Discussion of Dharmaditya Dharmacharya in Nepal Academy

During one of the programs of the national organization of journalists related to indigenous and national minorities, ANIZ (now FONIZ), the participants had to be divided into groups. There was also a discussion about naming the group after important people. At that time, I had proposed a name, Dharmaditya Dharmacharya (1902-1963 AD). Hearing this name, many present there were curious about the name. It is surprising that this name became a subject of curiosity in an organization of journalists related to indigenous and national minorities. I had replied, “He is the first journalist in Nepali language. In this sense, he became the first indigenous journalist in Nepal. He edited and published the first newspaper in Nepali language.”

In Nepali society, the topic of personality worship is very common and is also taken in a negative sense. In fact, what should happen is personality worship. When individuals are promoted rather than personalities, everything goes to pieces. There are many such personalities in Nepal whose respect is not even a topic of discussion. There are those in Nepali society who show bravery by burying history in the womb of oblivion rather than digging it up. In some cases, they remain unrecognized by their elders or feel inferior without even trying to dig up history. In this sense, the leader of indigenous journalists in Nepal is Dharmaditya Dharmacharya. During the above-mentioned incident, I had also proposed that the same organization should now organize some program about him, but I do not know whether it happened later. In Newar society, especially in the context of language and literature, the name of this personality is taken with great respect. He is a multifaceted personality and accordingly, he is a name that should be mentioned correctly. He is a personality who not only introduced Theravada Buddhism in Nepal but also played an important role in circulating the blood of Buddhism in Nepal. In this regard, the Buddhist community should not forget him.

To publish news and articles related to Buddhism, he edited and published a magazine called Buddha Dharma (later named ‘Buddha Dharma wa Nepabhasha’) from Calcutta (India) in 1925. He was not limited to Nepali language only, he was also involved in editing and publishing Buddhist magazines in Nepali and English. Involved in many religious activities, he was also involved in the study, research and writing of his mother tongue and culture. During the Rana period, the Department of Industry was established in Nepal for the development of the industrial sector, but he was not the person to handle the department, but he was studying commerce in Calcutta and was brought to Kathmandu and given the responsibility of the department. It is really a misunderstanding for the Newar society to remember this multifaceted personality only in the fields of language, literature and religion. A linguistic organization named Maambay Puch established an honor and award in his name a decade ago and has been continuously giving it to two personalities every year. Sulochana Manandhar, an academician of Nepal Pragya Pratishthan, came as the chief guest at the honor and award distribution program held last June (2013). He said at that time during his speech that when he came for this program, his friends did not know about Dharmaditya Dharmacharya. Since these personalities should be made a topic of national discussion and should be honored at the national level, the Nepal Academy of Sciences had promised to organize some program soon. Since he is also the coordinator of the Department of Mother Language Literature, it was assumed at that time that something would happen now. Indeed, the organization of the introductory seminar for these personalities was completed on August 9 (2013).

The working paper was presented by Prof. Prem Shanti Tuladhar at the seminar. Some may think that the working paper contains a lot, but those looking for something new must be disappointed in a way. Most of Dharmaditya's works have been published. Moreover, all the issues of the magazine 'Buddha Dharma wa Nepalbhasha' published at that time have been collected and reprinted by Vaikuntha Prasad Lakaul under his own editorship. Similarly, his important article 'Nepalbhasha wa Thwaya Sahitya' has been edited and republished by the great poet Chittadhar 'Hriday' and made available to all. These two personalities had close relations with Dharmaditya Dharmacharya. Chittadhar Hriday has written a long article on his biography. Lakaul has also written a whole book and brought many things to light. In fact, other writings in Nepali are produced based on these two authors. The research paper prepared by the Central Nepali Language Department of Tribhuvan University is related to Dharmaditya Dharmacharya. But it is clear from the reference list that the previous works presented by Prof. Tuladhar could not be included in the paper. In addition, things that have been published elsewhere were not clearly mentioned or the presenter could not grasp the main point. Instead, commentator Dr. Pushparaj Rajkarnikar pointed out the shortcomings based on other published sources.

The scene of the introductory seminar was also surprising. Most of the people present were from the Newar community, and even familiar faces in the field of Nepali language and literature. There was also a lack of personalities associated with other academic institutions. In fact, there should be more non-Newars than Newars. But there were only a few new faces there that could not be counted on two hands. Chief guest Satya Mohan Joshi said that Nepal