Kancherla Gopanna

Who was Kancherla Gopanna?

Kancherla Gopanna, popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu or Bhadrachala Ramadasu, was a 17th-century Indian devotee of Rama and a composer of Carnatic music. He is one among the famous vaggeyakaras in the Telugu language, the others being Tyagaraja, Annamayya, Kshetryya and Shyama Satri. He lived in the village of Nelakondapalli near Bhadrachalam, Andhra Pradesh during the 17th century and is renowned for constructing a famous temple for Rama at Bhadrachalam. His devotional lyrics to Rama are famous in South Indian classical music as Ramadaasu Keertanalu. Even the doyen of South Indian classical music Saint Thyagaraja learned and later improved the style now considered standard krithi form of music composition.He also wrote Dasarathi Shatakamu with a 'makuTamu' 'Dasaradhee Karuna payonidhi', a collection of nearly 108 poems dedicated to the son of Dasaratha.