Tuesday 26 January 2016

1996 - 2015

JNANPITH AWARD
1996:

Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi
মহাশ্বেতা দেবী
Born14 January 1926 (age 90)
Dhaka, British India
OccupationPolitical Activist associated with TMC, author, diplomat
Period1956–present
Genrenovel, short story, drama, essay
SubjectDenotified tribes of India
Literary movementGananatya
Notable worksHajar Churashir Maa
(Mother of 1084)
Aranyer Adhikar
(The Occupation of the Forest)
Titu Mir
SpouseBijon Bhattacharya
ChildrenNabarun Bhattacharya (son)
Signature

Biography[edit]

Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to literary parents. Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a well-known poet and novelist of the Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa.[3] Ghatak's youngest brother was noted filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. Mahasweta's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a writer and a social worker whose brothers were very distinguished in various fields, such as the noted sculptor Sankha Chaudhury and the founder-editor of the Economic and Political Weekly of India, Sachin Chaudhury. Mahasweta's first schooling was in Dhaka, but after the partition of India she moved to West Bengal in India. She joined the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University. She later married renowned playwright Bijon Bhattacharya, who was one of the founding fathers of the IPTA movement. In 1948, she gave birth to Nabarun Bhattacharya, one of Bengal's and India's leading novelists, whose works have been noted for their intellectual vigour and philosophical flavour. She got divorced from Bijon Bhattacharya in 1959.

Career[edit]

In 1964, she began teaching at Bijoygarh College (an affiliated college of the University of Calcutta system). During those days, Bijoygarh College was an institution for working-class women students. During that period she also worked as a journalist and as a creative writer. Recently, she is more famous for her work related to the study of the Lodhasand Shabars, the tribal communities of West Bengal, women and dalits. She is also an activist who is dedicated to the struggles of tribal people in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. In her elaborate Bengali fiction, she often depicts the brutal oppression of tribal peoples and the untouchables by potent, authoritarian upper-caste landlords, lenders, and venal government officials. She has written of the source of her inspiration:

At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2006, when India was the first country to be the Fair's second time guest nation, she made an impassioned inaugural speech wherein she moved the audience to tears with her lines taken from the famous film song "Mera Joota Hai Japani" by Raj Kapoor (the English equivalent is in parentheses):
Postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has translated Devi's short stories into English, most notably the 1995 collection Imaginary Maps, published by Routledge.

Recent activity[edit]

Mahasweta Devi has recently been spearheading the movement against the industrial policy of the government of West Bengal, the state of her domicile. Specifically, she has stridently criticized confiscation of large tracts of fertile agricultural land from farmers by the government and ceding the land to industrial houses at throwaway prices. She has connected the policy to the commercialization of Santiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore, where she spent her formative years. Her lead resulted in a number of intellectuals, artists, writers and theatre workers joining together in protest of the controversial policy and particularly its implementation in Singur and Nandigram. She is a supporter of Budhan Theatre – the theatre group of Chhara Denotified Tribals of Gujarat.

Works[edit]

  • The Queen of Jhansi (biography, translated in English by Sagaree and Mandira Sengupta from the 1956 first edition in bangla Jhansir Rani)
  • Hajar Churashir Maa ("Mother of 1084", 1975; translated by Samik Bandyopadhyay, Seagull Books, 1997)
  • Aranyer Adhikar (The Occupation of the Forest, 1977)
  • Agnigarbha (Womb of Fire, 1978)
  • Bitter Soil tr, Ipsita Chandra. Seagull, 1998. Four stories.
  • Chotti Munda evam Tar Tir (Choti Munda and His Arrow, 1980) Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.
  • Imaginary Maps (translated by Gayatri Spivak London & New York. Routledge,1995)
  • Dhowli (Short Story)
  • Dust on the Road (Translated into English by Maitreya Ghatak. Seagull, Calcutta.)
  • Our Non-Veg Cow (Seagull Books, Calcutta, 1998. Translated from Bengali by Paramita Banerjee.)
  • Bashai Tudu (Translated into English by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak and Shamik Bandyopadhyay. Thima, Calcutta, 1993)
  • Titu Mir
  • Rudali
  • Breast Stories (Translated into English by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak. Seagull, Calcutta, 1997)
  • Of Women, Outcasts, Peasants, and Rebels (Translated into English By Kalpana Bardhan, University of California, 1990.) Six stories.
  • Ek-kori's Dream (Translated into English by Lila Majumdar. N.B.T., 1976)
  • The Book of the Hunter (Seagull India, 2002)
  • Outcast (Seagull, India, 2002)
  • Draupadi
  • In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (Translated into English by Gayatri Chakraborty Spivak. Methuyen and Company, 1987. New York, London)
  • Till Death Do Us Part
  • Old Women
  • Kulaputra (Translated into Kannada by Sreemathi H.S. CVG Publications, Bangalore)
  • The Why-Why Girl (Tulika, Chennai.)
  • Dakatey Kahini

Films based on Mahasweta Devi's works[edit]

Major awards[edit]

. 2014: 1st Mamoni Raisom Goswami National Award for Literature constituted by Assam Sahitya Sabha and sponsored by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Assam
1997:

Ali Sardar Jafri

Biography[edit]

Early life and education[edit]

Ali Sardar Jafri was born into an aristocratic family in Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh, where he spent his formative years.[2]
His early influences were Josh Malihabadi, Jigar Moradabadi and Firaq Gorakhpuri. In 1933, he was admitted to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) where he soon got exposed to Communist ideology and in 1936 he was expelled from the University for 'political reasons'. However, he graduated in 1938 from Zakir Husain College (Delhi College), Delhi University, but his subsequent postgraduate studies at Lucknow University ended prematurely following his arrest during 1940–41 for writing anti-War poems, and for taking part in political activities organised by the Indian National Congress as Secretary of the university's Students' Union.[3]

Literary career[edit]

Jafri embarked on his literary career in 1938 with the publication of his first collection of short stories called Manzil (Destination).[4] His first collection of poems Parvaz (Flight) was published in 1944. In 1936, he presided over the first conference of the Progressive Writers' Movement in Lucknow. He also presided over their subsequent assemblies for the rest of his life.[5] In 1939, he became co-editor of Naya Adab, a literary journal devoted to the Progressive Writers' Movement which continued to be published until 1949.[3]
He was involved in several social, political and literary movements. On 20 January 1949, he was arrested at Bhiwandi, for organising a (then banned) Progressive Urdu writers' conference, despite warnings from Morarji Desai, the Chief Minister of Bombay State; three months later, he was rearrested.
His important works as a lyricist include Dharti Ke Lal (1946) and Pardesi (1957) . Between 1948 and 1978 he published eight poetry collections, which include, Nai Duniya Ko Salaam (Salute to the New World), (1948), Khoon Ki Lakeer, Amn Ka Sitara, Asia Jaag Utha (Asia Awakes) (1951), Patthar Ki Deewar (Stone Wall) (1953), Ek Khwab Aur (One More Dream), Pairahan-i-Sharar (The Robe of Sparks) (1965) and Lahu Pukarta Hai (The Blood Calls) (1965). These were followed by Awadh ki khak-i-haseen(Beautiful Land of Awadh), Subhe Farda (Tomorrow Morning), Mera Safar (My journey) and his last anthology entitled Sarhad, which the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee carried with him on his bus journey to Lahore in 1999. The Prime Minister had invited Jafri to accompany him on this trip but ill health prevented him from doing so. Sarhad is also an audio album dedicated to Indo-Pakistan amity produced by Squadron Leader Anil Sehgal and composed and sung by "Bulbul-e-Kashmir" Seema Anil Sehgal. Atal Bihari Vajpayeemade history when he presented Sarhad, as a national gift, to the then prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, during the historic Lahore Summit, 20–21 February 1999. It was also a milestone in Jafri's life.
In the course of his literary career spanning five decades, Jafri also edited anthologies of Kabir, Mir, Ghalib and Meera Bai with his own introductions. He also wrote two plays for the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), produced a documentary film Kabir, Iqbal and Freedom and two television serials: the runaway success, the 18-part Kahkashan, based on the lives and works of seven noted and highly popular Urdu poets of the 20th century he had known personally viz. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Firaq Gorakhpuri, Josh Malihabadi, Majaz, Hasrat Mohani, Makhdoom Mohiuddin and Jigar Moradabadi; and the equally popularMehfil-e-yaaran in which he interviewed people from different walks of life. Both serials had tremendous mass appeal. In addition, he published his autobiography. He was also the editor and publisher of Guftagu, one of the leading Urdu literary magazines of the Indian sub-continent.
He died on 1 August 2000 in Mumbai. To mark his first death anniversary, the book Ali Sardar Jafri: The Youthful Boatman of Joy, edited by Squadron Leader Anil Sehgal, a close associate, was published in 2001.[6]

Excerpts from poems[edit]

Ai watan khake watan woh bhi tujhe de denge
Bach raha hai jo lahoo abke fasaddat ke baad
(O my country, my beloved land we shall be most willing to sacrifice
Whatever blood is left in us after the bloodbath of riots)
– Awadh ki khak-i-Haseen
Ghareeb Sita ke ghar pe kab tak rahegi Ravan ki hukmrani
Draupadi ka libas uske badan se kab tak chhina karega
Shakuntala kab tak andhi taqdeer ke bhanwar mein phansi rahegi
Yeh Lakhnau ki shiguftagi maqbaron mein kab tak dabi rahegi

(How long will Ravan rule over the home of poor Sita
How long will Draupadi be deprived of her garment
How long will Shakuntala be enmeshed in the abyss of fate
How long will the freshness of Lucknow remain buried under the imposing tombs?)
– Awadh ki Khak-i-Haseen[7]

Awards and honours[edit]

He was only the third Urdu poet to receive the Jnanpith Award (1997) after Firaq Gorakhpuri (1969) and Qurratulain Hyder (1989). He was also the recipient of several other significant awards and honours including Padma Shri (1967), the Gold medal from the Pakistan Government for Iqbal studies (1978), the Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy Award for poetry, the Makhdoom Award, the Faiz Ahmad Faiz Award, the Iqbal Samman Award from the Madhya Pradesh government and the Sant Dyaneshwar Award from theMaharashtra government.
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) conferred a doctotate (D.Litt.) on him in 1986, fifty years after he was expelled from the university,[3] a rare honour, previously bestowed onAllama Iqbal and Jigar Moradabadi. His works have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages.[8]

Personal life[edit]

Ali Sardar Jafri married Sultana in January 1948. They had two sons.

1998:

Girish Karnad

Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad Screening Cornell.JPG
Girish Karnad at Cornell University, 2009
BornGirish Raghunath Karnad
ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ್
19 May 1938 (age 77)
Matheran, British India (present-day Maharashtra, India)
OccupationPlaywright, film director, film actor
NationalityIndian
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
GenreFiction
Literary movementNavya
Notable worksTughalak 1964
Taledanda
Girish Raghunath Karnad (Kannada: ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ್; born 19 May 1938) is an Indian actor, film director, writer[1] and playwright who predominantly works in South Indian cinema. His rise as a playwright in 1960s, marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi.[2] He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, a prestigious literary honour conferred in India.[3]
For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He has translated his plays into English and has received acclaim.[4] His plays have been translated into some Indian languages and directed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta,Shyamanand Jalan and Amal Allana.[4] He is active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, in Hindi and Kannada flicks, earning awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and won four Filmfare Awards where three are Filmfare Award for Best Director – Kannada and one Filmfare Best Screenplay Award.

Early life and education[edit]

Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, Maharashtra in a Saraswat Brahmin (SB) konkani family to Rao Saheb Dr Karnad and Krishna Bai Mankeekara. Krishna Bai was a widow and was serving as a homemaker for Rao Saheb and his bedridden wife for about five years. Rao Saheb and Krishna Bai married according to Arya Samaj tradition.[5] His initial schooling was in Marathi. In Sirsi, Karnataka, he was exposed to travelling theatre groups, Natak Mandalis as his parents were deeply interested in their plays.[6] As a youngster, Karnad was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theater in his village.[7] His family moved to Dharwar in Karnataka when he was 14 years old, where he grew up with his two sisters and niece.[8]
He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and statistics from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnataka University), in 1958. Upon graduation Karnad went to England and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln and Magdalen colleges in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (1960–63), earning his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and economics.[4]

Career[edit]

After working with the Oxford University Press, Chennai for seven years (1963–70), he resigned to take to writing full-time.[4] While in Madras (now known as Chennai) he got involved with local amateur theatre group, The Madras Players.[9]
During 1987–88, he was at the University of Chicago as visiting professor and Fulbright playwright-in-residence.[4] During his tenure at Chicago Nagamandala had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis based on Karnad's English translation of the Kannada original.[10] Most recently, he served as director of the Nehru Centre and as Minister of Culture, in the Indian High Commission, London (2000–2003).
He served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974–1975) and chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of the Performing Arts (1988–93).

