Siddhidas Mahaju

October 15, 1867 (age 62)

Kel Tol, Kathmandu

He was at the forefront in the endeavour to revive literature in Nepal Bhasa that had become stagnant as a result of official suppression. He has been honored with the title Great Poet. Mahaju looked after his family"s cloth shop as a young man after a stint in government service in 1886. He had to travel frequently to Kolkata, India to purchase stock, and he took advantage of the opportunity to browse libraries and book stores. In Kathmandu, he spent more time composing poetry than looking after business, and his cloth shop suffered. Finding it difficult to make ends meet, he went to Birgunj to work for a trader as a freight forwarder. Mahaju returned to Kathmandu after a few years when business dried up. His economic condition worsened. And in 1927, he got a job as an assistant at a medicine shop. He died at Pashupati. In 1980, the Postal Service Department of the government of Nepal issued a commemorative postage stamp of Mahaju. A street in central Kathmandu was named Siddhidas Marg in his honor by Kathmandu Metropolitan City. A statue of Mahaju was erected in Hetauda in 2006. A statue of poet Siddhidash Mahaju was established at Ratnapark, Kathmandu on the day of his birth anniversary on September 29th, 2015.

Siddhidas Mahaju

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poet

Background

Mahaju was born in Kel Tol, Kathmandu to father Laxmi Narayan and mother Harsha Laxmi.

Education

He studied at home under various tutors, and married Ganga Devi at an early age.

Career

He was at the forefront in the endeavour to revive literature in Nepal Bhasa that had become stagnant as a result of official suppression. He has been honored with the title Great Poet. Mahaju looked after his family"s cloth shop as a young man after a stint in government service in 1886.

He had to travel frequently to Kolkata, India to purchase stock, and he took advantage of the opportunity to browse libraries and book stores.

In Kathmandu, he spent more time composing poetry than looking after business, and his cloth shop suffered. Finding it difficult to make ends meet, he went to Birgunj to work for a trader as a freight forwarder.

Mahaju returned to Kathmandu after a few years when business dried up. His economic condition worsened.

And in 1927, he got a job as an assistant at a medicine shop.

He died at Pashupati. In 1980, the Postal Service Department of the government of Nepal issued a commemorative postage stamp of Mahaju. A street in central Kathmandu was named Siddhidas Marg in his honor by Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

A statue of Mahaju was erected in Hetauda in 2006.

A statue of poet Siddhidash Mahaju was established at Ratnapark, Kathmandu on the day of his birth anniversary on September 29th, 2015.

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