10 Facts About Lekhnath Paudyal

Lekhnath Paudyal is regarded as the founding father of modern Nepali poetry literature in the twentieth-century.

Lekhnath Paudyal's poems possessed a formal dignity that had been lacking in most earlier works in Nepali; many of them confirmed in their outlook with the philosophy of orthodox Vedanta, although others were essentially original in their tone and inspiration.

Lekhnath Paudyal's poems are very much popular, and often mentioned contemporary social and political issues.

Lekhnath Paudyal was born in Arghaun-Archale which lies at present Ward No 26, Pokhara Lekhnath Paudyal Metropolitan City in Gandaki Province of Nepal in 1885.

In 1951, Lekhnath Paudyal was invested by King Tribhuvan with the title of kabi siromani, which literally means "crest-jewel poet" but is generally translated as "poet laureate".

Lekhnath Paudyal was honoured by the Nepali literary world on his seventieth birthday in 1955 when he became the focal point of a procession around the streets of Kathmandu.

Ram Mani Acharya Dixit, the editor of the journal Madhavi, did much to help Lekhnath Paudyal to establish his reputation as a poet.

In 1909, when Lekhnath Paudyal returned to Kathmandu, he entered the employ of Bhim Shamsher, an important member of the ruling Rana family, as priest and tutor.

Lekhnath Paudyal's first composition after 1950 was a long poem entitled "Remembering the Truth of Undying Light", which expressed grief over the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

Lekhnath Paudyal did not develop the great promise of these early episodic poems further until much later in his life, but a large number of his shorter poems has appeared in a variety of literary journals in both India and Nepal.