Motiram Bhatta ( ne, मोतीराम भट्ट) (1866–1896) (1923–1953 BS) was a Nepalese poet, singer, essayist, publisher, literary critic and biographer. He is considered the first biographer and literary critic of Nepali literature and is credited for starting the first private printing press in Nepal in . He also introduced the Ghazal style of poetry and singing in Nepal. Bhatta was a polyglot and alongside

Nepali Nepali or Nepalese may refer to : Concerning Nepal * Anything of, from, or related to Nepal * Nepali people, citizens of Nepal * Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...

, he had studied in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

, Persian,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

and was also proficient in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Nepal Bhasa Newar (), or Newari and known officially in Nepal as Nepal Bhasa, is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nep ...

. He wrote ''Kabi Bhanubhakta Ko Jivan Charitra—'' the biography of

Bhanubhakta Acharya Bhanubhakta Acharya () (1814—1868 CE) (1871—1925 BS) was a Nepali writer, poet, and translator. He is widely regarded as the first poet in the Nepali language, for which he was conferred with the title of "Aadikabi": literally, "the first po ...

, which played an significant role in establishing Acharya as the first poet (''Aadi Kabi'') of Nepali language. He is considered one of the seventeen national heroes (''Rastriya Bibhuti'') of Nepal and was given the title ''Yuba Kabi'' (Young Poet). The 1883 to 1919 period of Nepali literature is known as Motiram Era.

Early life in Benaras

Bhatta was born on the day of ''

Kushe Aunsi Kushe Aunsi (; Gokarna Aunsi or ''Buwa ko Mukh Herne Din'') is a Nepalese Hindu lunar festival of celebrating fatherhood and paternal bonds, equivalent to the Father's Day celebration. The festival falls on the new moon day of the Hindu month of ...

'' (new moon day of Hindu month Bhadra) on 8 September 1866 (25 Bhadra 1923 BS) in Bhesiko Tole,

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, Nepal as the second son to father Pandit Daya Ram Bhatta and mother Ripu Mardini Devi Bhatta. At the age of six he left his birthplace,

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, with his mother to receive education in

Benaras Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic tra ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. He was admitted to a

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...

school, where he learnt Farsi and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Bratabanda ceremony was also performed in Benaras. He became acquinted to

Bharatendu Harishchandra Bharatendu Harishchandra (9 September 18506 January 1885) was an Indian poet, writer and playwright. He authored several dramas, life sketches and travel accounts, using new media such as reports, publications, letters to editors of publicati ...

in Benaras and studied under him. He started writing and singing ghazals at this period. He also started learning music and played Sitar. He learnt Sitar from Pannalal, a famous Sitar player in Benaras. He wrote around 400

Shayari Urdu poetry ( ur, ) is a tradition of poetry and has many different forms. Today, it is an important part of the cultures of South Asia. According to Naseer Turabi there are five major poets of Urdu which are Mir Taqi Mir (d.1810), Mirza Ghalib ...

s when he was in Benaras.

Marriage

He returned to Kathmandu in at the age of 15 and got married. After marriage, he stayed in Kathmandu for a some time. Until he returned to Kathmandu, he had not written any songs or poem in Nepali language but when he came back, he started to learn about the Nepalese singing tradition. He was charmed by the folk duet song ( Dohori) sung in rural Nepal. While in Kathmandu, he attended the wedding ceremony of his neighbour Khadga Dutta Pandey. In the ceremony, he heard a poem of

being recited by the wedding guests. The wedding guest sang those poem throughout the night. He discovered that those songs were written by Bhanubhakta Acharya. He liked the poem so much that he was determined to find out other poems and works of Bhanubhakta Acharya.

Return to Benaras

He returned to Benaras with his wife in December 1881 (Poush 1938 BS). He started studying English in Harischandra school in Benaras. In his second stay at Benaras, he attended various poetry meetings. One such meeting was organized by

on ''samasyāpūrtis'', an old poetic tradition involving riddles. ''Samasyāpūrtis'' were an early Indian tradition often organized in palaces of kings and nobles. It is said that in one of the ''samasyāpūrtis'' meeting, Bhatta presented a solution and was awarded ten rupees by Harishchandra. Impressed by such meeting, Bhatta started a group himself called ''Samasyāpūrti–maṇḍalī'', which consisted of Padmavilas Panta, Kashinath, Ranganath, Tejbahadur Rana, and Chet Singh. In the group meetings, he started composing poems using erotic or romantic style ( Sringara ras in Sanskrit). The style attracted numbers of publications among readers and was considered successful. In Benaras, he published and edited a Nepali language edition of ''Bharat Jeevan'' magazine. He also started printing Nepali language books in the Bharat Jeevan Printing Press. He first published the

Balakanda ''Bala Kanda'' ( sa, बालकाण्ड; IAST: ', ) is the first book of the Valmiki ''Ramayana'', which is one of the two great epics of India (the other being the ''Mahabharata''). There has been debate as to whether ''Bala Kanda'' was c ...

of '' Bhanubhakta Ramayan'' and printed the complete edition later. In 1886, he started ''Gorkha Bharat Jeevan'', a Nepali language magazine. It is considered to be the first newsmagazine published in Nepali. However, no copies of the magazine have been found to date. The only evidence of the existence of the magazine is the advertisement of the magazine in ''Bharat Jeevan'' magazine.

