Bhanubhakta Acharya

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Bhanubhakta Acharya (Nepali: भानुभक्त आचार्य) (1814-1868) was a Nepali poet who translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit to Nepali. He was born in 1814 in Chundi Ramgha in the district of Tanahu, and was educated at home by his grandfather, Shri Krishna Acharya. His father Dhananjaya Acharya was a government official who worked for General Amar Singh Thapa, Governor of Palpa in western Nepal.

Bhanubhakta is considered the first poet writing in Nepali language. Poets before him in Nepal usually wrote in Sanskrit. One of his writings is well known for its colorful, flowing praise of Kathmandu valley and its inhabitants.

घासी दरीद्र घरको तर बुध्दि कस्तो
म भानुभक्त धनी भइकन आज यस्तो

He gives his life to cutting grass and earns little money,
he hopes to make a well for his people
so he will be remembered after death,
this high thinking grass cutter lives in poverty,
I have achieved nothing though I have much wealth.
- Bhanubhakta

Bhanubhakta Acharya is a luminous star of Nepali literature. He was an outstanding poet, who dedicated his entire life to enriching Nepali literature. Perhaps Bhanubhakta is the only littérateur of Nepali literature whose literary reputation has been well established both at home and in several parts of India.

Bhanubhakta’s life was not a bed of roses. He did face several trials and tribulations in his life, but nothing could deter him from his mission to contribute to the Nepali literature. He remained active throughout his life to enrich it. We can learn a lot from his life.

Bhanubhakta, son of Dhananjaya Acharya, was born in Chundi Beshi of Ramgha in 1814. This village lies in the Tanahun district in Gandaki zone. A voracious reader, he was quite a handsome boy but very different from his friends. He was not interested in sports and preferred to be always alone. Nevertheless, he had immense love and interest in nature and he could communicate with it. Later on, when he began writing poetry, he was truly inspired by nature.

Bhanubhakta was a prolific writer. He had such creative ability that he could even turn general conversation into a melodious poem. This kind of talent is very rare in any human being but he had such ability right from childhood. He wrote many poems but, unfortunately, today we do not have all of this writings. In fact, we have lost most of his exclusive poems. It has been assumed that Bhanubhakta wrote a lot of poems between 1769 and 1846.

As a young poet, Bhanubhakta went to India once to buy books and to meet his old literary camaraderie. He spent a few months in Banaras and then returned to Kathmandu. When he arrival, he was overwhelmed by Kathmandu’s beauty. He was fascinated at seeing beautiful temples, neat and clean streets, exclusive handicrafts, big markets, crowds of people, beautiful houses and palaces etc.

The beauty of Kathmandu had captured the very heart and soul of the young poet. He at once decided to reside in Kathmandu to pursue a career in writing. One of his friends came out to help him who made an arrangement to stay in a room in the house of Dharmadutta, a famous astrologer at that time. He came in touch with many learned people of Kathmandu. They were all acquainted with the writings of each other and it directly, or indirectly, benefited Bhanubhakta.

While staying in Kathmandu, Bhanubhakta was informed of a lawsuit against him at his village. He had to get back to his village, Ramgha, as early as possible. It was only at his village where he learnt about the lawsuit.

His neighbour, Giridhari Bhat, had never liked Bhanubhakata or his poems from the very beginning. Giridhari was also a drunkard and gambler. On many occasions, Bhanubhakta had done his best to show Giridhari the right path and had tried to persuade him to stay away from such bad company and look after this wife and children. But Giridhari had not paid any attention to Bhanubhakta’s advice.

It was Giridhari, who had made a petition at the court demanding that he get his land back from Bhanubhakta. Giridhari said Bhanubhakta had taken his land by force. The poet talked to Giridhari and tried to reach a compromise with him. But Giridhari refused to make reconciliation. Then Bhanubhakta decided to face the charges before the court.

Bhanubhakta returned to Kathmandu and once again got down to his work. He had no job that could fetch him regular income in Kathmandu. His friends managed a job for him in the accounts department of Shri-3 commander-in-Chief General Krishna Bahadur Junga Rana in 1835. His new job fetched him a handsome salary that kept him afloat. Now, Bhanubhakta dedicated himself to writing poetry. Everything was all right when all of a sudden something went terribly wrong. Unfortunately, Bhanubhakta failed to submit official accounts in time. He was accused of embezzlement that put him in a prison for five months.

His every effort to prove himself unaccountable for the embezzlement of official money turned out to be in vain when he was finally incarcerated. In fact, Bhanubhakta’s reputation was tainted but still he was confident that one day he would be released with dignity and the real culprit would be caught.

Bhanubhakta wrote poems even in prison. One day he asked for a pen and a piece of paper and a guard brought them to him. He then wrote a poem to the Shri-3 Commander- in-Chief who called for his release from the prison.

Bhanubhakta wrote and compiled Ayodhyakanda, Kiskindha Kanda and Sunder Kanda when he was in prison. In the same year he had to perform Bartabandha of his son, Ramnath.

He wrote another letter to Rana, requesting him to allow him to do the Bartabandha of his son. This time he succeeded in convincing Rana and ordered for his release for one week so that he could perform his son’s Bartabandha. He performed the Bartabandha and then returned to Kathmandu to complete the remaining days in prison. During his stay in prison, he also wrote Youdha Kanda and Uttara Kanda, thus he completed the Ranayana in verse form. Bhanubhakta wrote Bhaktamala and Prashnotara thereafter. In 1836 Bhanubhakta wrote another book of verse called Badhusikchha.

Due to his very poor health, he was unable to write at all, so he called his son to write the translation for him. Bhanubhakta dictated, and Ramnath wrote down, what his father told him; finally the translated work was finished. Bhanubhakta died in 1868.

If we look into Bhanubhakta’s writings, we find that he had made a careful choice of words while writing poems, which are simple, lucid, and easy to understand.

Bhanubhakta is honored with the title Aadi Kavi (the first poet), who has occupied an outstanding place in the Nepali literature no other littérateurs have ever attained.