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.