BHANUBHAKTA ACHARYA (Adikavi)

Bhanubhakta (1814–1868) was a Nepali poet who translated the great epic "Ramayana" from Sanskrit to Nepali. Born to a Brahmin family in 1814 in Tanahu, he received at home an excellent education with a strong leaning towards religion from his grandfather.

After the fall of the Khas Empire in the 15th century, its language which evolved into present day Nepali was considered bastardized and limited to speech. Sanskrit dominated most of the written texts of South Asia and its influence was particularly strong in Nepal. Brahmins were the teachers, scholars and priests of the society by virtue of their caste. Their education was Sanskrit-oriented since most religious texts of the Hindu religion were in that language.

Many wrote poetry that was too heavily Sanskritized. Bhanubhakta was definitely "the" writer who gained the acceptance of a wide range of people and his creations played a key role in popularizing the written form of the Khas language.

Bhanubhakta's contribution was unique. Children who received an education at the time began their studies with light epics such as the "Ramayan" and graduated to the more complex "Upanishads" and "Vedas." Ram's heroic exploits were highly impressive to Bhanubhakta, so he decided to make the deity more accessible to the people who spoke Khas. (Since the social order did not encourage literacy, most country people did not understand anything when epics were read out to them in Sanskrit.)

When completed, his translation of the Ramayan was so lyrical that it was more like a song than a poem.

Bhanubhakta did not study Western literature. All his ideas and experiences were derived from his native land. This lent such a strong Nepali flavor to his writing that few poets have been able to equal his simple creations in terms of content: a sense of religion, a sense of simplicity, and the warmth of his country are the strongest features of his poetry. Those who read the first lines of the Bhanubhakta Ramayan can clearly feel Nepal in them.

Bhanubhakta was a young boy from a wealthy family and was leading an unremarkable life until he met a grass cutter who wanted to give something to society so that he could be remembered after death too. After listening to the grass cutter Bhanubhakta felt ashamed of himself. So by the inspiring words of the grass cutter, he wrote these lines: