KATHMANDU: Last rites of senior litterateur Madan Mani Dixit has been held at Pashupati Aryaghat on Thursday with national honors.

Nepal police presented a Guard of Honor to Dixit as Dixit’s son Binod lit the funeral pyre.

People from various walks of life including ministers and political party leaders like Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Kumar Bhattarai, Nepal Communist Party senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary Bishnu Prasad Poudel and leader Bamdev Gautam and Chancellor of Nepal Academy Ganga Prasad Upreti reached Pashupati Aryaghat and offered their last tributes to Dixit.

Prior to this, his mortal remains were put at his residence in Kalikasthan for final tributes. Deputy Prime Minister Ishwor Pokharel, Minister for Education, Science and Technology Giriraj Mani Pokharel, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel among others reached late Dixit’s residence and paid their final tributes to him.

Having suffered from heart, kidney and respiratory problems, Dixit was pronounced dead today at Himal Hospital in Kamalpokhari. He was 97. Earlier on Wednesday, Dixit was discharged from Sumeru Hospital in Lalitpur where he was admitted for pneumonia.

Born in the Nepali month of Falgun 9, 1979 at Garidhara in Kathmandu, Dixit has authored 46 books of different genres including ‘Madhavi’ and ‘Rigbedh’.

He was honored with various awards including ‘Madan Puraskar’, ‘Sajha Puraskar’ and ‘Padmashree Puraskar’. He also served as editor of ‘Samikshya’ and ‘Aajkal’ weekly magazines.