Literature[edit]


Girish Karnad in 2010
Karnad is known as a playwright. His plays, written in Kannada, have been translated into English and some Indian languages. Karnad's plays are written neither in English, in which he vainly dreamt of earning international literary fame as a poet, nor in his mother tongueKonkani. Instead they are composed in his adopted language Kannada. Initially, his command on Kannada was so poor that he often failed to distinguish between short and long vowels (laghu and deergha). When Karnad started writing plays, Kannada literature was highly influenced by the renaissance in Western literature. Writers would choose a subject which looked entirely alien to manifestation of native soil. C. Rajagopalachari's version of the Mahabharata published in 1951, left a deep impact on him[11] and soon, sometime in the mid-1950s, one day he experienced a rush of dialogues spoken by characters from the Mahabharata in his adopted language Kannada. "I could actually hear the dialogues being spoken into my ears ... I was just the scribe," said Karnad in a later interview. Eventually Yayatiwas published in 1961, when he was 23 years old. It is based on the story of King Yayati, one of the ancestors of the Pandavas, who was cursed into premature old age by his preceptor, Shukracharya, who was incensed at Yayati's infidelity. Yayati in turn asks his sons to sacrifice their youth for him, and one of them agrees. It ridicules the ironies of life through characters in Mahabharata. It became an instant success, immediately translated and staged in several other Indian languages.[10]
In a situation like that Karnad found a new approach like drawing historical and mythological sources to tackle contemporary themes, andexistentialist crisis of modern man, through his characters locked in psychological and philosophical conflicts. His next was Tughlaq(1964), about a rashly idealist 14th-century Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, and allegory on the Nehruvian era which started with ambitious idealism and ended up in disillusionment.[11] This established Karnad, now 26 years old, as a promising playwright in the country. It was staged by the National School of Drama Repertory under the direction of Ebrahim Alkazi, with the actor Manohar Singh, playing the visionary king who later becomes disillusioned and turns bitter, amidst the historic Purana Qila in Delhi. It was later staged in London by the National School of Drama for the Festival of India in 1982.[4][10]
Hayavadana (1971) was based on a theme drawn from The Transposed Heads, a 1940 novella by Thomas Mann, which is originally found in the 11th-century Sanskrit textKathasaritsagara. Herein he employed the folk theatre form of Yakshagana. A German version of the play was directed by Vijaya Mehta as part of the repertoire of the Deutsches National Theatre, Weimar. Naga-Mandala (Play with Cobra, 1988) was based on a folk tale related to him by A. K. Ramanujam, brought him the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for the Most Creative Work of 1989. It was directed by J. Garland Wright, as part of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis. The theatre subsequently commissioned him to write the play, Agni Mattu Male (The Fire and the Rain). Though before it came Taledanda (Death by Beheading, 1990) which used the backdrop, the rise of Veerashaivism, a radical protest and reform movement in 12th century Karnataka to bring out current issues.[4][12]

Movies[edit]

Karnad made his acting as well as screenwriting debut in a Kannada movie, Samskara (1970), based on a novel by U.R. Ananthamurthy and directed by Pattabhirama Reddy. That movie won the first President's Golden Lotus Award for Kannada cinema. Over the years he had acted in a number of Hindi and Kannada feature films and worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Shyam Benegal.[4] In television, he played the role of Swami's father in the TV series Malgudi Days (1986–1987), based on R. K. Narayan's books.
He made his directorial debut with Vamsha Vriksha (1971), based on a Kannada novel by S. L. Bhyrappa. It won him National Film Award for Best Direction along with B. V. Karanth, who co-directed the film. Later, Karnad directed several movies in Kannada and Hindi, including Godhuli (1977) and Utsav (1984). Karnad has made number of documentaries, like one on the Kannada poet D. R. Bendre (1972), Kanaka-Purandara (English, 1988) on two medieval Bhakti poets of Karnataka, Kanaka Dasa and Purandara Dasa, and The Lamp in the Niche (English, 1989) on Sufism and the Bhakti movement. Many of his films and documentaries have won several national and international awards.
Some of his famous Kannada movies include Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane, Ondanondu Kaladalli, Cheluvi and Kaadu and most recent film Kanooru Heggaditi (1999), based on a novel by Kannada writer Kuvempu.
His Hindi movies include Nishaant (1975), Manthan (1976), Swami (1977) and Pukar (2000). He has acted in a number of Nagesh Kukunoor films, starting with Iqbal (2005), where Karnad's role of the ruthless cricket coach got him critical acclaim. This was followed by Dor (2006), 8 x 10 Tasveer (2009), with lead actor Akshay Kumar and Aashayein(2010).
He came back to Hindi movies after three years. He played a key role in Yash Raj Film's movie Ek Tha Tiger.[13]
Karnad has acted in the Kannada gangster movie Aa Dinagalu.

Other notable works[edit]

He has been the voice of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, in the audiobook of Kalam's autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks Wings of Fire.

Awards and honours[edit]

For literature
For cinema
National Film Awards
Filmfare Awards South
Filmfare Awards
Karnataka State Film Awards
Others
  • Gubbi Veeranna Award
  • Karnad served as the director of the Film and Television Institute of India from 1974–1975, the Indian co-chairman for the Joint Media Committee of the Indo-US Sub-Commission on Education and Culture from 1984–1993, chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy from 1988–1993, and president of Karnataka Nataka Academy from 1976–1978.
  • Honorary Doctorate from University of Southern California, Los Angeles – 2011[19]

Controversies[edit]

At the 2012 TATA Lit Fest held in Mumbai, Karnad was invited to speak about "his life in theater" in an hour-long session. Instead of talking about the subject, he took the opportunity to lash out at V. S. Naipaul for his "antipathy towards Indian Muslims". V. S. Naipaul had earlier been conferred the Lifetime achievement award by the festival's organisers. Karnad also criticized the organizers for having honored Naipaul.
The audience, which had gathered to hear Karnad speak, had mixed reactions to the speech. Some, like organizer Anil Dharker, tried ineffectually to steer the speech to more politically correct waters. Others were amused by the episode, and some commented on the research and logic that had gone into the speech (unfortunately overshadowed by its 'scandalous' nature).[20]
Just a few weeks after this, Karnad again created controversy by claiming that Rabindranath Tagore was a second-rate playwright and that his plays were "unbearable".[21][22]
In November 2015, during celebrations marking the birth anniversary of 18th-century Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan, Karnad stated that Bangalore International Airport should have been named after Tipu Sultan instead of Kempe Gowda. This created a furore among right-wing groups. Karnad apologised the following day.[23][24]

Personal life[edit]

Karnad is married to Dr. Saraswathy Ganapathy and they have two children. He lives in Bangalore.[4] Girish Karnad, while working in Madras for Oxford University Press on his return from England,met his future wife Saraswathi Ganapathy at a party. They decided to marry but the marriage was formalised after 10 years, when Karnad was 42 years old. Saraswathi was born to a Parsi mother, Nargis Mugaseth and a Kodava father, Kodandera Ganapathy.[5]

Activism[edit]

He is a proponent of multi-culturalism and freedom of expression, Girish Karnad has been a critic of religious fundamentalism and Hindutva in India. He publicly condemned thedemolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 and later spoke against the attempts to create controversy about the Idgah Maidan in Hubli.[4] He is a proponent of secularism and has opposed RSS, BJP and other Hindu organizations on several occasions. He has opposed Narendra Modi for Prime Minister post in the 2014 parliament elections.

Bibliography[edit]

Plays in Kannada[edit]

  • "Maa Nishaadha" (One Act Play)
  • "Yayati" (1961)[25]
  • "Tughlaq" (1964) (translated in Hindustani by B. V. Karanth. Major Indian directors who have staged it: Ebrahim Alkazi, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Dinesh Thakur & Shyamanand Jalan (in Bengali).
  • "Hayavadana" (1972)
  • "Anjumallige" (1977)
  • "Hittina Hunja" aka "Bali" (The Sacrifice) (1980)
  • "Nagamandala" (1988) (Play with Cobra)
  • "Taledanda" (1990) (Death by Beheading), in Hindi it is known as Rakt-Kalyan translated by Ram Gopal Bajaj, first directed by Ebrahim Alkazi for NSD rep., then by Arvind Gaur (1995–2008, still running) for Asmita Theater Group, New Delhi.[26]
  • "Agni mattu Male" (1995) (Agni Aur Varsha, The Fire and the Rain), first directed by Prasanna for NSD Rep.
  • "Tippuvina Kanasugalu" (The Dreams of Tipu Sultan)
  • "Odakalu Bimba" (2006) (Hindi, Bikre Bimb; English, A heap of Broken Images)
  • "Maduve Album" (2006)
  • "Flowers" (2012)
  • "Benda Kaalu on Toast" (2012)

Plays in English[edit]

  • Collected Plays, Vol.1, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005 (Tughlag, Hayavadana, Bali: The Sacrifice, and Naga Mandala)
  • Collected Plays, Vol.2, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Tale-Danda, The Fire and the Rain, The Dreams of Tippu Sultan, Two Monologues: Flowers and Broken Images)
  • Yayati, Oxford University Press, 2008.
  • Wedding Album, Oxford University Press, 2009.
  • Boiled Beans on Toast, Oxford University Press, 2014.

Filmography[edit]

Movies[edit]

TitleYearRoleLanguageNotes
Dheera Rana Vikrama2015
Rudra Tandava2015
Samrat & Co.2014
Yaare Koogadali2012
Mugamoodi2012Tamil
Ek Tha Tiger2012
Kempe Gowda2011Gowda Kavya's father
Narthagi2011Tamil
Komaram Puli2010Telugu
Life Goes On2009Sanjay
Aashayein2009Parthasarthi
8 x 10 Tasveer2009Anil Sharma
Aa dinagalu2007Girish nayakKannada
Tananam Tananam2006ShastryKannada
Dor2006Randhir Singh
Iqbal2005Guruji
Shankar Dada MBBS2004Satya PrasadTelugu
Chellamae2004RajasekharTamil
Hey Ram2000Uppilli IyengarTamil
Pukar2000Mr. Rajvansh
Prathyartha1999Home Minister of India
Aakrosh: Cyclone of Anger1998Rajwansh Shashtri
China Gate1998Forest Officer Sunder Rajan
Minsaara Kanavu1997Amal RajTamil
Ratchagan1997SriramTamil
The Prince1996Vishwanath. (Malayalam film)
Aatank1996Inspector Khan
Dharma Chakram1996
Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai1995
Aagatha1994PsychiatristKannada
Kadhalan1994KakarlaTamil
Praana Daata1993
Cheluvi1992Village Headman
Gunaa1991
Antarnaad1991
Brahma1991
Chaithanya1991
AK-471990
Nehru: The Jewel of India1990
Santha Shishunala Sharifa1990GovindabhattaKannada
Mil Gayee Manzil Mujhe1989
Akarshan1988
Sutradhar1987Zamindar
Naan Adimai Illai1986Rajinikanth's Father-in-law
Nilakurinhi Poothappol1986Appu MenonMalayalam
Sur Sangam1985Pandit Shivshankar Shastri
Meri Jung1985Deepak Verma
Zamana1985Satish Kumar
Nee Thanda Kanike1985
Divorce1984
Tarang1984Dinesh
Ek Baar Chale Aao1983Din Dayal
Ananda Bhairavi1983Narayana Sarma
Teri Kasam1982Rakesh
Aparoopa1982
Umbartha1982Advocate Subhash MahajanMarathi
Shama1981Nawab Yusuf Khan
Apne Paraye1980Harish
Man Pasand1980Khinath
Aasha1980Deepak
Anveshane1980Kannada
Beqasoor1980Dr. Anand Bhatnagar
Ratnadeep1979
Sampark1979Heera
Jeevan Mukt1977Amarjeet
Swami1977Ghanshyam
Manthan1976Dr.Rao
Nishaant1975Schoolmter
Jadu Ka Shankh1974
Vamsha Vriksha1971
Samskara1970Praneshacharya

TV series[edit]

  1. Malgudi Days (1987) as Swami's Father

Movies directed[edit]

1999:

Gurdial Singh

Gurdial Singh Rahi
Born10 January 1933 (age 83)
Bhaini Fateh (near Jaitu), British Punjab
OccupationWriter, novelist
Known forMarhi Da Deeva (1964)
Gurdial Singh (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਦਿਆਲ ਸਿੰਘ) is a Punjabi writer, novelist[1] and story-writer from Punjab, India. He started his literary career in 1957 with a short-story, Bhaganwale.[1] He became known as a novelist when he published the novel Marhi Da Deeva[2] in 1964. Two of his novels have been made into films including Marhi Da Deeva directed by Surinder Singh and Anhe Ghore Da lavaddirected by Gurvinder Singh. After Amrita Pritam he is the second Punjabi writer to receive the Jnanpith Award.

Early life and career[edit]

Gurdial Singh was born on 10 January 1933 to father Jagat Singh and mother Nihal Kaur,[1] in the village of Bhaini Fateh (near Jaitu)[2] in British Punjab. He began working as a carpenter at the age of 12, a fact he revealed to the media in an interview after he received the Jnanpith Award in 2000.[3]
He started his literary career in 1957 with a short story, Bhaganwale,[1] which was published in Panj Darya, a magazine edited by Mohan Singh. His later stories were published inPreetlari, edited by Gurbaksh Singh. In 1964, his major work, Marhi Da Deeva, established him as a novelist. He has written ten novels, including Anhoe (1966), Addh Chanani Raat (1972), Anhe Ghore Da Daan (1976) and Parsa (1991); 12 collections of short stories, including Saggi Phull (1962), Kutta Te Aadmi (1971), Begana Pind (1985) and Kareer Di Dhingri (1991); and translated more than 30 books. His novels Marhi Da Deeva and Addh Chanani Raat have been translated into English as The Last Flicker (by Sahitya Akademi) and Night of the Half Moon (by Macmillan) respectively. The National Book Trust has also published an English translation of his novel Parsa. Apart from novels and short stories he has also written three plays, two prose works and nine books for children.
Singh is a former college professor.

