Bhanubhakta Acharya occupies a prominent space in the Nepali literary imagination. If you were to research about Aadikavi Bhanubhakta Acharya and his life, you may even be tempted to visit Bhanu VDC in Tanahun, Acharya’s hometown. But once you reach the VDC, you’d struggle to find anything related to the poet.

In an attempt to solve this conundrum, a local organisation took the task to establish a museum, to be titled Bhanu Smaarak Sangrahalaya (Bhanu Memorial Museum) in 2013. The project, however, remains far from being realised. The construction, in fact, has stalled completely.

An extensive plan to reconstruct Acharya’s hometown, Bhanu Janmasthal Guru Yojana, was conceived in 1995 but has seen a similar fate—with Acharya’s childhood home dilapidated and hidden in underbrush. The original plan—with an intended budget of Rs 1,400,000—had drawn out plans to build a museum, a library, guest houses, a pond and eateries with the view of drawing tourists to the area. With founding of the museum, stakeholders hope to put on display Acharya’s personal effects.

The only consolation for the VDC is Acharya’s full-body statue, erected last year.

“It was estimated three years ago that the museum would be constructed with Rs 3,000,000 in investment, but the required budget has not been issued as of yet,” says Bishnu Hari Pandey, chairperson of the Bhanu Janmasthal Bikas Samiti.

“It is not that we have not received any sum—we have received one or two lakhs per year, but what substantial work could we do with it?”

says Ramkumar Shrestha, of the Samiti.

With the VDC being strategically placed near the busy thorough fare between Kathmandu and Pokhara, close to other tourist destinations like Gorkha and Bandipur, locals see the site having a viable future for literature and history enthusiasts. “But without resources of our own,” laments Shrestha, “We can do little but wait. We have been doing so for quite a while now.”