Noted litterateur Nagendra Sharma passed away on Friday while undergoing treatment at Om Hospital in Kathmandu. Eighty-eight-year old Sharma was bedridden for the past one-and-a-half years due to a kidney related ailment.

He left Kharsang of India’s West Bengal state at the age of 30 for a visit to Kathmandu and established himself after coming in contact with the literary circle here. Sharma’s essay collections ‘Nagendraka Nibanda,’ ‘AndaDekhi Bhyagutasamma,’ and ‘Banarasma Bechiyeki Bahini’ have been published. Likewise, he wrote two dozen books including Mechidekhi Mahakalisamma (co-authored), folk tales of Nepal (translated into Japanese Languate), Nepal A-Z, Nepali literature in a nutshell, and Secret of Sangrila. He also translated BP Koirala’s ‘Hitlar and Yahudi’ and Jhamak Ghimire’s ‘Jeewan Kanda Ki Ful’. Sharma’s ‘Nagendraka 25 Nibanda’ was published only this week.

According to writer Dr Govinda Raj Bhattarai, Sharma was known as a prolific writer who could write in both Nepali and English medium simultaneously.

He had served as chairman of Gorkhapatra Sansthan during Panchyat era, General Manager of Nepal Airlines, Chief of Industrial Training Academy. For the past two decades, he had been staying at his Mandikatar-based home and continuing studies, and his literary pursuits.

His final rites will be performed at Pashupati Aryaghat in Kathmandu.