Motiram Bhatta
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Motiram Bhatta (; 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, he had studied in
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
,
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, English and was also proficient in Bengali,
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
and
Nepal Bhasa Newar (; , ) 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 Nepal. The language is known officially in Nepal as Nepal Bhas ...
. He wrote ''Kabi Bhanubhakta Ko Jivan Charitra—'' the biography of
Bhanubhakta Acharya Bhanubhakta Acharya () (1814—1868 CE) (1871—1925 Bikram Sambat, BS) was a Nepali writer, poet, and translator. He is widely regarded as the oldest poet in the Nepali language, for which he was conferred with the title of "Aadikabi": literally ...
, which played a 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 Bhosiko Tole,
Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...
, 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 Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...
, with his mother to receive education in
Benaras Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or 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 tradition of ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. He was admitted to a
Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...
school, where he learnt
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
. His Bratabanda ceremony was also performed in Benaras. He became acquinted to Bharatendu Harishchandra 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 Shayaris 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
Bhanubhakta Acharya Bhanubhakta Acharya () (1814—1868 CE) (1871—1925 Bikram Sambat, BS) was a Nepali writer, poet, and translator. He is widely regarded as the oldest poet in the Nepali language, for which he was conferred with the title of "Aadikabi": literally ...
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 Bharatendu Harishchandra 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'' (; IAST: ', ) is the first Book of the Valmiki ''Ramayana.'' The ''Bala Kanda,'' in partif not in its entiretyis generally regarded as an interpolation to the original epic.' Structure The book consists of seventy-six ''sargas ...
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 in Kathmandu. He was friends with Chandra Shumsher JBR and Dev Shumsher JBR 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.


Calcutta and death

In , he passed the entrance examination of
Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...
. He appeared for the AAIA exam in but was unable to pass. He returned to his home. He went back to
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
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 "''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 ''
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 ...
'' (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