Kamalapura is a village or settlement named in the Manohara Khaṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa. It is the home of the brāhmaṇa Nṛsiṃha, who worshipped Nṛsiṃha with great devotion. From Kamalapura he went on pilgrimage to Pratishṭhāna on the Godāvarī.

Location and name

Kamalapura is the native place of the brāhmaṇa Nṛsiṃha. The word kamala means lotus. The Manohara Khaṇḍa makes Kamalapura the starting point of a deliberate pilgrimage to Pratishṭhāna on the Godāvarī.

Nṛsiṃha’s journey from Kamalapura

From Kamalapura, the brāhmaṇa Nṛsiṃha set out for Pratishṭhāna to bathe in the Rāmahrada. This is the sacred tank where Bhagavān Rāma appears on Caitra Navamī, the tithi (lunar day) of his birth.

At the Rāmahrada, drops of water from the divine form of Bhagavān Rāmacandra fell on three piśācas (ghost-beings). They were disciples of a guru named Nārāyaṇa and were under a curse. The drops freed them from their ghostly state, gave them back the memory of their earlier lives, and opened for them the way to the higher realms.

The birth of Rāmadāsa

The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa says that Nṛsiṃha’s son was born through this journey and its grace. This son became the narrator Rāmadāsa. He is the voice that frames the Yātrā, Yāga, Vilāsa, Janma, Vivāha, Rājya and Manohara Khaṇḍas. Kamalapura is therefore the ancestral home of the Rāmadāsa line, which frames a large part of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa.

Sources

Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Manohara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 11