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 di ...

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 mai ...

, about 180 km west of

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

. It has now been merged into

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

(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 Pokhara Valley is the second-largest valley in the hilly region of Nepal. It lies in the western part of Nepal. The cities of Pokhara and Lekhnath are in the valley. It is located in Gandaki zone, west of Kathmandu Valley. The city of Pokhara ...

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 Bharat Pokhari is a town in Kaski District in the Gandaki Province of northern-central Nepal. It lies at the height of 657 to 1600 meters above sea level. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 8,889 persons living in 1782 ind ...

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 Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, 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,

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 Maidi is a village in Dhading District in the Bagmati Zone of central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 8496 and had 1627 houses in it. Formerly, Maidi was a village development committee (VDC), which were local-l ...

, Neureni and Gunde. Except Begnas 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 Machapuchare, Machhapuchchhre or Machhapuchhre (, Tamu: कतासुँ क्लिको), is a mountain situated in the Annapurna massif of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. Its highest peak has never been officially climbed due to th ...

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 Radio Lekhnath is a radio station in Lekhnath, Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्� ...

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 popular ...

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