Bhadrachalam

Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam

Rama here is four-armed, the Vaikuntha form Vishnu took to answer Bhadra's prayers, with Sita and Lakshmana part of the same central icon. The temple stands on the banks of the Godavari in east Telangana and is revered as Dakshina Ayodhya, the southern Ayodhya. Its story belongs as much to Kancherla Gopanna, the revenue officer who spent twelve years in jail accused of building it with the Sultan's money; the bhakti songs he composed in that cell are still sung in the temple he was punished for. Come for that, and for the river.