Bhanubhakta poems (भानुभक्तका कविता)भानुभक्तका कविता

The poems

Revered throughout the Himalayan foothills as Adikavi (Ādikavi / आदिकवि, "The Pioneering Poet"), Bhanubhakta Acharya (Bhānubhakta Ācārya / भानुभक्त आचार्य) laid the foundation of modern Nepali literature by liberating the poetic word from the restrictive corridors of elite Sanskrit scholasticism. Although formal court poetry had long been composed in intricate Sanskrit, Bhanubhakta achieved an unprecedented cultural breakthrough: he translated the profound narrative of the Adhyatma Ramayana into the living, spoken idiom of the mid-hills, forging a shared national vocabulary that could be sung in village courtyards, recited at firesides, and carried effortlessly across the geographical divides of Nepal.

Born in 1814 CE (1871 BS) in the mid-hill village of Ramgha, Tanahun, to an aristocratic Brahmin lineage under his scholar-grandfather Shrikrishna Acharya, Bhanubhakta inherited the rigorous disciplines of classical metrics, yet chose to channel them into the colloquial cadence of vernacular Nepali. Decades after his passing in 1868, the brilliant young poet and publicist Motiram Bhatta rediscovered his handwritten manuscripts, founded dedicated printing presses in Banaras, and published Bhanubhakta's life and complete Ramayana in 1891, establishing his legacy as the literary father of the modern Nepali language.

While his magnum opus spans 1,319 metered stanzas across seven liturgical books (Kāṇḍas), Bhanubhakta was equally celebrated for his incisive short epigrams (Spuṭa Kavitā). Rooted in the noble Śārdūlavikrīḍita meter—whose majestic nineteen-syllable line he mastered with effortless conversational grace—his spontaneous verses capture personal epiphanies, romantic descriptions of Kathmandu's valleys, administrative delays in court jails, and moral instructions for household harmony.

Presented below are seven of his most celebrated short poems, faithfully reflecting the classical orthography of their historical printings, accompanied by dedicated portals to his four expansive independent masterworks: the devotional Bhaktamala (Bhaktamālā / भक्तमाला), the moral colloquy Prashnottaramala (Praśnottaramālā / प्रश्नोत्तरामाला), the social domestic manual Badhushiksha (Badhū-śikṣā / वधुशिक्षा), and the philosophical discourse of the Ram Gita (Rāmagītā / रामगीता).

The grass-cutter (घाँसी)

भर् जन्म घाँस तिर मन् दिई धन कमायो
नाम क्यै रहोस् पछि भनेर कुवा खनायो
घाँसी दरिद्र घरको तर बुद्धि कस्तो
म भानुभक्त धनी भैकन किन यस्तो ।
मेरा ईनार न त सत्तल पाटिकै छन्
जे धन चीजहरु छन् घर भित्रनै छन्
त्यस घाँसीले कसरी आज दिए छ अर्ति
धिक्कार हो म कन बस्नु न राखि किर्ति ।

A poor man who cuts grass spent his life on that work, earned what he could, and dug a well so that a name would remain after him. The poet stops on the man's mind. The grass-cutter (घाँसी) is poor. Bhanubhakta calls himself rich, and asks why he is as he is. He has no public well, no sattal (सत्तल), no pāṭī (पाटी). A sattal (सत्तल) is a rest-house. A pāṭī (पाटी) is a public shelter. Whatever wealth he has stays inside his own house. The grass-cutter (घाँसी) has become his teacher for the day. The last line is shame at living on without leaving a fame.

The poem is the meeting as he kept it. Tellings add a road, and a man still at the digging, and they join the shame to the years he then gave to a Nepali (नेपाली) Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण). The eight lines stop at the well and the shame.

The signature (म भानुभक्त)

पाहाड्को अति बेस देश् तनहुँमा श्रीकृष्ण ब्राह्मण् थिया,
खुप् उच्चा कुल आर्यबंशि हुन गै सत्कर्ममा मन् दिया।
विद्यामा पनि जो धुरन्धर भई शिक्षा मलाई दिया,
तिन्को नाति म भानुभक्त भनि हुम् यो जानि चिहन्नी लिया।।

This is how he signs. In a very good hill country, Tanahun, there was a brāhmaṇa, Śrīkṛṣṇa (श्रीकृष्ण). He was of a high family, he set his mind on good work, and he was deep in learning. He gave Bhanubhakta his education. The poet says: know me as that man's grandson. The verse is a mark, the way a painter writes a small name in a corner. Tellings place this mark at the end of his Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण). The lines themselves are the house, the grandfather, and the name.