Awards and honours[edit]

He has received approximately 17 awards including the Jnanpith Award (in 1999),[1] the Padma Shri (1998),[4] the Shiromani Sahitkar Award, the Punjab Sahitya Akademi Award (1979), the Soviet Land Nehru Award (1986), the Bhai Veer Singh Fiction Award (1992),[1] and others.
  1. Best Fiction Book Award (Four times, in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972)
  2. Nanak Singh Novelist Award, 1975
  3. Sahitya Akademi Award, 1975
  4. Punjab Sahitya Akademy Award, 1979
  5. Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1986
  6. Punjabi Sahitya Akademy Award, 1989
  7. Shiromani Sahitkar Award, 1992
  8. Bhai Veer Singh Galap Puraskar, 1992
  9. Pash Award, 1995
  10. Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Samellan Samman, 1997
  11. Padam Shri, 1998
  12. Jnanpith Literary Award 2000

Novels[edit]

  • (1964) Marhi Da Deeva; English translation: The Last Flicker
  • (1966) Anhoe
  • (1967) Rete Di Ikk Mutthi
  • (1968) Kuwela
  • (1972) Adh Chanini Raat; English translation: Night of the Half-Moon (1996)
  • (1974) Aathan Uggan
  • (1976) Anhe Ghore Da Daan
  • (1982) Pauh Phutale Ton Pehlan
  • (1999) Parsa; English translation" Parsa (1999)[1]

Short story collections[edit]

  • (1962) Saggi Phull
  • (1964) Chan Da Boota
  • (1966) Upra Ghar
  • (1971) Kutta Te Aadmi
  • (1982) Masti Bota
  • (1984) Rukhe Misse Bande
  • (1985) Begana Pindh
  • (1988) Chonvian Kahanian
  • (1990) Pakka Tikana
  • (1991) Kareer Di Dhingri
  • (1992) Meri Pratinidhi Rachna[1]

Plays[edit]

  • (1982) Farida, Ratin Wadian
  • (1982) Vidayagi De Pichhon
  • (1982) Nikki Moti Gal[1]

Prose[edit]

  • (1988) Punjab De Mele Te Teohaar
  • Lekhak Da Anubhav Te Sirjan Parkiriya
  • (1999) Neean Mattiyan (Autobiography) Part-I, 1999
  • (2000) Dojee Dehi (Autobiography) Part II[1]

Books for children[edit]

  • (1960) Bakalam Khud
  • (1963) Tuk Kho Laye Kawan
  • (1971) Likhtam Baba Khema
  • (1988) Baba Khema
  • (1989) Gappian Da Pio
  • (1990) Mahabharat
  • Dharat Suhavi
  • (1993) Tin Kadam Dharti
  • (1993) Khate Mithe Lok[1]

Nirmal Verma

Nirmal Verma
Nirmal Verma (1929 - 2005).jpg
Born3 April 1929
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Died25 October 2005 (aged 76)
New Delhi, India
OccupationNovelist, writer, activist, translator
Nirmal Verma (Devanāgarī: निर्मल वर्मा; 3 April 1929 – 25 October 2005) was a Hindi writer, novelist, activist and translator. He is credited as being one of pioneers of 'Nayi Kahani' (New Story) literary movement of Hindi literature,[1] wherein his first collection of stories, 'Parinde' (Birds) is considered its first signature.[2]
In his career spanning five decades and various forms of literature, like story, travelogue and essays, he penned five novels, eight short-story collections and nine books of non-fiction, including essays and travelogues[3]

Biography[edit]

Nirmal Verma was born on 3 April 1929 in Shimla, where his father worked as an officer in the Civil and Serbices Department of the British Indian Government. He was the seventh child among his eight siblings. One of his brothers is one of India's greatest artists Ram Kumar.[4]
He wrote his first story for a students' magazine in the early 1950s. He a completed a Masters of Arts in History from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University. Thereafter he started teaching in Delhi and writing for various literary magazines.
His activism streak was visible even during his student days; in 1947–48, he regularly attended Mahatma Gandhiji's morning prayer meetings in Delhi, even though he was a card holding member of Communist Party of India, which he resigned in 1956, after Soviet invasion of Hungary. The very activism was soon to be reflected in his stories, which added a whole new dimension to the Indian literary scene.
He stayed in Prague for 10 years, where he was invited by Oriental Institute to initiate a program of translation of modern Czech writers like Karel Capek, Milan Kundera, and Bohumil Hrabal, to Hindi; he also learnt the Czech language, and translated nine world classics to Hindi, before returning home in 1968, as the result of Prague Spring.[4]
During his stay in Prague he travelled widely across Europe, and the result was seven travelogues, including Cheeron Par Chandni (1962), Har Barish Mein (1970) and Dhund Se Uthti Dhun and his first novel, based on his student days in Prague, titled, "Ve Din" (Those Days) (1964). On his return from Prague, he was disillusioned by Communism and later became highly vocal against Indian Emergency, and an advocate for the Tibetan independence movement. His subsequent writing reflected his concerted relooking of Indian traditions, which he found to be innately modern, compared with external modernity reflected in the western viewpoints and cultural milieu, which were being imposed on Indian ethos, all around, so much so that later his views were confused as pro-Hindutva as well.[5]
From 1980–83, Verma served as chairman of Nirala creative writing chair in Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. In 1988–90 he was director of Yashpal Creative Writing Chair in Shimla.[2] A film based on his story, Maya Darpan (1972), directed by Kumar Shahani, won theFilmfare Critics Award for Best Film.[6]
In his popular novel A Torn Happiness, August Strindberg looms large over the heads of many characters.
He died on 25 October 2005 in New Delhi.

Awards and milestones[edit]

  • Jnanpith Award in 1999, the highest literary award for Indian writers.
  • 'Kavve aur Kala Pani', A collection of seven short stories, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985.[7]
  • Padma Bhushan in 2002.[8]
  • Jnanapith Trust's "Murtidevi Award" for his book of essays, Bharat Aur Europe: Pratishruti Ke Kshetra (1991).
  • Jury member Lettre Ulysses Award for the art of Reportage −2003.[2]
  • He was a fellow with the International Institute for Asian Studies.
  • Library of Congress catalogues most of the works of Nirmal Verma in its collection.
  • India's highest literary award, for lifetime achievement, the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2005.[9]
  • On the publication of his book, "The World Elsewhere", in 1988, by the Readers International in London, BBC Channel Four telecasted a film on his life and works.[2]
  • Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres (France) 2005

Nayi Kahani movement[edit]

Nirmal Verma, together with Mohan Rakesh, Bhisham Sahni, Kamleshwar, Amarkant, Rajendra Yadav and others, is the founder of the Nayi Kahani (new short story) in Hindiliterature.
Nirmal Verma is best known for his short stories and his best known story, 'Parinde' (Birds) (1959) is supposed to be the pioneer of the Nai Kahani Movement in Hindi literature.[4]Nirmal Verma's other notable stories are Andhere Mein, Dedh Inch Upar, and Kavve Aur Kala Pani. Nirmal Verma's last story was published in "Naya Gyanodaya" August 2005 issue, titled "Ab Kuchh Nahin".
Nirmal Verma experimented vividly with theme as well as technique of the Hindi short story in the 60s and 70s.
A collection of his letters written to Ramkumar (well known artist and his brother) has been published by Bhartiya Jnanpith, titled "Priya Ram" (Dear Ram). His books have been translated into several European languages such as English, Russian, German, Icelandic, Polish, Italian and French.

Major works[edit]

Novels[edit]

  • Ve Din – His first novel, set in Prague, former Czechoslovakia (1964),
  • Antima Aranya (The Last Wilderness)
  • Ek Chithara Sukh (1979)
  • Lal Teen Ki Chhat (Red Tin Roof), (1974)
  • Raat ka Reporter (1989)

Story anthologies[edit]

  • 'Parinde' (Birds) (1959)
  • Jalti Jhari (1965)
  • London ki raat
  • Pichli Garmiyon Mein (1968)
  • Akala tripathi
  • Dedh Inch Upar
  • Beech Bahas Mein (1973)
  • Meri Priya Kahanian (1973)
  • Pratinidhi Kahaniyan (1988)
  • Kavve aur Kala Pani (1983)
  • Sookha aur Anya Kahaniyan (1995).
  • Dhage (2003)

Reportage and travelogues[edit]

  • Cheeron Par Chandni (196)
  • Har Barish Mein (1989)

Plays[edit]

  • Teen Ekant (1976)

Essays and literary criticism[edit]

  • Shabda aur Smriti (1976) – Literary essay
  • Kala Ka Jokhima (1981) – investigation of the Indic arts in the 20th century
  • Dhundha Se Uthati Dhun – written like a diary on issues related to Hindi literature. – Literary criticism
  • Dhalan se Utarate Huye – Literary criticism
  • Bharat Aur Europe: Pratishruti Ke Kshetra (1991) – Essay.



2000:

Mamoni Raisom Goswami

Indira Goswami
Born14 November 1942
Guwahati, India
Died29 November 2011 (aged 69)[1]
GMCH, Guwahati, Assam,India[2]
Pen nameMamoni Raisom Goswami
OccupationActivist, editor, poet, professor and writer
NationalityIndian
EthnicityAssamese
Period1956–2011
GenreAssamese literature
SubjectPlight of the dispossessed inIndia and abroad
Notable works-The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker
-The Man from Chinnamasta
-Pages Stained With Blood
SpouseMadhaven Raisom Ayengar (deceased)
Indira Goswami (Asamiya: ইন্দিৰা গোস্বামী) (14 November 1942 – 29 November 2011), known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami and popularly as Mamoni Baideo,[3] was an Assamese editor, poet, professor, scholar and writer.

Indira Goswami in inauguration ceremony of a 2nd India Saraswati temple at Bijoy Nagar, Guwahati
She was the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1983),[4] the Jnanpith Award (2001)[5] and Principal Prince Claus Laureate(2008)[6][7] A celebrated writer of contemporary Indian literature, many of her works have been translated into English from her nativeAssamese which include The Moth Eaten Howdah of the Tusker, Pages Stained With Blood and The Man from Chinnamasta.
She was also well known for her attempts to structure social change, both through her writings and through her role as mediator between the armed militant group United Liberation Front of Asom and the Government of India. Her involvement led to the formation of the People's Consultative Group, a peace committee. She referred to herself as an "observer" of the peace process rather than as a mediator or initiator.
Her work has been performed on stage and in film. The film Adajya (অদাহ্য) is based on her novel won international awards. Words from the Mist is a film made on her life directed by Jahnu Barua.

Early life and education[edit]

Indira Goswami was born in Guwahati to Umakanta Goswami and Ambika Devi, a family that was deeply associated with Sattra life of the Ekasarana Dharma. She studied at Latashil Primary School, Guwahati; Pine Mount School, Shillong; and Tarini Charan Girls' School, Guwahati and completed Intermediate Arts from Handique Girls College, Guwahati. She majored in Assamese literature at Cotton College in Guwahati and secured a Master's degree from Gauhati University in the same field of study. Indira goswami impressed by Akka Mahadevi's Kannada vachanas as she said in Bengaluru.

Career[edit]

In 1962, she published her first collection of short stories, "Chinaki Morom", when she was a student.[8]
Popularly known as Mamoni baideo in Assam,[9] she was encouraged by editor Kirti Nath Hazarika who published her first short stories — when she was still in Class VIII (thirteen years old) — in the literary journal he edited.[citation needed]

Depression[edit]

Goswami has suffered from depression since her childhood.[10][11][12] In the opening pages of her autobiography, The Unfinished Autobiography,[10] she mentions her inclination to jump into Crinoline Falls located near their house in Shillong.[13] Repeated suicide attempts marred her youth. After the sudden death of her husband, Madhaven Raisom Ayengar from Karnataka, in a car accident in the Kashmir region of India, after only eighteen months of marriage, she became addicted to heavy doses of sleeping tablets.[14][15]Once brought back to Assam, she joined the Sainik School, Goalpara as a teacher.
At this point she went back to writing. She claims that she wrote just to live and that otherwise it would not have been possible for her to go on living. Her experiences in Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh, Indian states where her husband had worked as an engineer, were used in her novels Ahiron and The Chehnab's Current, respectively.[citation needed]

Life in Vrindavan[edit]

After working at the Sainik School in Goalpara, Assam, she was persuaded by her teacher Upendra Chandra Lekharu to come to Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, and pursue research for peace of mind.
Her experiences as a widow as well as a researcher finds expression in her novel The Blue Necked Braja (1976), which is about the plight of the Radhaswamis of Vrindavan who lived in abject poverty and sexual exploitation in everyday life. One of the main issues that the novel touches upon is the plight of young widows for whom companionship beyond the confines of their ashrams and fellow widows become impossible. Their urge to live, as well as the moral dilemma that they face vis-a-vis the order of precepts of religion in this regard, are brought out with astonishing clarity and feeling in the novel. The novel exposed the uglier face of Vrindavan – the city of Krishna, an Hindu deity – inviting criticism of Goswami from conservative sections of the society.[16] It remains a classic in modern Indian Literature. It is autobiographical in character as she says the anguish of the main character Saudamini, reflects what she had gone through after her husband had died.[16] It was also the first novel to be written on this subject.[citation needed] The novel was based on Goswami's research on the place as well as real-life experience of living in the place for several years before she joined the University of Delhi as a lecturer.
In Vrindavan she was involved in Ramayana studies. A massive volume of Tulsidas's Ramayana purchased during her stay there for just eleven rupees was a great source of inspiration in her research. This finds expression in her book Ramayana from Ganga to Brahmaputra, an unparalleled comparative study of Tulsidas's Ramayana and the fourteenth-century Assamese Ramayana[17] written by Madhava Kandali.[citation needed]

Life at the University of Delhi[edit]

