Palukey Bangaramayena (Bhadrachala Ramadasa) — Benefits & How to Chant
पलुके बङ्गारमायॆना
Complete guide to chanting correctly for maximum benefit
Benefits of Chanting Palukey Bangaramayena (Bhadrachala Ramadasa)
The classic song for the devotee who feels unanswered
it turns hurt and waiting itself into worship.
Strengthens trust by recalling Rama's mercies: to the squirrel at the bridge and to Ahalya, the stone made woman.
Sung in gentle Ananda Bhairavi, it releases grief and settles the heart into patient devotion.
Teaches Ramadasa's discipline of ceaseless nama-smarana
remembering the Name even in dreams.
A jewel of Telugu bhakti music, sung for three centuries in homes, temples and concerts.
How to Chant Palukey Bangaramayena (Bhadrachala Ramadasa)
Instructions
Sing softly, as a child complaining to a beloved father — 'palukey bangaramayena?' ('has your word turned to gold?'). Let each charanam alternate reproach and remembered mercy, and return to the refrain with more surrender each time. Traditionally rendered in raga Ananda Bhairavi, Adi tala.
Spiritual Significance
The story goes that after years of this pleading, two radiant youths — Ramoji and Lakshmoji — appeared before Sultan Tanisha by night, paid the six lakh varahas in coins bearing Rama's seal, obtained the release warrant, and vanished. Waking, the Sultan realised who his creditors had been and freed the saint with honour. The Lord whose word had 'turned to gold' answered, in the end, with gold of his own.
Origin & History
Source: Kirtana of Bhadrachala Ramadasa, popularly in raga Ananda Bhairavi, Adi tala (Telugu, 17th century CE)
Author: Bhadrachala Ramadasa (Kancherla Gopanna)
Gopanna the tahsildar built Rama a temple at Bhadrachalam with six lakh varahas of tax money, and the Sultan cast him into the Golconda fortress. Through twelve years of chains, the saint kept singing to the deity he had enthroned. In this kirtana his ache turns playful and piercing at once: the Lord's speech, once so freely given to squirrels and stones, has now become 'gold' — too precious, it seems, for his own Ramadasa.