Beloved (सुन प्रिये)

बिन्ती एक म गर्दछू सुन प्रिये प्रीती निरन्तर् रहोस्
ताहाँको मन पिञ्जरा म मुनियाँ यै चाल् सदाकाल् रहोस्
तिम्रो त्यो मुख चन्द्र झल्कि मनमा तेस्ले उज्यालो गरी
शीतल गर्नु उचीत हो अधिक ताप् गर्दो छ सूर्यै सरि ।

He asks one thing. Hear, beloved. Let the love remain without a break. May he remain a bird in the cage of her mind, and may that going-on be the way it always is. Her face is the moon. It flashes in the mind and makes a light there. What is fitting is that she cool him. The sun is burning hard. Tellings hear the beloved as his wife. The line says priye (प्रिये), beloved. The poem is a plea for coolness and for staying.

Bālājī (बालाजि)

यति दिन पछि मैले आज बालाजि देख्याँ,
पृथिवि तलभरीमा स्वर्ग हो जानि लेख्याँ।
वरिपरि लहरामा झूलि बस्न्या चरा छन्,
मधुर वचन बोली मन् लिँदा क्या सुरा छन्।।१।।
याँहाँ बसेर कविता यदि गर्न पाऊँ,
यस्देखि सोख अरु थोक म के चिताऊँ।
उस्माथि झन् असल सुन्दरि एक् नचाऊँ,
खैंचेर इन्द्रकन स्वर्ग यहीं बनाऊँ।।२।।

After many days he sees Bālājī (बालाजि) and takes the whole of the earth below for heaven. Birds sit swinging in the vines around him. Their sweet talk is a music when the mind takes it in. If he may sit here and make poems, he asks what other pleasure he would even think of. He adds one more wish. If a beautiful woman danced here as well, he would drag Indra (इन्द्र) down and make heaven on this spot. The poem names Bālājī (बालाजि) and does not describe the shrine. One telling hears the valley's Bālājī (बालाजि). The lines are the birds, the poems, and the wish.

Kantipur (कान्तिपुरी नगरी)

चपला अबलाहरु एक् सुरमा,
गुनकेसरिको फुल ली शिरमा।
हिडन्या सखि लीकन ओरिपरी
अमरावति कान्तिपुरी नगरी।।
यति छन् भनि गन्नु काहाँ धनि ञाँ,
खुसि छन् बहुतै मनमा दुनिञाँ।
जनकी यसरी सुखकी सगरी,
अलकापुरि कान्तिपुरी नगरी।।
कहिँ भोट - र लण्डन - चीन - सरी,
कहिँ काल्-भरि गल्लि छ दिल्ली-सरी।
लखनौं - पटना - मदरास - सरी
अलकापुरि कान्तिपुरी नगरी।।
तरबार कटार खुँडा खुकुरी,
पिसतोल र बन्दुक सम्म भिरी।
अतिशूर - र - वीर - भरी नगरी,
छ त कुन्- सरि कान्तिपुरी नगरी।।
रिस राग कपट् छल छैन जाँहाँ,
तव धर्म कती छ कती छ याहाँ,
पशुका पति छन् रखबारि गरी,
शिवकी पुरि कान्तिपुरी नगरी।।

Kāntipurī (कान्तिपुरी) is the old name of Kathmandu. Women walk in one tune, a kesarī (केसरी) flower in the hair, a friend on either side, and the city is Amarāvatī (अमरावती), Indra's (इन्द्र) city. Who could count how many there are. The world is glad in its mind. The people are gathered in happiness, and the city is Alakāpurī (अलकापुरी), the city of wealth. He sets it beside Bhota and London and China, beside lanes that have run all the age like Delhi, beside Lucknow, Patna, and Madras. He dresses the city in a sword, a dagger, a khukhurī (खुकुरी), a pistol, and a gun, and calls it full of the brave. The line is praise. Where anger, passion, deceit, and fraud are absent, he asks how much dharma there is, and answers with the lord of beasts keeping watch. That lord is Paśupati (पशुपति). The city is Śiva's city.

