Motiram Bhatta

Motiram Bhatta (Nepali: 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 c. 1888. He also introduced the Ghazal style of poetry and singing in Nepal. Bhatta was a polyglot and alongside Nepali, he had studied in Sanskrit, Persian, English and was also proficient in Bengali, Urdu and Nepal Bhasa.

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

Bhatta was born on the day of Kushe Aunsi (new moon day of Hindu month Bhadra) on 8 September 1866 (25 Bhadra 1923 BS) in Bhosiko Tole, Kathmandu, 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, with his mother to receive education in Benaras, India. He was admitted to a Persian language school, where he learnt Persian and Urdu. His Bratabanda ceremony was also performed in Benaras. He became acquainted 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.

He returned to Kathmandu in 1937 BS (1880-1881) 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 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.

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 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.