Lekhnath Paudyal

Lekhnath Paudyal (; 1885–1966) is regarded as the founding father of modern Nepali poetry literature ( (Kavi 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).

Poudyal, 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 conformed in their outlook with the philosophy of orthodox Vedanta, although others were essentially original in their tone and inspiration. His poems often mentioned contemporary social and political issues and remain popular. It is believed there were the first glimmerings of the poetic spirit that was to come after him. Yugkabi Siddicharan Shrestha was the organizer of the event. Playwright Balakrishna Sama, Laxmi Prasad Devkota, Rudra Raj Pandey, Dr. Yadav Prasad Pant, Chittadhar Hridaya and others writers praised Paudyal during the event. On behalf of His Majesty's Government, a bag of Rs. 5,000 was presented to the poet who immediately donated it to Nepal Shikshya Parisadh. This chariot procession is considered as a unique and unprecedented event in the history of Nepali literature.

Contributions Most of Lekhnath Paudyal's short poems are collected in Lalitya (Delicacy), published in two volumes in 1967 and 1968. In all of his creations, his primary concern was to create "sweetness" in the language of his poems, and many were rewritten several times before the poet was content with them. The primary inspiration for this work was probably The Chain of the Seasons (Ritu-Samhara) by the great fifth-century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa.

His devotional poems are more formal and are admired for their beauty and for the sincerity of the emotions they express. "Remembering Saraswati" (Saraswati-Smriti) is the prime illustration of this feature of Lekhnath's poetry. His first composition after 1950 was a long poem entitled "Remembering the Truth of Undying Light" (Amar Jyotiko Satya-Smriti), which expressed grief over the death of Mahatma Gandhi. Lekhnath 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 continued to appear in a variety of literary journals in both India and Nepal. Many poems were probably never published and may now be lost. A two-volume collection, Delicacy (Lalitya) was published in 1967–1968 and contained one hundred poems. Lekhnath's shorter works covered a wide variety of topics and conveyed all of the nine rasa. Although many are plainly moralistic, some have a whimsical charm and are often couched in uncharacteristically simple language. One such is "The Chirruping of a Swallow" (Gaunthaliko Chiribiri), first published in 1935, in which a swallow explains the transient nature of existence to the poet: You say this house is yours, I say that it is mine, To whom in fact does it belong? Turn your mind to that!

His longer works – khanda-kavya and Mahakavya – are (with dates of first publication):

Year Creations English Translation of the Title Original name in Nepali 1909 Varsha Vichara Reflections on the Rains 1916 Ritu Vichara Contemplation of the Seasons 1916 Buddhi Vinoda Enjoyments of Wisdom 1919 Satya-Kali-Samvada A Dialogue Between the Degenerate Age and the Age of Truth 1935 Arunodaya Dawn 1951 Amar Jyotiko Satya-Smriti Remembering the Truth of Undying Light 1953 Tarun Tapasi The Young Ascetic 1954 Mero Rama My God 1967 & 1968 Lalitya(Collection of short poems) Delicacy N/A Ganga Gauri Goddess of the Ganges