Lekhnath ( ne, लेखनाथ नगरपालिका) was a municipality in

Kaski District Kaski District ( ne, कास्की जिल्ला, ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The name is disambiguated from Kaskikot, the ancient Kaski Kingdom. The district, with Pokhara as its dis ...

in the

Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ne, गण्डकी प्रदेश ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borde ...

of northern-central

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, about 180 km west of

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

. It has now been merged into

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living in 101,669 households in 2021. ...

(which is criticised by critics and hence the merge is not well-anticipated) sub-metropolitan city to form Pokhara

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

. Pokhara Valley was politically divided between Pokhara city and Lekhnath which occupied the eastern half of the valley. There were 18 wards in total in Lekhnath municipality before the merger, with a VDC Bharat Pokhari that had been added at a later stage.

Population

Total population of Lekhnath was 71,434 per 2011 census. Composition of the population was 86% Hindu, 8%

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and 6% others.　According to another statistics by the Population Census (C), Lekhnath has seen population changes from 30,107 as of 22 June 1991 contrasted to 41,369 (28 May 2001 per Population Census (Cf)) and 59,498 (22 June 2011 per Population Census (Cf)).

Etymology

Lekhnath, or literally meaning ''novelist'' in Nepali language, was named after the famous Nepali poet

Lekhnath Paudyal Lekhnath Paudyal ( ne, 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 ...

(1885–1966), who was born at Arghaun Archale, or ward No.6 (before the merger) of Lekhnath Municipality. The city was also entitled as the garden city of seven lakes.

Geology

Those seven lakes are

Begnas Begnas is a town and Village Development Committee in Kaski District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central B ...

Rupa Rupa may refer to: Places *Rupa, Croatia, a town in northwest Croatia *Rupa, Arunachal Pradesh, a town of Arunachal Pradesh *Rupa gold mine, an artisanal mine in Uganda *Rupa Lake, a freshwater lake in Nepal Science * ''Rupa'' (beetle), a beetl ...

, Khaste, Depang, Maidi, Neureni and Gunde. Except

and

most of the other lakes are little known to the outsiders.

Hiking routes

Lekhnath possesses many terrains and mountain view sites. It is growing into a popular destination for hikers because of many beautiful routes through the hills with views of multiple lakes and majestic himalayas at the same time. Lekhanth is the place from where you can catch the view of whole Annapurna range including Machhapuchhre and

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I () is ...

. Gagangaunda, Shishuwa, Lekhnath chok, Janatako Chautara, Satmuhane, , Budhibazar, Dhungepatan, Khudi, , Talchok are some big and notable places of Lekhnath.

Media

To promote local culture Lekhnath has one FM radio station Radio Lekhnath 106.6 MHz Which is a

Community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popul ...

Station. To update Lekhnath dwellers and diasporas websites Cityof7lakes.com, Lekhnathcity.com and Lekhnath.com are created.

Footnotes

Notes

References

External links

7 Lakes in Lekhnath

the 2nd Begnas Fish Festival at Baishakh, 17-19, 2073B.S.
{{Authority control Populated places in Kaski District Nepal municipalities established in 1997 Former municipalities of Nepal