Goswami relocated to Delhi, India, to become Professor of Assamese in the Modern Indian Languages & Literary Studies(MIL) Department at the University of Delhi under the guidance of her lifelong mentor Prof. Bhabananda Deka, who was subservient in the introduction of Assamese Language in MIL Department of Delhi University (DU).[18] While at the university, she wrote most of her greatest works. Several short stories, including Hridoy, Nangoth Sohor, Borofor Rani, used Delhi as the background.
During later part of her life, after she became Head of the MIL Department in Delhi University, she, in collaboration with award-winning Assamese popular short-story writer and novelist Arnab Jan Deka made efforts and persuaded Delhi University to set up a Chair in the name of Middle Age Assamese saint-philosopher-littérateur-artist Srimanta Sankardev. They also convinced the Chief Minister of Assam to make a contribution of Rupees One Million to Delhi University to create the corpus for the proposed Chair. However, Dr Goswami could not see the fruits of her effort during her lifetime.[19]
Her two classics – Pages Stained With Blood and The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker— were also written during this period. The other books completed while she lived in Delhi were Ahiron,The Rusted Sword, Uday Bhanu, Dasharathi's Steps and The Man from Chinnamasta.
In Pages Stained With Blood she writes about the plight of Sikhs in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India. Goswami had witnessed the riots while staying in the Shakti Nagar area of Delhi. She visited many of the other sites to complete this novel. She even went to G. B. Road, Delihi's red-light district, to depict the lives of the prostitutes who lived there which forms a part of her novel.
In The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker she writes about the plight of Assamese Brahmin widows in Satra, religious institutions of Assam. This novel was anthologised in the The Masterpieces of Indian Literature and was made into a film, Adajya, which won several national and international film-festival awards. The novel was also made into two televisionmini-series; Nandita Das played the role of Giribala in one of the mini-series.
At the peak of her literary career she wrote the controversial novel The Man from Chinnamasta, a critique of the thousand-years-old tradition of animal sacrifice in the famous Hindu Shakti temple to Kamakhya, a mother goddess, in Assam.[20] Goswami reported that there was even threat to her life[citation needed] after writing the novel. In this novel she quotes scriptures to authenticate the argument she puts forward in the novel – to worship the Mother Goddess with flowers rather than blood. She said in an interview, "When the novel was serialized in a popular magazine, I was threatened with dire consequences. Shortly after this, a local newspaper, Sadin, carried an appeal about animal sacrifice, which resulted in quite an uproar—the editor was gheraoed and a tantrik warned me. But when the appeal was published, the response was overwhelmingly in favour of banning animal sacrifice. I also had to contend with rejection from a publisher who was initially keen and had promised me a huge advance, but who later backtracked, offering instead to publish any other book of mine. But the rest, as they say, is history and Chinnamastar Manuhto went on to become a runaway bestseller!"[21]
Another major piece of her fiction during the period was Jatra (The Journey), based on the problem of militancy/secessionism that has affected almost the entire North-East Indiafrontier ever since Indian independence.
Mamoni Raisom Goswami died at the Gauhati Medical College Hospital on 29 November 2011.[22]

Success[edit]

She received the Sahitya Akademi Award (1982). She received the Jnanpith Award (2000), India's highest literary award, for writing about the subalterns[clarification needed] and marginalised. Two of the main features in Goswami's writing has been the focus on women and the cultural and political construct of the Assamese society. However, it is also to her credit that she also created possibly one of the finest male characters in contemporary Assamese literature, viz. the character of Indranath in Datal Hantir Une Khowa Howdah (The Moth Eaten Howdah of a Tusker).Her contribution in the Assamese feminist literature is self-evident in this work.She takes up the issue of patriarchy existing within Assamese Brahmin families with an illustration taken from a small place in Assam known as Amranga,Borihat.This work is also encrusted with a post-colonial tinge in it as we see the mimicry of the colonizers among the colonised. It is also to her credit that she made extensive use of the relation between different variants of the modern Assamese language as both signifiers of the politics of social and cultural differences among the various Assamese communities. But the overall emphasis remained on the unity of the Assamese identity. This may be taken as her way of dealing with the nature of contemporary politics in Assam marked by ethnic confrontation, besides the larger politics of the militant secessionism.She also contributed a major sum of the Claus Laureate[2008] to a Public Health Centre of Amranga,Borihat in Assam.This contribution is not merely material in its nature but a dream since her childhood, come true.

Autobiography[edit]

  • An Unfinished Autobiography (Assamese: আধা লিখা দষ্টাবেজ)

Short stories[edit]

  • Beasts
  • Dwarka and His Gun
  • Parasu's Well
  • The Journey
  • Sanskar
  • To Break a Begging Bowl
  • Udang Bakach

Poetry[edit]

  • Pain and Flesh
  • Pakistan
  • Ode To A Whore

2001:

Rajendra Shah

Rajendra Shah
Rajendra-Shah.jpg
Born28 January 1913
Kheda, British India
Died2 January 2010 (aged 96)
OccupationAuthor
NationalityIndian
Alma materMSU Baroda
Period1947-2003
Notable worksShant Kolahal,
Vishadne Saad
Rajendra Keshavlal Shah (January 28, 1913 – January 2, 2010) was a lyrical poet who wrote in Gujarati. Born in Kapadvanaj, he authored more than 20 collections of poems and songs, mainly on the themes of the beauty of nature, and about the everyday lives of indigenous peoples and fisherfolk communities. In his poems using Sanskrit metrics, he was influenced by Rabindranath Tagore. He is considered as one of the giants of post Gandhi-era in Gujarati literature.[1]
Among his various professions, Shah was also a printer in Mumbai, where he launched the poetry magazine Kavilok in 1957.[2] The press itself became an important Sunday meeting-place for Gujarati poets. Apart from writing poetry, Shah also translated into Gujarati Tagore's poetry collection Balaaka; Jayadeva's Gita Govinda; Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; and Dante's The Divine Comedy.[3]
Shah won the Jnanpith Award for 2001. The judges noted, "his intensity of emotion and innovation in form and expression which set him apart as a poet of great significance. The mystical tone of his poetry stems from the tradition of great medieval masters likeNarsinh Mehta, Kabir and Akho."[4]

Early life[edit]

He did his bachelors in philosophy from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and thereafter, started his career by teaching school students in Ahmedabad.[5]

Bibliography[edit]

Poetry Collections[edit]

  • Dhvani (1951)
  • Andolan (1952)
  • Shruti (1957)
  • Morpinchh (1959)
  • Shant Kolahal (1962)
  • Chitrana (1967)
  • Kshan je Chirantan (1968)
  • Vishadne Saad (1968)
  • Madhyama (1978)
  • Ikshana (1979)
  • Udgiti (1979)
  • Patralekha (1981)
  • Prasana Saptak (1982)
  • Dwasupama (1983)
  • Panch Parva (1983)
  • Vibhavan (1983)
  • Chandan Bhini and Anamik (1987)
  • Aranyak (1992)[6]

Awards[edit]



2002:

Jayakanthan

Jayakanthan
ஜெயகாந்தன்.jpg
Jayakanthan in 2012
Born24 April 1934
Cuddalore, South Arcot District,Madras Presidency, British India
Died8 April 2015 (aged 80)
Chennai, India
OccupationNovelist, short story writer,screenplay writer, film director
LanguageTamil
NationalityIndian
Notable awardsPadma Bhushan, Jnanpith,Sahitya Akademi Award, Order of Friendship
Jayakanthan (24 April 1934 – 8 April 2015), popularly known as JK,[1] was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, film-maker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at an early age and went to Madras, where he joined the Communist Party of India. In a career spanning six decades, he authored around 40 novels, 200 short stories, apart from two autobiographies. Outside literature, he made two films. In addition, four of his other novels were adapted into films by others.
Jayakanthan's literary honours include Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi awards. He was also a recipient of Padma Bhushan (2009), India's third-highest civilian honour,[2] the Soviet Land Nehru Award (1978), and the Russian government's Order of Friendship(2011).

iography[edit]

Jayakanthan was born in 1934 into a family of agriculturists in Manjakuppam, a suburb of Cuddalore, a part of the South Arcot District of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Brought up by his mother and maternal uncles, he got interested in politics at a young age as his uncles were actively involved in it. As a child, he was highly inspired by the works of Subramania Bharati.[3] Jayakanthan dropped himself out of school after completing fifth grade, as he thought studies would hinder his political activism.[4] In 1946, he left for Madras (now Chennai) in search of livelihood, where he performed odd jobs, before ending up as a compositor in the printing press of Communist Party of India (CPI).[5] His association with the CPI, instilled the ideas of the movement,[6] where he got to accompany leaders such as P. Jeevanandham, Baladandayutham and S. Ramakrishnan. The leaders of the party encouraged him to write.[7] After graduating to an active member of the party, he got to learn about topics pertaining to world literature, culture, politics, economics and journalism. It was during this time, Jayakanthan started writing for pro-communist magazines. Over the next few years, he established himself as one of the top-most writers in the party. His early works were first published in the party newspaper Janasakthi, and soon other magazines like Sarasvathi, Thamarai, Santhi, Manithan, Sakthiand Samaran published his works. His early works focussed on the plight of slum-dwellers who were settled in and around the party office.[4]
Jayakanthan wrote his first short story for a Tamil magazine titled Sowbakiyavathi,[5] which got it published in 1953. Following early success, Jayakanthan started writing for mainstream magazines such as Ananda Vikatan, Kumudam and Dinamani Kadir, who published a number of short-stories particularly in the 1960s.[1][7] In 1964, Jayakanthan entered films by co-producing and directing a venture titled Unnaipol Oruvan, based on his novel.[7] The film focussed on the plight of slum-dwellers. Although a commercial failure, it won the President’s Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film in 1965.[8] The following year he made another film based on his namesake novel Yaarukkaga Azhudhaan which had Nagesh playing the lead role.[9] His novel Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal (1970) won him the Sahitya Akademi Award (for Tamil) in 1972. Later this was adapted into a film of the same name by A. Bhimsingh, which won a National Film Award. Promoted by the film's success, Bhimsingh made one more film tilted Oru Nadigai Naadagam Paarkiral, based on his namesake novel.[10]
In 2008, Ravisubramaniyan made a documentary film on Jayakanthan, the second of its kind, and was produced by Ilaiyaraaja.[11] In February 2014, Jayakanthan was admitted into a private hospital in Chennai following illness. Following a brief illness, he was discharged after a year, and died on 8 April 2015.[5]

Personal life, influences and political views[edit]

Jayakanthan was married to his cousin. The couple had two daughters and a son.[5] Born in a family that had a lot of political activists, Jayakanthan became interested in politics at a young age. He became a strong supporter of the CPI ever since joining the party in the 1950s.[12] He was coaxed to join politics by K. Baladhandayutham of the CPI. While he stood up against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its leaders for a majority of his lifetime, he supported the CPI leaders for "Nehruvian socialism" and had a great admiration Indira Gandhi. He quit the CPI, and later joined the Tamil Desiyak Katchi, founded by E. V. K. Sampath, before joining the Indian National Congress. He remarked theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a "fascist" organisation.[5]

Literary style and themes[edit]

A majority of Jayakanthan's works revolve around the lives of underclass people like rickshaw-pullers, prostitutes and rag-pickers. In an interview, he said that during his initial days in Chennai he spent his life amidst such people. This prompted him to develop a liking towards them.[13]

Works of Jayakanthan[edit]

Non-fiction[edit]

  • Oru Ilakkiyavaathiyin Arasiyal Anubhavangal (lit. Political experiences of a literary person; 1974)[4]
  • Oru Ilakkiyavaathiyin Kalaiyulaga Anubhavangal (lit. Experiences of a literary person in the world of art; 1980)[4]

Novels and novelettes[edit]

  • Vazhkkai Azhaikkiradhu. 1957
  • Kaivilanggu. 1961
  • Yarukkaka Azhuthan?. 1962
  • Birammopadhesam. 1963
  • Piralayam. 1965
  • Karunaiyinal Alla. 1965
  • Rishimoolam. 1965
  • Yosikkum Velayil (lit. While thinking; 1982)[4]
  • Parisukkup Po!. 1966
  • Kokila Enna Seythu Vittal?. 1967
  • Sila Nerangkalil Sila Manitharkal. 1970
  • Oru Nadikai Nadakam Parkkiral. 1971
  • Cinemavukkup Pona Siththal. 1972
  • Oru Manidhan Oru Vidu Oru Ulakam. 1973
  • Jaya Jaya Sankara. 1977
  • Ganggai Engge Pogiral. 1978
  • Oru Kudumpaththil N^Adakkirathu. 1979
  • Pavam, Ival Oru Pappaththi!. 1979
  • Enggenggu Kaninum. 1979
  • Oorukku Nooruper. 1979
  • Karikkodukal. 1979
  • Munggil Kattu Nila. 1979
  • Oru Manidhanum Sila Erumaimadukalum. 1979
  • Ovvoru Kuraikkum Kizhe. 1980
  • Pattimarkalum Peththimarkalum. 1980
  • Appuvukku Appa Sonna Kadhaikal. 1980
  • Kaththirukka Oruththi. 1980
  • Karu. 1981
  • Aydha Pusai. 1982
  • Sunthara Kandam. 1982
  • Isvara Alla There Nam. 1983
  • O, Amerikka!. 1983
  • Illadhavarkal. 1983
  • Idhaya Ranikalum Ispedu Rajakkalum. 1983
  • Karru Veliyinile. 1984
  • Kazhuththil Vizhuntha Malai. 1984
  • Andha Akkavaiththedi. 1985
  • Innum Oru Pennin Kadhai. 1986

Film adaptations[edit]

Short stories[edit]

Jayakanthan's portfolio includes 200 short stories.[14][15]
  • Yugasanthi
  • Illadhadhu Yedhu
  • Irandu Kuzhanthaigal
  • Naan Irukkiren
  • Bommai
  • Devan Varuvaara
  • Thuravu
  • Poo Uthirum
  • Kuraippiravi
  • Enthiram
  • Treadle
  • Pinakku
  • Nandavanthil Oar Aandi
  • Nee Inna Sir Solra?
  • Puthiya Vaarpugal
  • Suya Tharisanam
  • Agrahaarathu Poonai
  • Agni Pravesam
  • Puthu Seruppu Kadikkum
  • Naan Enna Seiyattum Sollungo?
  • Gurupeetam
  • Tea Kadai Samiyaarum Tractor Saamiyaarum
  • Nikki
  • Oru Veedu Poottikkidakkirathu
  • Naan Jannalaruge Utkarnthirukkiren
  • Gurukkal Aathu Paiyan
  • Munnilavum Pinpaniyum
  • Mutrugai
  • Sumaithangi
  • Nadaipaathaiyil Gnaanopathesam
  • Oru Bhakthar

