Aadikavi Bhanubhakta is common poet of all Nepalis: President

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 14: President Ramchandra Paudel has said that Aadikavi Bhanubhakta is a poet of not only Nepali language, but a common poet of all who love their mother tongues.

 While addressing a special ceremony organised by the Nepal Academy and Bhanu Sahitya Udyan on the occasion of the 212th Bhanu Jayanti at Sheetal Niwas on Sunday, President Paudel emphasised that every literary creator should take inspiration from Bhanubhakta and create literature in their mother tongue, thereby adorning Nepali society as a beautiful garden of diverse languages and literature.

He expressed his desire for the concept of developing Chundiramgha, the birthplace of Bhanubhakta, as a literary pilgrimage site to reflect a common cultural environment. 

The President said, “Bhanubhakta should be placed at the centre, and creators of the Nepali language along with those of Nepal’s various other languages should be united. From this unity, we must strengthen our common culture.”

President Paudel stressed the need to develop Chundiramgha into a destination that Nepalis living around the world and people interested in understanding Nepal must visit it at least once in their lifetime. He highlighted that this would also contribute to the expansion of tourism.

President Paudel further added that Bhanu Udyan should be developed as a common centre of Nepali culture, reflecting the major cultural hubs of all seven provinces of Nepal, and promoting it as Saptadham (seven sacred places). 

He also appreciated the policies and programmes adopted by the government to implement this plan. 

President Paudel added that the era of Bhanubhakta was a time when the foundation of Nepali nationalism was being laid, and during the state-building campaign, Nepali warriors had reached as far as the Teesta River in the east and Kangra in the west. However, he mentioned that at that time, the state’s policies were not oriented toward public welfare. 

Proper educational arrangements for the general public were lacking back then, and only well-off families could send their sons to study Sanskrit under the guidance of a Guru, and later send them to Varanasi for higher education, the President added. 

At the ceremony, nine poets recited their poems.

Bhanu Jayanti was marked across Nepal on Sunday.

In Nepalgunj, two senior literary figures from the Awadhi and Urdu languages were honoured and felicitated on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti. 

According to our Nepalgunj correspondent, senior Urdu writer Abdul Latif Shauk and senior Awadhi writer Sachchidanand Chaube were honoured and felicitated during a programme in Nepalgunj. 

 Likewise, the Kanchanjungha Literary Foundation in Taplejung has awarded the Chandra Maden ‘Aanchan’ Literary Award to writer Hark Yakso Limbu. 

Yakso, a resident of Hangpang, Aathrai Tribeni Rural Municipality-3, in the district, has been awarded the Anchan Literary Award worth Rs. 20,000 on the occasion of the 212th birth anniversary of Nepal’s pioneer poet Acharya, according to our Taplejung correspondent.