Rai Bahadur Thandalam Gopala Rao (Marathi: तंडलं गोपाळ राव, Tamil: தண்டலம் கோபால் ராவ்) (c. 1832 – 11 May 1886) was an Indian educator who, along with William Archer Porter, was responsible for the growth of the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam in its early stages.

Gopala Rao was born in a Thanjavur Marathi family in the village of Ganapathi Agraharam near Kumbakonam.

His grandfather Thandalam Jeevanna (also known as Ramachandra Pandit) had worked as a Tahsildar in the service of the British East India Company, while his father Raghava Punt served as a revenue officer under Serfoji II.

In 1854, Gopala Rao entered the educational department as First Assistant in the newly established provincial school (later Government Arts College) at Kumbakonam.

In the same year, he succeeded William Archer Porter as the Principal of the Kumbakonam College and served till 1874.