Essays[edit]

  • Bharathi Padam (1974)
  • Imayaththukku Appal (1979)

Awards and honours[edit]

2003:

Vinda Karandikar


Govind Vinayak Karandikar
Born
23 August 1918
Dhalavali,Taluka [Devgad]
Dist. Sindhudurg
Died14 March 2010 (aged 91)
Mumbai
OccupationWriter, Poet, Essayist and Critic
SpouseSumati Karandikar
Govind Vinayak Karandikar (August 23, 1918 – March 14, 2010), better known as Vindā Karandikar (Marathi: विंदा करंदीकर), was a well-known Marathi poet, writer, literary critic, and translator.
He was conferred the 39th Jnanpith Award in 2003, which is the highest literary award in India.[1] He also received some other awards for his literary work including the Keshavasut Prize, the Soviet Land Nehru Literary Award, the Kabir Samman, and theSahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1996.[2]

Life and works[edit]

Karandikar was born on August 23, 1918, in Dhalavali village in the Devgad taluka present-day Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.
Karandikar's poetic works include Svedgangā (River of Sweat) (1949), Mrudgandha (1954), Dhrupad (1959), Jātak (1968), and Virupika (1980). Two anthologies of his selected poems, Sanhita (1975) and Adimaya (1990) were also published. His poetic works for children include Rānichā Bāg (1961), Sashyāche Kān (1963), and Pari Ga Pari (1965).
Experimentation has been a feature of Karandikar's Marathi poems. He also translated his own poems in English, which were published as "Vinda Poems" (1975). He also modernized old Marathi literature like Dnyaneshwari and Amrutānubhawa.
Besides having been a prominent Marathi poet, Karandikar has contributed to Marathi literature as an essayist, a critic, and a translator. He translated Poetics of Aristotle andKing Lear of Shakespeare in Marathi.
Karandikar's collections of short essays include Sparshaachi Palvi (1958) and Akashacha Arth (1965). Parampara ani Navata (1967), is a collection of his analytical reviews.[3]
Karandikar was the only third Marathi writer to have won Jnanpith Award. On 14th Jan 2006, Marathi poet maestro called Ashtadarshane (poetry), after Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar (1974) and Vishnü Vāman Shirwādkar (Kusumagraj) (1987).
The trio of poets Vasant Bapat, Vinda Karandikar and Mangesh Padgaonkar provided for many years public recitals of their poetry in different towns in Maharashtra. Along with Vasant Bapat and Padgaonkar, Karandikar travelled across Maharashtra in the 1960s and 1970s reciting poetry.[4] He was also a member of a Marathi literary group, “Murgi club”, loosely fashioned after the Algonquin Round Table. In addition to Karandikar, it included Vasant Bapat, Mangesh Padgaonkar, Gangadhar Gadgil, Sadanand Rege and Shri Pu Bhagwat. They met every month for several years to eat together, engaging each other in wordplay and literary jokes. [5]

Death[edit]

Vinda Karindikar died on 14 March 2010 at the age of 91 in Mumbai following a brief illness.[6] [7]

2004:

Rehman Rahi

Abdur Rehman Rahi (Urdu;) عُبدالرّحمان راہی (born March 6, 1925, Srinagar) is a Kashmiri poet, translator and critic. He was awarded the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1961 for his poetry collection Nawroz-i-Saba, the Padma Shri in 2000,[1] and India's highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award (for the year 2004) in 2007. He is the first Kashmiri writer to be awarded the Gyanpith, India's highest literary award for his poetic collection Siyah Rud jearen Man( In heavy downpour of Black rain ).
Rehman Rahi began his career as a clerk in the Public Works Department of the Government for a brief period in 1948 and was associated with the Progressive Writers' Association, of which he became the General Secretary. He also edited a few issues of Kwang Posh, the literary journal of the Progressive Writer's Association. He was later a sub-editor in the Urdu daily Khidmat. He did an M.A. in Persian (1952) and in English (1962) from Jammu and Kashmir University where he taught Persian. He was on the editorial board of the Urdu daily Aajkal in Delhi from 1953 to 1955.He was also associated with the Cultural wing of communist Party of Kashmir during his student days.As translator he did excellent translation of Baba Farid's Sufi poetry to Kashmiri from Original Punjabi.Camus and Sartre are some visible effects on his poems while Dina nath Naadim's influence on his poetry is also visible especially in earlier works.[2]

Published works[edit]

Rahi's major works include:[3]
  • Sana-Wani Saaz (poems) (1952)
  • Sukhok Soda (poems)
  • Kalam-e-Rahi (poems)
  • Nawroz-i-Saba (poems) (1958)
  • Kahwat (literary criticism)
  • Kashir Shara Sombran
  • Azich Kashir Shayiri
  • Kashir Naghmati Shayiri
  • Baba Fareed (translation)
  • Saba Moallaqat
  • Farmove Zartushtadia
2005:

Kunwar Narayan

Born19 September 1927 (age 88)
Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh
OccupationPoet
NationalityIndian
Notable awardsSahitya Akademi Award in Hindi (1995)
Kunwar Narain (कुँवर नारायण) (born 19 September 1927)[1] is a poet and a presence in Indian literature, often regarded as the leading living poet in Hindi.[1] He has read and traveled widely, written over the last six decades and is among the few intellectuals who combine an international modern sensibility with a grounding in their country’s cultural and imaginative history. Linked to theNew Poetry movement, he publishes selectively and is characteristically polite. He read English literature and publishes in Hindi but also plays with English and Urdu. Earlier, he lived in Lucknow where his house was a centre of literary meets and classical performances. He now lives in with his wife and son. Influences on him have been diverse, from the Indian epics and Upanishads toKabir and Amir Khusro, history and mythology to Buddhism and Marxism, Kafka and Cavafy to Ghalib and Gandhi.

Life[edit]

Born on 19 September 1927, in Faizabad district, Uttar Pradesh[1] Kunwar Narayan passed his M.A. examination in English Literature from Lucknow University in 1951. Married to Bharati Goenka in 1966, he has a son Apurva, born in 1967.
Political leaders Narendra Deva and Acharya Kriplani were key literary influences and he gives formative importance to his first visit to Europe, Russia and China in 1955 and meetings with poets like Nazim Hikmet Ran, Anton Słonimskie and Pablo Neruda. Later, his translations of the French symbolist poets like Mallarmé and Valery, and then of poets like Cavafy and Borges, contributed to his poetic development. His work covers varied genres—poetry, epic poetry, short stories, literary criticism, translations, essays on worldcinema, history and Indian classical music, and articles of versatile cultural and human interest. He has been translated nationally and internationally, and his many honours include the Jnanpith Award, Sahitya Akademi Award, Kabir Samman, Vyasa Samman, Lohia Samman, Shalaka Samman, Warsaw University’s honorary medal and Italy’s Premio Feronia for distinguished international author (a prestigious honour given for the first time to an Indian writer and previously awarded to authors like Germany’s Günter Grass, South Africa’s J. M. Coetzee, China’s Gao Xingjian, Syria’s Adonis, Cuba’s Roberto F Retamar, Palestine’s Mahmoud Darwish, Iraq’s Saadi Youssef, France’s Michel Butor and Albania’s Ismail Kadaré).

Work[edit]

His oeuvre began with Chakravyūh, his first poetry collection published in 1956, a landmark in Hindi literature. About the same time, he co-edited Yug-Chétnā, an avant-garde literary magazine. A little later in 1959, he was one of the poets in Tīsrā Saptak edited by Agyeya. In 1961, his second poetry collection Parivésh: Hum-Tum came. Ātmajayee, published in 1965, a short epic based on the Upanishadic character of Nachiketā, expresses some of the most fundamental metaphysical concerns and is widely recognised as a classic of Hindi literature.
His short story collection Ākāron Ke Ās-Pās came in 1971 and is a lasting example of a poetic mind exploring the genre of fiction. In the poems of Apné Sāmné (1979), contemporary political and social ironies found a more pronounced place. After a long hiatus, his much-awarded collection of poems Koī Dūsrā Nahīn was published in 1993. Āj Aur Āj Sé Pahlé, a collection of literary criticism (1999), Méré Sākshātkār, a collection of interviews (2000) and Sāhitya Ké Kuchh Antar-Vishayak Sandarbh (2003), as also journals like Yug Chétna, Naya Pratik and Chhayanat that he co-edited, and writings on cinema, art and history, reveal yet other aspects of his literary repertoire. In 2002, the poetry collection In Dino was published and, in 2008, his latest work, an epic poem Vājashravā Ké Bahāné, has appeared, which while recalling the contextual memory ofĀtmajayī published forty years ago, is a chain of independent island-like poems. A selection of his poems in English translation, No Other World, by his son Apurva has appeared in 2010 from Rupa.

Works[edit]

Poetry[edit]

  • Chakravyūh (Circular Siege), 1956.[1] Radhakrishan, Delhi (first published by Rajkamal Prakashan).
  • Tīsrā Saptak (Third Heptad), seven poets, ed. Agyeya, 1959. Bharatiya Jnanpith, Delhi.
  • Parivésh: Hum-Tum (Surroundings: Us-You), 1961. Vani Prakashan, Delhi (first published by Bharti Bhandar, Allahabad).
  • Apné Sāmné (In Front of Us), 1979. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi.
  • Koī Dūsrā Nahīn (No One the Other), 1993. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi.
  • In Dino (These Days), 2002. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi.
  • Vājaśravā ke bahāne, 2008
  • Hāśiye kā gavāh, 2009

Epic poems[edit]

  • Ātmajayī (Self-Conqueror), based on the Upanishadic episode of Nachikétā in Kathopnishad, 1965. Bharatiya Jnanpith, Delhi.
  • Vājashravā Ké Bahāné (On Vajashrava’s Pretext), independent poems linked to Ātmajayī’s context, 2008. Bharatiya Jnanpith.

Fiction[edit]

  • Ākāron Ké Ās-Pās (Near-about Shapes), a collection of short stories, 1973. Radhakrishan Prakashan, Delhi.

Criticism[edit]

  • Āj Aur Āj Sé Pahlé (Today and Before Today), 1998. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi.
  • Méré Sākshātkār (My Interviews), interviews given by Kunwar Narain, ed. Vinod Bhardwaj, 1999. Kitabghar Prakashan, Delhi.
  • Sāhitya Ké Kuchh Antar-Vishayak Sandarbh (Some Interdisciplinary Contexts of Literature), XIV Samvatsar Lecture, 2003. Sahitya Akademi.

Translations[edit]

  • Selected poems of and essay on Constantine Cavafy, ‘Tanāv’, 1986 and Jorge-Luis Borges, ‘Tanāv’, 1987.
  • Selected poems of Stéphane Mallarmé, Tadeusz Różewicz, Derek Walcott, Zbigniew Herbert, Anna Świrszczyńska, etc.

Compilations[edit]

  • Kunwar Nārāin: Sansār-I (World: Select writings of Kunwar Narain), ed. Yatindra Mishra, 2002. Vani Prakashan, Delhi.
  • Kunwar Nārāin: Upasthiti-II (Presence: Select articles on Kunwar Narain and his writings), ed. Y Mishra, 2002. Vani Prakashan.
  • Kunwar Nārāin: Chunī Huī Kavitāyein (Selected Poems), ed. Suresh Salil, 2007. Medha Books, Delhi.
  • Kunwar Nārāin: Pratinidhī Kavitāyein (Representative Poems), ed. Purshottam Agarwal, 2008. Rajkamal Prakashan, Delhi.
Poems, stories, essays, criticism, and writings on cinema, music, art and history, have also appeared in journals and anthologies. Works on the poet and translations into national and international languages have been published in journals, anthologies and independent collections.

