Bhatt Mathuranath Shastri

Bhatt Mathuranath Shastri (Sanskrit: भट्ट मथुरानाथ शास्त्री) (23 March 1889 – 4 June 1964) was an eminent Indian Sanskrit scholar, poet, philosopher, grammarian, polyglot and expert of Tantra from Jaipur, Rajasthan. He was one of the prominent Sanskrit writers of the twentieth century who wrote on both traditional and modern themes. He pioneered the use of several new genres in Sanskrit literature, writing radio plays, essays, travelogues, and short stories. He wrote many songs in Sanskrit including Ghazals, Thumris, Dadras and Dhrupads. He pioneered the use of Prakrit (Braja and Hindi) metres in Sanskrit poetry. Bhatt Mathuranath Shastri was born in Jaipur in the famous Devarshi family which had a tradition of great Sanskrit scholars and poets going back to more than four hundred years. His father's name was Devarshi Dwarkanath Bhatt, mother's name was Shrimati Janaki Devi and elder brother's name was Devarshi Ramanath Shastri, who himself was a Sanskrit scholar, proponent and commentator of Pushtimarg sect of 'pure non-dualism' (Shuddhadvaita). His ancestors were Tailanga Brahmins of the Gautama Gotra following the Krishna Yajurveda. The Devarshi family started with Baviji Dikshit, who migrated from Devarkonda or Devalpalli village (origin of their family name Devarshi) in current-day Andhra Pradesh to Varanasi during Mughal rule. The descendants of Baviji Dikshit later migrated from Varanasi to Prayag, then to Rewa (where they were given the Jagir of village named Divrikhiya) and then to Bundi. From Bundi, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh brought Kavikalanidhi Devarshi Shrikrishna Bhatt, a celebrated poet of Sanskrit and Braj-Bhasha, to his Jaipur-court and awarded him the title of "Kavikalānidhi" (treasure of poetic expertise). Descendants of Shrikrishna Bhatt in the Devarshi family include Dwarkanath Bhatt, Jagdish Bhatt, Vasudev Bhatt, and Mandan Bhatt, who were all royal poets in the court of the Maharajas of Jaipur. In this family, Mathuranath Shastri was born on 23 March 1889 in Jaipur.