The Nepali language has grown from the Khas Prakrit. Rich in folk tradition, the literary forms of Nepali Language took shape only in the 18th century. Early poets of note were Subananda Das, Shakti Ballav Aryal and Udayanand Aryal.
The first Khandakavya in the Nepali language is supposed to be Basant Sharma’s Krishna Chartia In modern times well known poets are Motiram Bhatta, Balakrishna Sama and Lekhnath. Balakrishna Sama is also a playwright as is S.B. Aryal. Among novelists, well-known names are Rudraraj Pandey, Shiva Kumar Rai and Pratiman Lama.