Lekhnath Paudyal

Kavi Siromani Lekhnath Paudyal
Lekhnath Paudyal's painting (a few decades ago)
Native name	लेखनाथ पौड्याल
Born	1885 (15 Poush 1941 BS) Arghau Archale, Kaski, Nepal
Died	1966 (aged 80–81)
Occupation	Poet, short-story writer, playwright, essayist
Language	Nepali
Nationality	Nepali
Notable works	Pinjadako Suga (A Parrot in a Cage) Ritu Vichara (Contemplation of the Seasons, 1916) Buddhi Vinoda (Enjoyments of Wisdom, Satya-Kali-Samvada (A Dialogue Between the Degenerate Age and the Age of Truth, 1919)
Notable awards	कवि शिरोमणि

Lekhnath Paudyal (Nepali: लेखनाथ पौड्याल; 1885–1966) is regarded as the founding father of modern Nepali poetry literature (Kabi Shiromani) in the twentieth-century. His most important contribution is believed to be to the enrichment and refinement of the language rather than to its philosophical breadth. The best of Lekhnath's poems adhered to the old-fashioned conventions of Sanskrit poetics (kavya). Lekhnath, the first modern Nepali poet, wrote in the classical style of Nepali poetry. His 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. His poems are very much popular, and often mentioned contemporary social and political issues. It is believed there were the first glimmerings of the poetic spirit that was to come after him.

Lekhnath was born in Arghaun-Archale which lies at present Ward No 6, Lekhnath Municipality, Western Part of Nepal in 1885. From an early age, he composed pedantic "riddle-solving" (samasya-purti) verses, a popular genre adapted from an earlier Sanskrit tradition, and his first published poems appeared in 1904. Two poems were published in an Indian Nepali journal, Sundari. Literally, his name means (lekh :to write , Nath: god) the god of writing.

He received his first lessons from his father. Around the turn of the century, he was sent to the Kathmandu to attend a Sanskrit school and thence to the holy city of Banaras, as was customary, to continue his higher education to learn the classics of Sanskrit literature, from which he drew great inspiration.

In 1951, Lekhnath was invested by King Tribhuvan with the title of kavi shiromani, which literally means "crest-jewel poet" but is generally translated as "poet laureate". Since his death in 1966, no other poet has been similarly honored, so the title would seem to be his in perpetuity. Lekhnath was honored 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. The procession was probably modeled on the old-age initiation ceremony practiced by the Newars of Kathmandu Valley. The old poet was seated in a ceremonial carriage and paraded through the city, pulled by most of the better-known poets of the time and even by the then prime minister. In 1957, he was awarded membership in the newly founded Royal Nepal Academy, and in 1969 he was honored posthumously with the prestigious Tribhuvan Puraskar prize. These honors are a mark of the peculiar reverence felt by members of the cultural establishment of Nepal for the man whose poems represent the "classical" aspect of their modern literature. He can no longer escape the scorn of the young, however, and he is rarely imitated by aspiring poets. In an essay published in 1945, Devkota defended the "laureate" from his critics.