The bund (ख्वामित् यस् गिरिधारिले)

ख्वामित् यस् गिरिधारिले अति पिर्यो व्यर्थै गर्यो झेल् पनी,
यस्का झेल उतार्नलाइ सजिलो यै हो व्यहोरा पनी।
ख्वामित् लाइ चढाउँनाकन यहाँ क्यै श्लोक् कवीता गर्याँ,
मेरा श्लोक् सुनिबक्सियोस् त झगडा छीनिन्छ पाऊ-पर्याँ।।
बीस् साल् सम्म त ज्यान त्यान यहिं वाँद् लाग्यो र खेत् रोपिया,
यो साल् बाँद पनि खोलिएछ जलले ढुङ्गा सबै छोपिया,
ढुङ्गा खोजि लगाउँ बाँद कसरी राख्तैन ढुङ्गा पनी,
मानिस् पस्न त क्वै सकेन जलमा स्वात्तै बगम्ला भनी।।
अर्ज्याल् भाट ढकाल् अचार्ज इन चार् जम्मा भई सब् वस्यौं,
मील्यो मत् सब मोहिको र मतले बाँद् लाऊनामा पस्यौं,
उस् मौका गिरिधारि एहि पनि भाट् सल्लाहमा नै थियो,
भर् यस्को नभएर मात्र अहिले यस्तो उजुर् पो दियो।।

This one is a plea, addressed to the master, the khwāmit (ख्वामित्). Giridhārī (गिरिधारी) has harassed the poet without cause and landed him in trouble, in jhel (झेल). The poet says this account is the easy way out of that trouble. He has made a few verses to offer to the master. If the master hears the verses, the quarrel ends, and the poet falls at his feet. For twenty years life was tied to this place and the fields were planted. This year the bund (गिरिधारिले) opened. Water covered the stones. He says to search out stones and set the bund (गिरिधारिले) again. It will not hold the stones. No person could step into that water. It would sweep them at once. Arjyāl, Bhāṭ, Dhākāl, and Ācārya, these four, sat down together. All the tenants agreed, and on that agreement they went in to build the bund (गिरिधारिले). Giridhārī (गिरिधारी) himself was in the Bhāṭs' counsel that day. A complaint has come now, and the poem lays it on an absence. The lines are the broken bund (गिरिधारिले), the four houses, and the bow. They do not tell how the quarrel ended.

Daily sight (रोज् रोज् दर्शन)

रोज् रोज् दर्शन पाउँछू चरणको ताप् छैन मन्मा कछू।
रात् भर् नाच् पनि हेर्छु खर्च नगरी ठूला चयन्मा म छु।
लामखुट्टे उपियाँ उडुस् इ सँगि छन् इन्कै लहड्मा बसी।
लाम्खुट्टेहरु गाउँछन् इ उपियाँ नाच्छन् म हेर्छु बसी।
जागिर् छैन धनी म छैन घरको केबल् कुदालो खनी,
खान्थ्याँ दुक्ख गरेर चाकरि गर्याँ मान् पाउँला की भनी।
एक् मन् चित्त लगाइ चाकरि गर्याँ खूसी भया छन् हरि।
मान्पाथी पनि भुक्तमान् थपिदिया कैल्यै नछुट्न्या गरी।

Every day he has sight (दर्शन) of the feet, and he says there is no burning in the mind. All night he watches a dance as well, without spending, and the line puts him in a ṭhūlā cayana (ठूला चयन्). Mouths hear that phrase as a great ease. The printing leaves the word as it stands. Then the companions arrive. Mosquitoes, fleas, and bedbugs are his company. He sits at their whim. The mosquitoes sing. The fleas dance. He sits and watches. He has no jāgīr (जागिर), no post with an income, and he is not a rich man of the house. He would eat by digging with a kodālo (कुदालो), a hoe, having served in the hope of honor. He served with a single mind. Hari (हरि) is pleased, and the portion of honor was added so that it would not be dropped.