Awards and recognition[edit]

  • Hindustani Akademi Award (Atmajayee) 1971,
  • Prem Chand Award (Akaron Ke Aas-Pas) 1973,
  • Kumaran Asan Award (Apne Samne) 1982,
  • Tulsi Award (Apne Samne) 1982,
  • Hindi Sansthan Award (distinguished writing in Hindi) 1987,
  • Vyas Samman (Koi Doosra Naheen) 1995,
  • Bhavani Prasad Misra Award (Koi Doosra Naheen) 1995,
  • Shatdal Award (Koi Doosra Naheen) 1995,
  • Sahitya Akademi Award (Koi Doosra Naheen and overall literary contribution) 1995,
  • Lohia Award (overall contribution to Hindi literature) 2001,
  • Kabir Samman (highest all-India poetry award) 2001,
  • Honorary D.Litt, of Rajarshi Purushottam Tandan Mukt Vishvavidyalay, Allahabad, 2004,
  • Medal of Warsaw University, Poland (overall literary achievement) 2005,
  • Shalaka Samman (Hindi Academy’s highest honour), Delhi, 2006,
  • Premio Feronia, Italy (distinguished foreign author), 2006,
  • Jnanpith Award (considered as the highest literary award in India), for overall contribution in Hindi literature, 2005[1][2]
  • Padma Bhushan the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India for 'Literature & Education', 2009[3]
  • 'Pune Pandit' Award (Scholar of Pune Award), by the Art & Music Foundation, India for outstanding contribution in Indian literature, 2011

Selected foreign translations[edit]

  • Modern Hindi Poetry: An Anthology, ed. Vidya N. Misra, 1965, Indiana Univ. Press, Bloomington & London. (English translation by Leonard Nathan & H M Guy)
  • Tokyo University Journal, No. 7, December 1972, Hindi Dept., Tokyo Univ. of Foreign Studies, Nishigahara, Kita-ku, Tokyo (Japanese translation by Toshio Tanaka)
  • Der Ochsenkarren, Hindilyrik der siebziger und achtziger Jahre, Zusammengestellt von Vishnu Khare & Lothar Lutze, Verlag Wolf Mersch, 1983 (German transl.)
  • Kunvar Narayan, Naciketa, A cura di Mariola Offredi, Plural Edizioni, Napoli. Collezione di Poesia I Cristalli, 1989, (Italian translation of Atmajayee)
  • The Golden Waist Chain: Modern Hindi Short Stories, ed. Sara Rai, 1990, Penguin. (English translation by Sara Rai)
  • TriQuarterly 77, Winter 1989/90, ed. Reginald Gibbons, 1990, Northwestern University, US (English translation by Vinay Dharwadker)
  • Periplus: Poetry in Translation, eds. Daniel Weissbort & Arvind K. Mehrotra, 1993, Oxford Univ. Press. (English translations by Daniel Weissbort & the poet)
  • The Penguin New Writing in India, eds. Aditya Behl & David Nicholls, 1994, Penguin India, First published by Chicago Review (Vol. 38, Nos1 & 2), 1992
  • Survival, eds. Daniel Weissbort & Girdhar Rathi. Sahitya Akademi, India, 1994 (English translations by Daniel Weissbort & the poet)
  • The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry, eds. Vinay Dharwadker & A.K. Ramanujan, 1994, Oxford University Press (English translations)
  • Yatra 2: Writings from The Indian Subcontinent, General Ed.: Alok Bhalla, Eds. Nirmal Verma & U R Ananthamurthy, 1994, Indus (English trans., Alok Bhalla)
  • Living Literature: A Trilingual Documentation of Indo-German Literary Exchange, eds. Barbara Lotz and Vishnu Khare (German translations)
  • Gestures: Poetry from SAARC Countries, Edited by K. Satchidanandan, 1996 (Reprint 2001), Sahitya Akademi, India (English)
  • An Anthology of Modern Hindi Poetry, ed. Kailash Vajpeyi, 1998, Rupa & Co., India (English translations)
  • Dilli Mein Kavita, ed. Kailash Vajpeyi, translated into Russian by Varyam Singh, 1999, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi (Russian translations)
  • Poeti Hindi: Antologia del Novecento, A cura di Mariola Offredi, Casta Diva, Roma. 2000. Poesia, Collana diretta da Enrico D’Angelo (Italian translations)
  • Kunvar Narayan, Nessuno è altro, A cura di Roberta Sequi, Casta Diva, Roma. 2001. (Italian translation of Koee Doosra Nahin)
  • Beyond Borders: An Anthology of SAARC Poetry, eds. Ashok Vajpeyi & Ajeet Cour, 2002, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature & Rainbow Publishers.
  • Ze współczesnej poezji Hindi, Przegląd Orientalistyczny, vol. 202-203, no. 3-4, Warszawa, 2002, translated by Danuta Stasik. (Polish translations)
  • Hindi: Handpicked Fictions, Edited and translated by Sara Rai, 2003, Katha, Delhi. (English translations)
  • New Poetry in Hindi (Nayi Kavita): An anthology edited, translated and introduced by Lucy Rosenstein, 2003, Permanent Black, Delhi. (English translations)
  • Cracow Indological Studies Vol. 6, ed. Renata Czekalska, Jagiellonian Univ., Kraków, 2005. (Polish translations, Renata Czekalska & Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fraś)
  • Kunwar Narain, Varco di ombre, a cura di Tullia Baldassarri Höger von Högersthal, edizione Mura, 2006 (Italian translation of selected poems)
  • Ik zag de stad, Moderne Hindi-poëzie, Vertaald en ingeleid door Lodewijk Brunt & Dick Plukker, Stichting India Instituut, Amsterdam, 2006 (Dutch translation)
  • Teaching on India in Central and Eastern Europe, eds. Danuta Stasik & Anna Trynkowska, Warsaw, 2007 (Polish translations by Danuta Stasik)
  • Kunwar Narain, Przez Słowa, Antologia pod redakcją Renaty Czekalskiej i Agnieszki Kuczkiewicz-Fraś, Księgarnia Akademicka, Kraków, 2007 (Polish translation)
  • Kunwar Narain. No Other World: Selected Poems, translated by Apurva Narain, Rupa & Co., India, 2008. (English translation)
  • Kunwar Narajan. Wiersze, w przekładzie Danuty Stasik, DIALOG, Warszawa 2013 (Polish translation)

Positions held[edit]

  • Co-editor, Yug-Chetna (1956–61), Naya Prateek (1974–78) and Chhayanat (1976–78)
  • Ex-member, General Council, UP Hindi Sansthan, and Hindi Advisory Board, Government of India
  • Vice-Chairman, UP Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lucknow (1976–78)
  • Chairman, Bhartendu Natya Kendra (Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts), Lucknow (1977–79)
  • Ex-member, Kendriya Audan Samiti, Dept. of Secondary & Higher Education, Central Hindi Directorate, Government of India
  • Founding member, Vimala Devi Foundation, Ayodhya
  • Member, Advisory Board, Central Institute of Hindi, Agra, Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India
  • Member, Board of Trustees and Executive Board, National Book Trust of India

Selected international literary activities[edit]

  • Visits to Europe, Russia and China; meetings with Nazim Hikmet, Anton Slonimiskie and Pablo Neruda, 1955
  • Seminars & readings at Stockholm, Gothenburg and Lund Universities, Sweden, 1987
  • Lectures on Mythology and Modern Hindi Poetry, Venice University; Poetry readings in the UK, Italy & US, 1994
  • Lectures and poetry readings in Nepal; Stay in Cambridge; Poetry Reading in London, 1998
  • Literary conferences and poetry readings in Warsaw and Jagiellonian Universities, Poland, 1999 and 2001
  • Poetry readings and release of Italian translation of Koee Doosra Naheen at Arenzano (Genova), Italy, 2001
  • Poetry readings and participation in the SAARC conference, Lahore, Pakistan, 2003
  • Guest of Honour at the 50th Anniversary of Hindi studies at the Department of Indian Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland, 2005
  • Poetry readings at the International Festival ‘Mediterranea’ and release of Italian collection of poems, Rome, 2006
2006:

Satya Vrat Shastri

Satya Vrat Shastri
Prof Satya Vrat Shastri in 2013.jpg
Born29 September 1930 (age 85)
Occupationscholar, academic, poet, literary critic
NationalityIndia
Alma materPunjab University, Banaras Hindu University
GenreSanskrit
Notable awards1968: Sahitya Akademi Award
2006: Jnanpith Award
SpouseProf. Dr. Usha Satyavrat
Satya Vrat (or Satyavrat) Shastri (born 29 September 1930) is a highly decorated Sanskrit scholar, writer, grammarian and poet from India. He has written three Mahakavyas, three Khandakavyas, one Prabandhakavyas and one Patrakavya and five works in critical writing in Sanskrit. His important works are Ramakirtimahakavyam, Brahattaram Bharatam, Sribodhisattvacharitam, Vaidika Vyakarana, Sarmanyadesah Sutram Vibhati, and "Discovery of Sanskrit Treasures" in seven volumes.[1]
He is currently an honorary professor at the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He was the Head of the Department of Sanskrit and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Delhi, where he was the Pandit Manmohan Nath Dar Professor of Sanskrit (1970–1995).
During his career he has won many national and international awards, including, the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, given bySahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, in 1968 for his poetry work, Srigurugovindasimhacharitam,[2] then in 2006, he became the first recipient of the Jnanpith award in Sanskrit language (conferred in 2009 by his disciple and Thailand's PrincessMaha Chakri Sirindhorn).[3][4]

Education[edit]

Prof. Shastri received his early education under his father, Shri Charu Deva Shastri, a renowned scholar. Thereafter, he moved to Varanasi, where he studied under Pandit Shukdev Jha and Dr. Siddheshwar Varma.
He received his B.A. Hons. and MA in Sanskrit from the Punjab University, and his PhD from the Banaras Hindu University.[5]

Career[edit]

He joined the University of Delhi soon after, where for the next forty years of his teaching career, he held important positions as the Head of the Department of Sanskrit, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Satya Vrat Shastri was also the Vice-Chancellor of Shri Jagannath Sanskrit University, Puri, Orissa, and a visiting professor at the Chulalongkorn and Silpakorn Universities in Bangkok, as well as the Northeast Buddhist University, Nongkhai, Thailand, the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, the Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He also taught Sanskrit to Thailand's Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn [1977–1979].[6][7][8]
Satya Vrat Shastri has written many important poetic works in Sanskrit, the most important being his rendition from Royal Thai into Sanskrit, of the Thai version of the Ramayana, viz., Sri-rama-kirti-maha-kavyam, upon royal request, and with a Foreword by the Princess of Thailand. His current research projects are the Sanskrit inscriptions and Hindu temples in Thailand, Kalidasa Studies, a critical edition of the Yogavasishtha, the Sanskritic vocabulary of South East Asia, and the Rama story in South East Asia.
In 2009, he became the only Sanskrit poet to win the (2006) Jnanpith award, for his contributions to the enrichment of the language, and conferred by his former disciple, Princess of Thailand, Maha Chakri Sirindhon.[4][9][10]

Honors and awards[edit]

International[edit]

  • Honour from Royal Nepal Academy, Kathmandu, 1979.
  • Medallion of Honour from the Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, 1985.
  • Elected Fellow, International Institute of Indian Studies, Ottawa, Canada.
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, 1993.
  • Honour: “Autorita Academische Italiano Straniere”. The Civil and Academic Authority of Italy for Foreigners, 1994.
  • Kalidasa Award from the International Institute of Indian Studies, Ottawa, Canada, 1994.
  • Special Award from Centro Pimontese di Studi Sui Medio ed Estremo Oriente (CESMEO), Torino, Italy, 1995.
  • Honour from Gaja Madah University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 1995.
  • Royal Decoration “Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn" from His Majesty the King of Thailand, 1997.
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa, from the University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania.
  • Certificate of Excellence from the Spiru Haret University, Ramnicu-Valeca, Romania, 2001.
  • Certificate of Excellence from the Biblioteca Judeteana"Antim Ivireanul" Valeca, Romania, 2001.
  • Honour from Mihai Eminescu International Academy, Bucharest, Romania, 2001.
  • "Outstanding Teacher and Writer" by Biblioteca Pedagogica Nationala 'I.C. Petrescu' and Biblioteca Indiana, Romania 2001
  • Golden Prize from CESMEO, International Institute for Advanced Asian Studies, Torino, Italy, 2001.
  • Elected Fellow, Accademia di Studi Mediterrani, Academy of Mediterranean Studies, Aggrigento, Italy.
  • Conferred DOCTORATE HONORIS CAUSA by the University of Torino, Italy on 3 May 2012

National[edit]

