Great Garhwali Personality:
Allat Nath Bhatt ‘ Suri : First Sanskrit Poet of Garhwal
Bhishma Kukreti
Garhwal and Kumaun had been the regions where many Sanskrit scriptures , and modern languages books were created by creative.
However, the past creative of India never mentioned their names in the scripture and historians find difficult to know about the whereabouts . However, the creative of these scriptures have provided the historical references and glimpses of social structure of their time.
Credit goes to eminent most historian of Uttarakhand , Dr Shiv Prasad Dabral for providing the details of first Garhwali Sanskrit poet Allat Nath Suri or Allad Nath Suri.(Refr-1)
Alladnath was the son of an intellectual and knowledgeable Sanskrit Pundit Sidh Laxaman. His date of birth is unknown but it is sure that he created his verses in thirteenth century. By the names of both pundits, we may certainly guess that Nath sect was a prominent sect of Uttarakhand in thirteenth century. He was born in the time of Ekchakra regime ruled by Chauhan dynasty or Bahban dynasty (Kane).
Ekchakra kingdom seemed to be near Chakrata Dehradun , Ekchakranagari was capital and the kingdom was extended at the bank of Yamuna. King Suryaman suggested Allad Bhat Suri for writing the history of I.e ek Chakra regime , Allatnath Bhatt Suri was profound pundit of Vedas, logics, grammar, Smritis and Garhwali geography too
Allatnath created a very remarkable book called ,’ Nirnayamrit’ in Sanskrit. It is proof that within short period of its creation, Nirnayamrit got immediate recognition and authentic book of ‘Dharmashastra or Neetishashtra (Kane). There are references of Nirnayamrit in authentic scriptures of Dharmashashtra as Nirnanaysindhu, Daytatva, Teerthnirnaya, Kalnirnaya, Nirnayadeepak, Shradhkriyakaumadi.
There are stanzas in Nirnayamrit , which help for knowing the historical details of Garhwal of twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The hand written manuscript of Nirnayamrit is available at Bhandarkar Institute, Mumbai and it is published twice. One copy of the book is available in Berline museum (Professor Bavor)
Allat Bhatt Suri created another book in Sanskrit ‘Sakalpuran sammuchaya’
Many knowledgeable Garhwalis as Sadanand Jakhmola, Lalita Prasad naithani, Rama Prasad Ghildiyal ‘Pahadi’ , Dr shiva Nand Nautiyal anda non Garhwali scholars Kamala Ratnam, Banarasi Das Chaturvedi voiced that Kalidas was first Garhwali Sanskrit . However , there is no universal agreement about Kalidas being a Garhwali who was born in Kaviltha village of Chamoli Garhwali but there is no any disagreement about the authenticity that Allatnath Bhatt was first Garhwali Sanskrit poet .
References:
1-Dabral, Shiv Prasad, Uttarakhand ka Itihas, Bhag-4, Veer Gatha Press Dogadda, Garhwal, India, pp94-95
2-Kane, Dharmashashtron ka Itihas
3-Bavar, Collected works of Bhandarkar-2,page 143
Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India, 2009