Tomorrow (भोली भोली)

बिन्ती डिट्ठा विचारीसित म कति गरूँ चुप् रहन्छन् नबोली।
बोल्छन् ता ख्याल् गर्या झैं अनि पछि दिनदिन् भन्दछन् भोलि भोली।
की ता सक्तीन भन्नू कि तब छिनिदिनू क्यान भन्छन् यि भोलि।
भोली भोली हुँदैमा सब घर बितिगो बक्सियोस् आज झोली।

The plea turns to a diṭṭha (डिठ्ठा) and a vicārī (विचारी), the official and the man who weighs the case. How much should he petition. They stay silent. When they speak, it is as if in jest, and day after day they say tomorrow, tomorrow. Shall he say he cannot, or shall the official decide. Why do they say tomorrow. While it remains tomorrow, the whole house is spent. He asks that the jholī (झोली), the bag, be given today. Tellings place this complaint in the months he was confined, after the quarrel over a bund (गिरिधारिले). This stanza is in another meter, sragdharā, and stands as its own poem; the two before it are śārdūlavikrīḍita. The lines themselves are the waiting: an official, a silence, and a tomorrow.

The longer works

The Bhaktamālā (भक्तमाला), the Praśnottaramālā (प्रश्नोत्तरमाला), the Badhū-śikṣā (वधूशिक्षा), and the Rāmagītā (रामगीता) are each on their own page, with a summary in English, a summary in Nepali (नेपाली), and the verses.

His long work is the Nepali (नेपाली) Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण), in seven kāṇḍas: Bāla, Ayodhyā, Araṇya, Kiṣkindhā, Sundara, Yuddha, and Uttara. A Nepali (नेपाली) house often meets Rāma (राम) first in this telling. The seven books are a book. This page sits the door.

एक् दिन् नारद सत्यलोक् पुगि गया लोक्को गरूँ हित् भनी।
ब्रह्मा ताहिं थिया पर्या चरणमा खूसी गराया पनी॥
क्या सोध्छौ तिमि सोध भन्छु म भनी मर्जी भयेथ्यो जसै।
ब्रह्माको करुणा बुझेर ऋषिले बिन्ती गर्या यो तसै॥

Nārada (नारद) goes one day to the world of truth, meaning to do good for people. Brahmā (ब्रह्मा) is there. Nārada (नारद) falls at his feet and pleases him. When Brahmā (ब्रह्मा) says, ask what you will ask, and I will tell it, the sage understands the kindness and makes this request. In the verses that follow he describes an age he fears, and asks how people will cross. This page leaves that list where it stands. Brahmā's (ब्रह्मा) answer is the one the book rests on.

नारद्ले दुनियाँउपर् गरि दया बिन्ती गर्या यो जसै।
ब्रह्माजी पनि खूप् प्रसन्न हुनुभो मर्जी भयो यो तसै॥
हे नारद् सब पाप हर्न कन ता रामायणैले सरी।
आर्को मुख्य उपाय छैन सबको हित् यै छ अमृत् सरी॥

When Nārada (नारद) has made the request, with pity for the world, Brahmā (ब्रह्मा) is deeply pleased. He tells Nārada (नारद) that for taking away every pāpa there is nothing like the Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण). There is no other chief means. This is everyone's good, like nectar. Later verses in that opening pile ritual fruits on the hearing and the nearness of the book. This page does not sit that count. The rest of the seven kāṇḍas, after this opening of the Bālakāṇḍa, are his, and they are public, and they are not sat here.

One passage of that Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण) is called the gift of the sandals, pādukā-dāna (पादुका-दान). Bharata (भरत) asks Rāma (राम) to come home. Rāma (राम) sends him back, and the sandals go to stand for the king. The meeting is told on the chronicle's sandal page. The speeches of Bhanubhakta's passage are not sat here.

Where it sits

The short poems are his, and they are public. The Bhaktamālā (भक्तमाला), the Praśnottaramālā (प्रश्नोत्तरमाला), the Badhū-śikṣā (वधूशिक्षा), and the Rāmagītā (रामगीता) have their own pages. The Nepali (नेपाली) Rāmāyaṇa (रामायण) is the book, and its door is above. The birth morning is Rāma (राम) Navamī. The sandals in the Sanskrit chronicle are the meeting his passage retells. The question-garland names Vedānta. The sentences sat for that are on the Upaniṣad pages.