Rakshya Bandhan falls on Friday the 28th this year, and we are marking it with three days of 20% off. From Wednesday 26 to Friday 28 August, every one of our 50,000+ titles is 20% off with code 20OFF, on booksmandala.com and in both of our physical stores, Baluwatar in Kathmandu and Lakeside in Pokhara. The discount is not applicable on used books or already discounted titles, and that is the only fine print there is.

How the sale works

Three days, one code, every book in the catalogue.

Online, add whatever you like to your cart and enter 20OFF at checkout. There is no minimum spend and no category restriction, so a single Nepali paperback qualifies the same way a stack of hardcovers does.

The sale is on in the shops too. Walk into either store, Books Mandala Baluwatar in Kathmandu or Books Mandala Lakeside in Pokhara, browse the shelves, and the 20% comes off at the counter. No code needed in person, and the shop teams are good at matching a sibling to a book if you describe them.

We also ship worldwide, and the discount works wherever you are ordering from. If the books are a rakhi gift headed to a sibling abroad, they can be on their way this week.

A book holds on longer than a thread

Rakhi says you will look after someone. A book says you know them.

The festival is about the tie between siblings, and a book is one of the few gifts that keeps that tie working all year. Pick something they have been circling for months, or something they would never buy for themselves.

If you need a place to start, this is what everyone else in Nepal is buying right now. We wrote about the full list in What Nepal Is Reading in 2026, and these are the ones that have not left the bestseller shelf since.

Madeline Miller for the sibling who cries at endings, Hosseini for the one who says they do not. Both have been in our top five for most of the year.

Kafka is having a moment with young readers in Kathmandu, and the Nepali translation of the Bhagavad Gita has quietly become one of the most gifted books we sell. One of these two suits almost every sibling we can think of.

And for the sibling going through it, Rithvik Singh's poetry has been passing hand to hand all year.

Questions we get every sale

The short answers, so you can get back to choosing.

When is Rakshya Bandhan in 2026?

Friday 28 August 2026, and the sale ends the same night.

Does the discount work on orders shipped outside Nepal?

Yes. We ship worldwide, and 20OFF applies to the books at checkout no matter the destination. Shipping is calculated separately by weight and country.

Where can I shop the sale in person?

At either of our stores: Books Mandala Baluwatar in Kathmandu, and Books Mandala Lakeside in Pokhara. The discount is applied at the counter on all three days, 26 to 28 August.

Which books are excluded from the sale?

Used books and titles that already carry a discount. Everything else in the catalogue, all 50,000+ titles, is included.

Until Friday night

The sale runs 26 to 28 August and does not extend. Happy Rakshya Bandhan from all of us at the shop.