Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, a long-time desk editor for The Kathmandu Post and author best known for chronicling the journeys of Kathmandu’s Newar merchants to Lhasa, died on Saturday. He was 67.

Tuladhar was suffering from heart problems, said his eldest brother Amrit Ratna, who confirmed his death to the Post.

On Saturday morning, Tuladhar was rushed to Norvic Hospital in Thapathali, Kathmandu, where he breathed his last, according to Amrit Ratna.

His final rites were performed at Shova Bhagwati later on Saturday.

Tuladhar used to copy-edit news and opinion articles for the Post’s Business and Op-Ed pages.

Tuladhar previously worked for the Himalayan Travel Trade Journal, Shangri-la, Nepal Traveler and The Rising Nepal.

He is the author of several books, including the widely-acclaimed ‘Caravan to Lhasa’, which chronicled the perilous journeys undertaken by Kathmandu’s Newari merchants to and from Lhasa between the 1920s an 1960s.

“Caravan to Lhasa is so much more than a history book, incorporating as it does bare facts while at the same time presenting them in a very lucid and entertaining—almost fictional—manner,” one reviewer wrote. “I might have approached this as a story about adventure, but it would be equally appealing to the many who might regard it a reliable source of information about the history of Kathmandu-Tibet trade.”

Tuladhar also contributed numerous articles for the Post, his subjects including a legendary Kathmandu sculptor, the significance of Nepal Sambat and how Newar merchants would sequester themselves upon returning to their Kathmandu homes from Tibet in the 1950s, a piece that resonated with readers during the pandemic.

Tuladhar worked at The Kathmandu Post from 2008 to 2023.