Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple, Bhadrachalam – The Temple Complex

Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple, Bhadrachalam – The Temple Complex

The temple complex consists of three parts of Mount Bhadra. The head of the Bhadra is a hill top with a shrine of Ranganatha, the heart is the main shrine and foot is the rajagopuram. The temple complex is facing towards north with five tiered rajagopuram. The temple has four entrances on all four directions and the northern entrance is considered as the main entrance. The northern entrance is famously called as Vaikuntha Dwaram. The temple is situated at the top of the hill and completely enclosed within a compound wall.

The temple can be accessed through flight of 50 steps. The main shrine consists of sanctum, antrala, maha mandapa and mukha mandapa. There is gold plated dwaja sthamba in the mukha mandapa facing towards the sanctum. It is made of panchaloha (five different metal alloy) with carvings of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu. Utsava idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana can be seen in the maha mandapa. The sanctum enshrines a seated image of Lord Rama.

He is in padmasana posture with Sita seated on his lap. He is four armed. He holds the conch, discus, bow and arrow in his hands. Lakshmana can be seen on the left side. The images are said to be Swayambhu (self-manifested). The top of the vimana of the sanctum has an eight faced Sudarshana chakra with thousand corners engraved by Gopanna. It is said that the Sudarshana Chakra was found in the waters of Godavari river by Gopanna.

A miniature carving of the presiding deity can be seen in the vimana. There is a south facing shrine for Lord Ranganatha on the taller hill. This shrine is famously called as Ranganayakula Gutta (hillock of Ranganatha). There is a shrine for Goddess Lakshmi situated opposite to the Ranganatha shrine. Both these temples follow the tradition of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple. The Rushya Mookham Exhibition Centre is situated next to the Lakshmi shrine.

It houses the golden coins made by Lord Rama & given to Tana Shah for the release of Gopanna at its centre,  jewels made by Gopanna for the deities and a chain made of pearls. There is a shrine for Ramalingeswara Swamy on the Ranganayakula Gutta. There are shrines for holy feet of Lord Rama, Abhaya Anjaneya, Dasa Anjaneya, Govindaraja Swamy and Yogananda Narasimha in the temple premises. There is a hall named Nithya Kalyana mandapam for conducting the marriage festival of Rama and Sita in the outer prakaram.

There is a hermitage called Govinda Swamy Madam situated next to the Kalyana Mandapam. The icons worshipped by Narasimha Dasu are housed in the Ambasatram, located at the southern end of the temple. Here, food is served to the devotees visiting the temple. A huge hall named Mithila Stadium was built facing the Vaikuntha Dwaram. The story of Sage Bhadra was written on the walls of the prakarams of the temple.