  • Sahitya Akademi Award, 1968 for Srigurugovindasimhacharitam (Poetry).
  • Honour from Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi Administration, Delhi, 1974.
  • Honour from Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Board, 1974.
  • U.G.C. National Lecturer, 1983.
  • President of India Certificate of Honour, 1985.
  • Shiromani Sanskrit Sahityakar Award, Govt. of Punjab, 1985.
  • Visista Sanskrit Sahitya Puraskara, Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, 1988.
  • Gita Rana Puraskara, IX International Gita Conference, Delhi, 1991.
  • Sanskrit Seva Sammana, Delhi Sanskrit Akademi, Delhi, 1992.
  • Sanskrit Sahitya Paraskara, Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad, Kolkata, 1992.
  • Indira Baharey Gold Medal, Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune, 1992.
  • Pandit Jagannatha Sanskrit Padya-racana Puraskara, Delhi Sanskrit Akademi, Delhi, 1993.
  • Kalidasa Puraskara, Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Lucknow, 1994.
  • Pandita Kshama Row Puraskara, Row Dayal Trust, Mumbai, 1994.
  • Vagbhusana title, Vanmaya-vimarsa, Delhi, 1994.
  • Devavani-ratna Sammana, Devavani Parishad, New Delhi, 1994.
  • First All India Sammana, Rajasthan Sanskrit Academy, Jaipur, 1995.
  • Vachaspati Puraskara, K.K. Birla Foundation, New Delhi, 1995.
  • Dayawati Modi Vishwa Sanskriti Sammana, Modi Kala Kala Bharati, New Delhi, 1995.
  • Shastra-chudamani Award, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, 1996.
  • Manasa Sammana, Tulasi Manasa Pratishthana, Madhya Pradesh andTulasi Academy, Bhopal, 1997.
  • All India Kalidasa Puraskara, Madhya Pradesh Sanskrit Academy, Bhopal, 1997.
  • Honour from the Govt. of Maharashtra, 1998.
  • Degree of Mahamahopadhyaya, Honoris Causa, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapitha, Tirupati, 1999.
  • Padma Shri, Govt. of India, 1999.[11]
  • Honour from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, 1999.
  • Honour from Delhi Sanskrit Akademi, Delhi, 1999.
  • Degree of Vidyavachaspati, Honoris Causa, Gurukul Mahavidyalaya, Jwalapur, Hardwar, 1999.
  • Honour from Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit Naval Kishore Kankar Seva Parishsad, Jaipur, 1999.
  • Kalidasa Sammana, Kalidasa Samaroha, Ujjain, 2000.
  • Title of Veda-shastra-visharada, Swami Vishvesh Tirtha, Adhokshaja Mutt, Udupi, Karnataka, 2002.
  • Shrivani Alankarana, Ramakrishna Jaidayal Dalmiya Trust, Delhi, 2002.
  • Degree of Vidyamartanda (D.Litt.), Honoris Causa, Gurukul Kangri University, Hardwar, 2002.
  • Mahakavi Kalidasa Sanskrit Jivanavrati Rashtriya Sammana, Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Nagpur, 2002.
  • Honour from All India Oriental Conference, 43rd Session, Puri, 2003.
  • Shrimati Chandrawati Joshi Sanskrit Bhasha Puraskara, Jnana Kalyana Datavya Nyasa, New Delhi, 2003.
  • Vedanga Puraskara, Maharshi Sandipani Vedavidya Pratishthan, Ujjain, 2003.
  • Acharya Umasvami Puraskara, Kundakunda Bharati, New Delhi, 2003.
  • First International Himadri Uttaranchal Sanskrit Sammana, Uttaranchal Sanskrit Academy, Hardwar, 2004
  • Dr. Shashibhanu Vidyalankar Rashtriya Puraskara, Dr. Shashibhanu Vidyalankar Dharmartha Trust, Hardwar, 2006.
  • Jnanpith Award, Bharatiya Jnanpith, New Delhi, 2006.
  • Degree of Vachaspati (D.Litt.), Honoris Causa, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, New Delhi, 2007.
  • Life Time Achievement Award Vidyaratna, Purbanchal Academy of Oriental Studies, Kolkata, 2008.
  • Elected General President, All India Oriental Conference, 45th Session, Tirupati, 2008.
  • Sardar Patel Award, Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel Foundation, New Delhi, 2008.
  • D. Litt. Degree Honoris Causa, Deccan College, Pune, 2009.
  • Anuvadashri Puraskara, Bharatiya Anuvada Parishad, New Delhi, 2009.
  • Prashant Murti Puraskara,Vimala Vidyashruta Sansthan, Jaipur,2009
  • Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati National Eminence Award, The South Indian Education Society, Mumbai, 2009.
  • Vishva Bharati Puraskara, UP Sanskrit Sansthan, Lucknow, 2009
  • Padma Bhushan, Govt of India, 2010
  • General President, All India Oriental Conference, 45th Session, Tirupati, 2010
  • Sanskrit Kaustubha Sammana, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Delhi Kendra, New Delhi, 2010
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 2010
  • Mahamana Malaviya Smrti Alankarana Puraskara, Mahamana Mission, Varanasi Unit, Varanasi, 2010
  • Srimadvidyabhaskara Sammana, Mahamandaleshvara Junapithadhishvara Avadheshananda Giri, Hardwar, 2010
  • Sarasvati ke Varadaputra title, All India Sanskrit Prakashaka Sangha, Delhi, 2011
  • Maharshi Valmiki Sammana, Delhi Sanskrit Academy, Delhi, 2011
  • Dr. Gangadhar Bhatta Smrti Sammana, Rajaganga Charitable Trust, Jaipur, 2011
  • Bharatiratnam Sammana, Lokabhasha Prachara Samiti, Bhubaneswar, 2011.
  • Prajnana Gaurava Sammana by Gloryfest, Puri, Odisha, 2012.
  • Saptarshi Sammana by Sandipani Vidya Niketana, Porbundar, Gujarat, 2012.
  • Swami Brahmananda Memorial Vyasashree Award-2012 by Maharsi Vyasadeva National Research Institute, Rourkela, Odisha..
  • Doctorate Honoris Causa, University of Torino, Torino, Italy, 2012.
  • Rajata Sammana, Maharshi Sandipani Veda Vidya Pratishthan, Ujjain, 2012.
  • Degree of Mahamahopadhyaya, Kavi Kulguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Rampek (Nagpur), 2012.
  • Brihaspati Sammana, Kavi Kulguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Rampek (Nagpur), 2012.
  • Mahamahimopadhyaya Sammana, Sanskrit Sahitya Academy, Cuttuck, Odisha, 2012.
  • Honour Bharatashrih, Akhil Bhartiya Vidvat Parishad Varanasi, 2013.
  • Fellow, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 2013.
  • Professor Emeritus, University of Delhi, 2013
  • Vasundhara Ratna Samman, Award of Excellence, Respect Age International, New Delhi, 2013
  • Chairman, 2nd Sanskrit Commission, Govt. of India, 2014.
  • Rajaprabha Puraskar, Kunjunni Raja Academy of Indological Research (KAIR), Thrissur (Kerala), 2014.
  • Distinguished Teacher Award from the University of Delhi, Delhi, 2014
  • Sanskrit Gaurava Samman from All India Sanskrit Sahitya Sammelan New Delhi, 2014
  • Bharatbhusan Award, Indian Institute of Oriental Heritage, Kolkata, 2014

Academic writings[edit]

  • Essays on Indology, Meharchand Lacchmandas, 1963,
  • The Ramayana – A Linguistic Study with a Foreword by Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee and an Introduction by Dr. Siddheshwar Varma, Munshiram Manoharlal, Delhi 1964,
  • Vaidika Vyakarana (Hindi translation of A.A.Macdonell's "A Vedic Grammar for Students", Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi 1971,
  • Studies in Sanskrit and Indian Culture in Thailand, Parimal Prakashan, Delhi 1982,
  • Kalidasa in Modern Sanskrit Literature, Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi, 1991
  • Subhasitasahasri (Thousand Pearls from Sanskrit Literature),Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, 1998
  • Studies in the Language and the Poetry of the Yogavasistha (In the Press).
  • Sanskrit Inscriptions of Thailand, Vijaya Books, Delhi-32, India, 2013,
  • Human Values: Definitions and Interpretations, BharatiyaVidya Mandir, Kolkata-700087 2013 – ISBN 978-81-89302-45-0
  • Sanskrit Writings of European Scholars, Vijaya Books, Delhi-110032 2013 – ISBN 978-81-910948-3-1
  • Hungary Kitni Dur Kitni Paas, Vijaya Books, Delhi, 2013.
  • Caran Vai Madhu Vindati (An account of the foreign cultural travels)- Vijya Books, 2013.
  • Canakyaniti (Hindi and English translations with introduction) – Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Kolkata, 2013.
  • Words for Human Values in Sanskrit : Definitions and Interpretations, Bhartiya Vidya Mandir, Kolkata, 2013
  • Introducing Sanskrit Literature, Vijaya Books, Delhi, 2014.

Literary writings[edit]

  • Brhattaram Bharatam ( A Kavya in Sanskrit ) Sarasvati Susama, Journal of the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi, Vol. XII, No. 1, Samvat 2014
  • Sribodhisattvacaritam (A Kavya in Sanskrit), First Ed. Self Publication, Delhi, Samvat 2017 (A.D. 1960) pages iv+ 120, Second Ed. Meharchand Lacchmandas, Delhi 1974,
  • Srigurugovindasimhacaritam (A Kavya in Sanskrit) (With a Foreword by Dr. V.Raghavan), First Ed. Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, Patiala, 1967, Second Ed. Sahitya Bhandar, Meerut, 1984,
  • Sarmanyadesah Sutaram Vibhati (A Kavya in Sanskrit), Akhil Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad, Lucknow, 1976
  • Indira Gandhi-caritam (A Kavya in Sansktir), Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan, Delhi, 1976,
  • Thaidesavilasam (A Kavya in Sanskrit) (With a Foreword by Prof. Visudh Busyakul), Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi 1979
  • Sriramakirtimahakavyam (A Kavya in Sanskrit) (with a foreword by Her Royal Highness Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the Princess of Thailand), Moolamall Sachdev and Amarnath Sachdeva Foundations, Bangkok, First Ed. 1990, Second Ed. 1991, Third Ed. 1995.
  • Patrakavyam (A Kavya in Sanskrit), Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi 1994
  • New Experiments in Kalidasa (Plays), Eastern Book Linkers, Delhi 1994
  • Chanakyaniti, Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Kolkata, 2013, ISBN 978-81-89302-42-9
  • Charan Vai Madhu Vindati (Sanskrit-Hindi), Vijaya Books, Delhi-110032, 2013 – ISBN 978-93-81480-30-4
  • Bhavitavyanam Dvaranii Bhavanti Sarvatra, Autobiography in Sanskrit, Vijaya Books, Delhi, 2014

Ravindra Kelekar

Ravindra Kelekar
Ravindra Kelekar.png
Born7 March 1925[1]
Cuncolim, Goa, India
Died27 August 2010 (aged 85)
Margao, Goa, India
Resting placePriol, Goa, India[2]
Occupationfreedom fighter, linguistic activist, poet, author
LanguageKonkani
EthnicityKonkani
Ravindra Kelekar (7 March 1925 – 27 August 2010) was a noted Indian author who wrote primarily in the Konkani language, though he also wrote in Marathi and Hindi.[3] A Gandhian activist, freedom fighter and a pioneer in the modern Konkani movement, he is a well known Konkani scholar, linguist, and creative thinker. Kelkar was a participant in the Indian freedom movement, Goa's liberation movement, and later the campaign against the merger of the newly formed Goa with Maharashtra. He played a key role in the founding of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, which lead the literary campaign for the recognition of Konkani as a full-fledged language, and its reinstatement as the state language of Goa.[4] He authored nearly 100 books in the Konkani language, including Amchi Bhas Konkaneech, Shalent Konkani Kityak, Bahu-bhashik Bharatant Bhashenche Samajshastra and Himalayant, and also edited Jaagmagazine for more than two decades.
Kelekar died at Apollo Hospital at Margao, Goa at around 11.30 am on Friday 27 August. He was 85.[3][5][not in citation given] His remains were cremated with State honours at his native village of Priol.[2]
Kelekar received the Padma Bhushan (2008),[6][7] the Gomant Sharada Award of Kala Academy,[7] the Sahitya Akademi Award(1976),[8] and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (2007)—the highest award of the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[9] He also received the 2006 Jnanpith Award,[10] the first ever awarded to an author writing in the Konkani language,[1] which was presented in July 2010.[11]

Early life and education[edit]

Kelekar was born on 25 March 1925, in the city of Cuncolim in South Goa.[1] His father, Dr Rajaram Kelekar, was a physician who later became renowned for his Portuguese translation of the Bhagwad Gita.[7] While still a student at the Lyceum High School in Panaji, Kelekar joined the Goa liberation movement in 1946. This brought him in close contact with several local and national leaders, including Ram Manohar Lohia, under whose influence he was able to recognise the power of language to mobilise the local populace. Later, he saw the potential in his native Konkani language, which became his lifelong work.[7]

Career[edit]

Already deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy, in 1949 Kelekar left his native Goa for Wardha, to be with noted Gandhian and writer Kakasaheb Kalelkar. Kelekar stayed under Kalelkar's tutelage until 1955, when he was appointed librarian of the Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi. This turned out to be short-lived, as only a year later he plunged back into the Goa freedom movement. With a mission to reconnect the Goan diaspora all over the world, he started the weekly, Gomant Bharati (1956–60),[12] published in the Latin script in Bombay. Soon after, being an active participant in Goa's struggle for freedom, he was imprisoned by the Portuguese. He was released when the Indian Armyinvaded and annexed Goa in 1961.
He joined the socio-political campaign against the merger of Goa into the neighbouring Maharashtra state, which ended after the plebiscite of 1967, with Goa retaining its separate identity albeit as a union territory. Goa retained this status until 1987, when it was declared a separate state.
After Goa's independence, Kelekar took to literary activism, in the form of getting his native Konkani language its due status as an independent language, rather than as just adialect of Marathi. He was compared favourably with pioneers in the Konkani literary movement, such as Shenoi Goembab.[13] During this period, he wrote some of his most important works promoting the Konkani language, including Aamchi Bhas Konkanich (1962), a dialogue revealing the importance of Konkani to the common man on the street;Shallent Konkani Kityaak (1962), highlighting the significance of having Konkani medium schools in Goa; and A Bibliography of Konkani Literature in Devanagari, Roman and Kannada characters (1963).[4][14] In February 1987, the Goa Legislative Assembly had passed the Official Language Bill making Konkani the Official Language of Goa.[15] The struggle ended in 1992, when Konkani was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as an official language.[16] With life's mission completed, Kelkar retired from public life, focusing mainly of his writing.[7]
On 26 February 1975, the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, recognised Konkani as an independent language.[citation needed] The first Sahitya Akademi Awardfor a work in Konkani was won by Kelekar for his travelogue, Himalayant, in 1977.[17][18][19] The Akademi's first Translation Award in Konkani also went to Kelekar in 1990 for Ami Taankan Manshant Haadle, a Konkani translation of a collection of essays in Gujarati, Mansaeena Diva, by Jhaverchand Meghani.[20] He received the 2006 Jnanpith Award, which was the first given to a Konkani-language writer.[10] The pinnacle of his career came with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2007.[9] A lifelong proponent of regional languages, in his acceptance speech for the Jnanpith award, he said, "People have stopped reading books in regional languages. On the other hand, through English, we have created Bonsai intellectuals, Bonsai writers and Bonsai readers."[21]
When the Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Academy, an offshoot of the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, was set up in 2006, the first work it took up for translation wasVelavaylo Dhulo, a collection of Kelekar's essays.[22] His books have been translated into Hindi and other North Indian languages, and are used by universities.[23]

Personal life[edit]

Kelekar married Godubai Sardessai in 1949; their son Guirish was born within a year.[4] Kelekar lived in his ancestral home—built by his father in 1937—called "Kelekar House", in the village of Priol in central Goa. The Casa Dos Kelekars, as it is formally known, is now seen as exemplary of a typical Goan community home.[24]
2007:

