Bammera Potana

Bammera Potana was a great devotee of Lord Rama. He is very famous in Andhra Pradesh for his highly devotional rendition of Srimad Bhagavatam in Telugu. Srimad Bhagavatam is a devotional scripture, written by Sri Veda Vyasa, narrating the pastimes of the Lord and stories of His devotees. Potanamatya has very beautifully translated it into Telugu. His “Andhra Bhagavatam” is made of beautiful poems, many of which are sung in every household in Andhra. A few decades ago, these poems were taught in schools and at home and people like my parents knew most of them byheart. In the current generation, the regard for Telugu scriptures has come down but those who do take interest in Telugu literature or devotional literature are enamoured by Potanamatya’s work.

One evening during a lunar eclipse, Potana was meditating on the banks of river Godavari after a sacred bath in the river. Sri Rama along with his consort, Sita, appeared to Potana and ordered him to translate Bhagavatam into Telugu.  Potana starts his work declaring that he is merely writing what Sri Rama is telling him to write – such was his sense of surrender to the Lord. It is said that the Lord Himself came in the form of Potana to complete a particularly difficult verse, when Potana was away from home.

Potana was born in 1450 AD in the village Bammera, twenty miles from Warangal, to the blessed couple Kesanna and Lakkasanamma. His other works include Narayana Satakam, Virabhadra Vijayamu, and Bhogini Dandakamu.