By Our Correspondent, Tanahu, July 13: Bhanu Municipality in Tahanu has decided to give public holiday on Monday on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti.

Mayor of the Municipality Uday Raj Gauli said that the public holiday had been announced to mark the Jayanti.

The Municipality has also asked employees and local representatives to wear a birke topi (a special cap worn by pioneer poet Bhanubhakta) in respect of the poet.
Ghasikuwa awaiting conservation

Meanwhile, Ghasikuwa is awaiting conservation and protection, which was built by a grass cutter who had inspired national poet Bhanubhakta Acharya to do something in life.

As the Mugling-Pokhara road section of the Prithvi Highway is being widened, it is necessary to protect the historic pond as soon as the road expansion drive reaches the place where the well is located.
Locals have demanded for the preservation of the Bhanu-Ghansi Memorial Park while expanding the road.

Ward Chairperson of Byas Municipality Ward No 12 Totra Kunwar said that Ghasikuwa and the park should be protected at any cost to preserve history.

In the process of expanding the Prithvi Highway, instead of widening the road on the side of the pond, only the area opposite to the pond should be widened and the bank of Buldi River should be raised high, Kunwar said. 

Bhanubhakta had met the Ghasi at Ghasikuwa while he was returning from his maternal uncle’s home. Ghasikuwa is located in Byas Municipality-12.

Ghasikuwa is situated 5-km east from the district headquarters, Damauli. Influenced by the idea of ​​digging a well from the income earned by selling the grass, Bhanu composed a poem about the pond. The grass cutter dug the well by cutting and selling the grass.

Inspired by the grass cutter, Bhanubhakta translated the Ramayana into Nepali and contributed to the growth of Nepali language.

According to Premprakash Bhattarai, a member of the Bhanu Ghansi Memorial Park Conservation Committee, the Ghasi is believed to have been inhabited by Brahmins of Pantha caste living in Polyang village on the other side of the well.

A resident of Byas Municipality-11 in Polyang, who claims to be a descendant of the Ghasi, a person named Bhojraj Pantha said Vasanta Pantha had inspired Bhanu.  Another Narayan Pantha also has a similar view. 

Tirtha Raj Bhattarai, chairman of the Memorial Park Management Committee, said it was difficult to identify the Ghasi as Bhanubhakta did not mention his identity anywhere.

Committee member Prem Pantha said that the locals had already decided to allow the construction of Bhanu-Ghasi Park on a 100-ropani public land 200 meters north of Ghasikuwa.

A VDC of Tanahu was named 'Ghasikuwa' in memory of the Ghasi. Currently, this VDC has been integrated into Byas Municipality Ward No 12.