Return to Kathmandu

After around seven years of living in Benaras, he returned to Kathmandu in . After returning, Bhatta with the help of his maternal uncles Pt. Nara Dev Pandey and Krishna Dev Pandey started Motikrishna Dhirendra Company in in Thahiti, Kathmandu. At the same time, he opened a library which is considered the first library in Nepal. The company later opened a press known as Pashupat press. He alongside Nara Dev Pandey, Laxmi Dutta Panta, Gopi Nath Lohani, Bhoj Raj Pandey and other friends and acquaintances started a group in Kathmandu called ''Mitra Mandali'', inspired by his group in Benaras. The group was responsible for the creation and promotion of Nepali poetry. Bhatta studied in

Durbar High School Durbar High School () or Bhanu Higher Secondary School, opened in 1854 is the oldest modern school in Nepal located near Rani Pokhari, Kathmandu. The school was originally built to teach sons of Ranas exclusively but was opened to public citizens i ...

in Kathmandu. He was friends with

Chandra Shumsher JBR Field-Marshal Maharaja Sri Teen Chandra Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (8 July 1863 – 26 November 1929) was the Prime Minister of Nepal from the Rana dynasty. He served in this capacity from 27 June 1901 to his death in 1929, after he successfull ...

and

Dev Shumsher JBR Sri Maharaja, Dev Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (17 July 1862 – 20 February 1914) was the Prime Minister of Nepal for 114 days in 1901. He was also the King of Lamjung and Kaski. Family and early life He was the fourth of 17 sons born to Chief ...

at school. The liberal views of Dev Shumsher is said to be influenced by Bhatta. For his higher education, he decided to go to Calcutta. Motiram Bhatta

Calcutta and death

In , he passed the entrance examination of

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

. He appeared for the AAIA exam in but was unable to pass. He returned to his home. He went back to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

in but got ill. He returned to Kathmandu due to his illness. He became bedridden for seven months and died in 1896 (1953 BS) on the day of ''Kunse Aunsi'', his lunar birthday at the age of 30. He was cremated at Aryaghat on the banks of Bagmati river.

Literary contributions

He is credited to introduce prose writing in Nepali literature. He wrote essays, plays and stories in the Nepali language. In poetry he mostly used Sringar ras, which is considered a romantic style. He worked for 15 years in Nepali literature. During that period he wrote and edited about twenty–five literary works. He also published works by other authors. Some of the works of Motiram are ''Manodweg'' ''Prawah'', ''Panchak Prapancha'', ''Shakuntala'', ''Priyadarsika'' and ''Pikdoot''. He also wrote some Hindi and Urdu poems. He was the one who introduced "''Ghazals''" in Nepali literature. His

sher Sher can refer to: People * Sher, a Baloch tribe in Pakistan * Sher-e-Bangla (''Lion of Bengal''), a popular title of 20th century Bengali statesman A. K. Fazlul Huq * Sher-e-Punjab (''Lion of Punjab''), a popular title of Maharaja Ranjit Sing ...

"''Dui aankhi bhau ta tayaar chhan tarbar po kina chahiyo, timi aafai malik bhaigayeu sarkar kina chahiyo''" is quite famous for the ghazal lovers in Nepal which translates to "Two eyebrows are sharp enough, why there be a need for sword, you happen to be a monarch yourself, why there be a need for vote?"

Notable works

Nepali *''Manod Beg Prawah'' (Poetry collection,1942 BS) *''Pralahad Bhakti Katha'' (Epic, 1943 BS) *''Gajendra Moksha'' (Epic, 1944 BS) *''Shakunouti'' (Study of omens, 1944 BS) *''Swapna Adhyaya'' (Study of Dreams, 1944 BS) *''Gafastak'' (1944 BS) *''Shakuntal'' (Play, 1944 BS) *''Sangeet Chandrodaya'' (Ghazals, 1944 BS) *''Panchak Prapancha'' (Epic, 1944 BS) *''Usha Charitra'' (Epic, 1944 BS) *''Anupras Manjari'' (1944 BS) *''Chanakya Neeti'' (1945 BS) *''Padmavati'' (Play, Incomplete, 1945 BS) *''Pikdoot'' (Epic, 1945 BS) *''Kashiraj Chandrasena'' (Epic, 1945 BS) *''Gulsanovar'' (Fiction, 1945 BS) *''Ukhanko Bakhan'' *''Kaal Bhramar'' ''Sambad'' (Epic) *''Baal Jibbarnan'' (Poem) *''Priyadarsika'' (Play, 1948 BS) *''Kabi Bhanubhakta Ko Jivan Charitra'' (Bhanubhakta Acharya's biography and criticism, 1891(1948 BS)) *''Teej ko Katha'' Urdu * ''Husna Afroz Aaram Dil'' (Play)

Legacy

Motiram Jayanti, his anniversary is celebrated every year by the Nepali literary community on the day of ''

'' (Nepalese father's day). Yuba Barsa Moti Prize, an award to honour writers who have contributed to Nepali literature was established in his honour by Nepal Educational Council in . The award is presented every year on his anniversary. His biography—''Kabi Motiram Bhattako Sachitra Charitra Barnan,'' was written by his maternal uncle and fellow littérateur Nara Dev Pandey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhatta, Motiram 1866 births 1896 deaths Nepalese male poets Bahun 19th-century Nepalese writers Nepali-language poets Khas people Nepalese dramatists and playwrights Nepalese essayists People from Kathmandu District Nepalese ghazal singers Durbar High School alumni 19th-century Nepalese poets Nepalese publishers (people) National heroes of Nepal Nepalese Hindus