Parijat

Parijat — the pen name of Bishnu Kumari Waiba (1937–1993) — is one of Nepal's most beloved novelists and poets, and a towering figure of twentieth-century Nepali letters. Her classic Shirish ko Phool ("The Blue Mimosa"), a haunting study of loneliness and fragile love set among the tea gardens of Darjeeling, won the very first Madan Puraskar in 1965, an award she famously refused, declaring that the work should speak for itself.

Born in Darjeeling and raised between the hills of the eastern borderlands, Parijat wrote with fearless candour about solitude, desire, women's lives and social injustice, becoming an emblem of literary nonconformity. Her poetry, quieter in fame, is equally cherished for its uncompromising vision, and she was known as much for her independent, bohemian life as for her art. Today her books sit on every Nepali shelf, and her refusal of the prize is a legend that defines her defiant, principled legacy.