeyakara (classical composer)^[a] from the Telugu classical era. He was born in the village of Nelakondapalli in Khammam district, and orphaned as a teenager. He spent his later years in Bhadrachalam and 12 years in solitary confinement at the Golconda prison during the Qutb Shahi rule. Different mythical stories about his life circulate in the Telugu tradition. He is renowned for constructing the famous Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple and pilgrimage center on the banks of river Godavari at Bhadrachalam. His devotional kirtana lyrics to Rama illustrate the classical Pallavi, Anupallavi and Charanam genre composed mostly in Telugu, some in Sanskrit and with occasional use of Tamil language. These are famous in South Indian classical music as Ramadaasu Keertanalu.^{[citation needed]}

Ramadasu was a Sri Vaishnava.^[1] Ramadasu was a writer of Telugu satakams. He wrote the Daasarathi Satakamu (దాశరథి శతకము) with a 'makuTamu' (మకుటము) 'Daasarathee Karunaa payonidhee' (దాశరథీ కరుణా పయోనిధీ), a collection of nearly 108 poems dedicated to Rama.^[2]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).