Background
Pragyananda was born in Itum Bahal, Kathmandu to a family of herbalists. His father was Harsha Bir Singh and his mother was Mohan Maya Tuladhar.
Pragyananda was born in Itum Bahal, Kathmandu to a family of herbalists. His father was Harsha Bir Singh and his mother was Mohan Maya Tuladhar.
He was educated at Durbar High School in Kathmandu.
In 1930, he became the first monk wearing yellow robes to be seen in Kathmandu since the 14th century. Foreign these offenses, he was expelled from the country. Pragyananda also became the first Sangha Mahanayaka (Patriarch) of Nepal in modern times.
Pragyananda"s given name was Kul Manitoba Singh Tuladhar.
After high school, he pursued further studies in Ayurvedic medicine and joined his ancestral occupation of dispensing herbal medicines. Kul Manitoba Singh went to Lhasa, Tibet at the age of 16 and engaged in business.
Inspired by Mahapragya, he renounced the life of a householder and became a Tibetan novice monk, taking the name Karmasheel. Subsequently, Karmasheel and Mahapragya went to Shigatse where they spent almost a year meditating in a cave.
Mahapragya later became known as Bauddha Rishi Mahapragya.
A year later, he went to Myanmar and received full ordination in 1932, and was given the name Pragyananda. Returning to Kathmandu, Pragyananda lived at the monastery of Kindo Baha and gave religious discourses. The crowds coming to listen to his sermons kept growing which attracted the ire of the government.
They refused, and on 30 July 1944, were ordered out of the country.
Eight monks, including Pragyananda, Dhammalok Mahasthavir and Kumar Kashyap Mahasthavir left for India. Pragyananda spent a lot of his time at Pranidhipurna Mahavihar at Balambu which he had started in 1942.
After the fall of the Rana regime and establishment of democracy in 1951, the faith became more firmly established in the country. Pragyananda was named the first Sangha Mahanayaka (Patriarch) of modern Nepal.
He was fluent in Nepal Bhasa, Nepali, Hindi, Tibetan, Bengali, Pali and Burmese.
In 1950, the play Dirghayu Rajkumar was staged at Nagam. Pragyananda was also a skilled artist, and he painted paubha scroll paintings. He died in Lalitpur. In 2001, the Postal Service Department of the government of Nepal issued a commemorative postage stamp depicting his portrait.
A statue of Pragyananda has been installed at the monastery of Nagara Mandapa Shri Kirti Vihara, Kirtipur.