O. N. V. Kurup

O. N. V. Kurup
ഒ.എൻ.വി. കുറുപ്പ്
Onv.JPG
Born27 May 1931 (age 84)
Chavara
ResidenceThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
NationalityIndian
EthnicityMalayali
CitizenshipIndia
EducationMaster's
Alma mater
OccupationPoet, lyricist, professor
Notable workAgni Shalabhangal, Aksharam, Uppu, Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham, Ujjayini, Swayamvaram
Title
Spouse(s)Sarojini
ChildrenRajeevan, Mayadevi
Parent(s)O. N. Krishna Kurup, K. Lakshmikutty Amma
Ottaplakkal Nambiyadikkal Velu Kurup (born 27 May 1931),[1] popularly known as O. N. V. Kurup or simply O. N. V., is a renowned Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. O. N. V. Kurup is also a lyricist in Malayalam cinema. He has penned a lot of lyrics for dramas and TV serials also. He received the awards Padma Shri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011, the fourth and second highest civilian honours from the Government of India. In 2007 he was bestowed an Honorary Doctorate by University of Kerala, Trivandrum. O. N. V. is known for his leftist leaning.[2] He was the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency for the Lok Sabha elections in 1989.[3]

Biography[edit]

O.N.V Kurup was born to O. N. Krishna Kurup and K. Lakshmikutty Amma, on 27 May 1931 at Chavara, Kollam (Quilon) in Kerala.[4]He lost his father when he was eight. His childhood days were spent in the village where he attended the public 'Government School, Chavara'. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Economics from SN College, Kollam, he moved to Thiruvananthapuram city(Trivandrum) where he joined Travancore University (now Kerala University) and pursued Master of Arts in Malayalam literature.
O.N.V. was a lecturer at Maharajas College – Ernakulam, University College – Trivandrum, Arts and Science College – Kozhikode, and Brennen College – Thalassery. He joined Government Women's College – Trivandrum as the Head of Malayalam Department. He was also a visiting professor at Calicut University. He retired from service in 1986.[4]
He received the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour, for the year 2007.[5] He is the fifth Jnanpith laureate from Kerala and the second Malayalam poet to win the prestigious award.[6] According to a statement by Bharatiya Jnanpith, the trust which presents the award, Kurup began his career as a "progressive writer and matured into a humanist though he never gave up his commitment to socialist ideology".[7]
He is now settled at Vazhuthacaud in Thiruvananthapuram, with his wife Sarojini. His son Rajeev works with the Indian Railways Authority, and daughter Dr.Mayadevi is a noted gynaecologist in Durham, United Kingdom. Malayalam playback singer Aparna Rajeev is his granddaughter.[8]

Poetry[edit]

O. N. V.'s first published poem was 'Munnottu' (Forward) which appeared in a local weekly in 1946.[9] His first poetry collection,Porutunna Soundaryam, came out in 1949. He published a book named Dahikunna Panapatram (The Thirsty Chalice) which was a collection of his early poems during 1946–1956.[10]

Poetic works[edit]


ONV Kurup reciting his poem in a function atThiruvananthapuram
List of Poetry by Kurup
#NameTranslation in EnglishYear of publishing
1Daahikunna PaanapaathramThe Thirsty Chalice1956
2MarubhumiThe Desert
3NeelakkannukalBlue Eyes
4MayilpeeliPeacock Feather1964
5Oru Thulli VelichamA Drop of Light
6Agni ShalabhangalFire Moths1971
7AksharamAlphabet1974
8Karutha Pakshiyude PaattuSong of a Black Bird1977
9UppuThe Salt1980
10Bhumikku Oru Charama GeethamA Dirge for the Earth1984
11Shaarngka Pakshikal1987
12MrigayaHunting1990
13ThonnyaksharangalNonsense Alphabets1989
14AparahnamAfternoon1991
15UjjayiniUjjain1994
16VerutheGratis (For Nothing)
17SwayamvaramSwayamvara1995
18Bhairavante ThudiDrum of Bhairavan
19Oyenviyude Ganangal *Songs of O.N.V.
20Valappottukal **Pieces of Bangle
21Sooryageetham **The Song of Sun
*Collection of 1500 songs. **Poems for children

Prose list[edit]

List of Prose by O. N. V.
#NameTranslation in EnglishYear of publishing
1Kavitayile Samantara RekhakalParallel Lines in Poetry
2Kavitayile PratisandhikalCrisis in Poetry
3Ezhuthachan – Oru PadanamEzhuthachan – A Study
4PatheyamFood carried
5KalpanikamImaginative
6Pushkin – Swatantrya Bodhatinte Durantagatha

Lyricist[edit]

In addition to the valuable contributions he had given to the Malayalam literature, he is one of the leading lyricists in Malayalam film/drama/album industry. He was the part of many dramas by Kerala People's Arts Club (KPAC) which has a major remark in the revolutionary movements of Kerala. Kalam Marunnu (1956) was his first film which was also the first film by the famous Malayalam composer G. Devarajan. Since then he has been active in film until date and was honoured with one national award and thirteen state awards (the most by a Malayalee). He has penned about 900 songs[11] in about 232 films and numerous songs for plays and albums. His partnerships with Salil Chowdhury andM. B. Sreenivasan was so popular in Malayalam film industry. He has made many hit songs with popular music directors, including G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy, M. S. Baburaj, Raveendran, M. K. Arjunan, K. Raghavan, Shyam, Johnson, Mohan Sithara, M. G. Radhakrishnan, S. P. Venkatesh, Ouseppachan, Vidhyadharan etc..

Awards[edit]

Civilian honours[edit]

Literary awards[edit]

O. N. V. has won numerous awards for his literary works.[15][16]

Film awards[edit]

National Film Awards
Kerala State Film Awards

O. N. V. Kurup with singerYesudas
ONV won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Lyricist thirteen times:
  • 2008 – Best Lyricist (Film – Gulmohar)
  • 1990 – Best Lyricist (Film – Radha Madhavam)
  • 1989 – Best Lyricist (Film – Oru Sayahnathinte Swapnathil, Purappadu)
  • 1988 – Best Lyricist (Film – Vaishali)
  • 1987 – Best Lyricist (Film – Manivathoorile Ayiram Sivarathrikal)
  • 1986 – Best Lyricist (Film – Nakhashathangal)
  • 1984 – Best Lyricist (Film – Aksharangal, Ethiripoove Chuvannapoove)
  • 1983 – Best Lyricist (Film – Adaminte Variyellu)
  • 1980 – Best Lyricist (Film – Yagam, Ammayum Makkalum)
  • 1979 – Best Lyricist (Film – Ulkkadal)
  • 1977 – Best Lyricist (Film – Madanolsavam)
  • 1976 – Best Lyricist (Film – Aalinganam)
  • 1973 – Best Lyricist (Film – Swapna Nadanam)
Filmfare Awards
Asianet Film Awards
  • 2001 – Best Lyricist Award -Meghamalhar
  • 2002 – Best Lyricist Award -Ente Hridayatinte Udama

Positions held[edit]

ONV has served and headed various office of state and central government organisations. Notably:
  1. Executive Member, Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi from 1982–86.
  2. Chairman, Kerala Kalamandalam – the State Akademi of Classical performing Arts(1996).
  3. Fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Academy in 1999.
He also has been the part of various delegation at international events. Some of the notable among them being:
  1. Visited USSR as member of an Indian Writers Delegation to participate in the 150th birth anniversary of Leo Tolstoy.
  2. Represented India in the Struga Poetry Evenings, Yugoslavia (1987)
  3. Attended CISAC Asian Conference in Singapore(1990).
  4. Visited USA to participate in FOKANA Conference(1993).
  5. Visited USA to inaugurate literary seminar in Kerala Centre, New York (1995).
  6. Presented poems on Beethoven and Mozart in the Department of German, University of Bonn.
  7. Indian delegate to the CISAC World Conference held in Berlin (1998)
2008:

Akhlaq Mohammed Khan

Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar
Born16 June 1936
Aonla, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Died13 February 2012 (aged 75)
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
OccupationEducator, poet and lyricist
NationalityIndian
GenreGhazal, Nazm
SubjectLove, philosophy
Akhlaq Mohammad Khan 'Shahryar' (16 June 1936 – 13 February 2012), was an Indian academician, and a doyen of Urdu poetryin India.[1][2] As a Hindi film lyricist, he is best known for his lyrics in Gaman (1978) and Umrao Jaan (1981) directed by Muzaffar Ali. He retired as the head of Urdu Department at the Aligarh Muslim University, and thereafter he remained sought after name inmushairas or poetic gatherings, and also co-edited the literary magazine Sher-o-Hikmat.[3]
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai (1987), and in 2008 he won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award and only the fourth Urdu poet to win the award.[3] He has been widely acknowledged as the finest exponent of modern Urdu poetry.

Early life and education[edit]

Shahryar was born at Aonla, Bareilly to a Muslim Rajput family.[3] His father Abu Mohammad Khan was posted as a Police Officer, though the family hailed from village Chaudera in Bulandshahr District, Uttar Pradesh.[4][5] In his childhood days, Shahryar wanted to be an athlete but his father wanted him to join the police force. It is then that he ran away from home and was guided by Khaleel-Ur-Rehman Azmi, the eminent Urdu critic and poet. To earn a living, he started teaching Urdu fiction at Aligarh Muslim University where he later studied and got his PhD.[6] He received his early education at Bulandshahr and later studied at Aligarh Muslim University.[7]

Career[edit]

Shahryar started his career as a literary assistant at Anjuman Tarraqqi-e-Urdu. After that he joined Aligarh Muslim University as a lecturer in Urdu. He was appointed professor in 1986 and in 1996, he retired as chairman of the Urdu Department. He co-edited the literary magazine Sher-o-Hikmat (Poetry and Philosophy).[8]

Literary career[edit]

His first poetry collection Ism-e-azam was published in 1965, the second collection, Satvan dar (Satva yet in English), appeared in 1969 and the third collection titled Hijr ke mausam was released in 1978. His most celebrated work, Khwab Ke dar band hain, arrived in 1987, which also won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for that year. In addition, he published five collections of his poetry in Urdu script.[9] In 2008, he became the fourth Urdu writer to win the Jnanpith Award, after Firaq, Ali Sardar Jafri, andQurratulain Hyder.[10][11]

Lyricist[edit]

Shahryar wrote lyrics for select films, from Aligarh where he was approached by filmmakers. Muzaffar Ali and Shahryar were friends from their student days, and Shahryar had shared some of the ghazals with him. Later when Ali made his directorial debut with Gaman in 1978, he used two of his ghazals Seene Mein Jalan Ankhon Mein Toofan Sa Kyun Hai and Ajeeb Saneha Mujhpar Guzar Gaya Yaaron in the film, and they are still considered classic. All his Ghazals from Umrao Jaan, 'Dil Cheez Kya Hai Aap Meri Jaan Lijiye', 'Ye Ka Jagah Hai Doston', 'In Aankhon Ki Masti Ke' etc. are among the finest lyrical works in Bollywood. He also wrote for Yash Chopra's Faasle (1985), thereafter Chopra offered him three more films to write for, but he refused as he didn't want to become a "song shop".[12] Though he wrote for Muzaffar Ali's Anjuman (1986). He also left behind unfinished contributions to Ali's Zooni and Daaman. His last film lyrics was "Ye Mera Divanapan Hai" in Mira Nair's The Namesake (2006).[3]

Death[edit]

Shahryar died on 13 February 2012 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, after a prolonged illness due to lung cancer.[12][13]
Shahryar is survived by three children, Humayun Shahryar, Saima Shahryar and Faridoon Shahryar.

Awards[edit]

Four thesis have been written on Shahryar's works.

Selected bibliography[edit]

  • Ism-e-azam, 1965.
  • Satvan dar, 1969.
  • Hijr ke mausam, 1978.
  • Khwab Ke dar band Hain, 1987.
  • Neend ki Kirchen – (English: Shards of Shattered Sleep) .
  • Through the Closed Doorway: A Collection of Nazms by Shahryar, tr. Rakhshanda Jalil. 2004, Rupa & Co., ISBN 81-291-0458-X.
  • Shahryar, Akhlaq Mohmmad Khan : Influence of the western criticism on the Urdu criticism, Aligarh.
  • Dhund ki Roshni (English: The Light of Dusk): Selected Poems of Shahryar, 2003, Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 81-260-1615-9.

2009:

Amarkant

Amarkant
Amarkant (1925-2014).jpg
Native nameअमरकान्त
Born1 July 1925
Balliya, Uttar Pradesh, India
Died17 February 2014 (aged 88)
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
OccupationWriter, novelist
LanguageHindi
NationalityIndian
Notable worksInhi Hathiyaaron Se, Kale Ujale Din, Kuch Yaadein Kuch Baatein
Notable awardsJnanpith Award
2009
Sahitya Akademi Award
2007
Amarkant (1 July 1925 – 17 February 2014) was an Indian writer of Hindi literature. His novel Inhin Hathiyaron Se earned him theSahitya Akademi Award in 2007,[1] and Vyas Samman in year 2009.[2]
He was awarded Jnanpith Award for the year 2009.[3][4] Amarkant is considered as one of the prominent writers of the story writing tradition of Premchand but certainly is credited to add something better in that tradition by his own individuality. In late 2000s, the octogenarian Amarkant was fighting against penury.[5]
Amarkant is best known for his short stories although he also published six novels. His short stories, such as Deputy Collectory, Dopahar ka Bhojan (The Lunch), Zindagi aur Jonk (Life and the Leech) and Hatyaare (The Assassins), are considered milestones in post-Independence fiction. He started writing in a period when the Nai Kahani (New Story) movement was heralding a big thematic and structural shift, and almost overshadowed the tradition of Premchand which used to be the mainstream fiction in Hindi. This movement focussed more on urban settings, individual characteristics, man-woman relationships, and so on, in place of people in villages and small towns. The scene was dominated by authors such as Mohan Rakesh, Kamaleshwar and Rajendra Yadav, aggressive advocates of the movement as a new metaphor for and of modern society.
Amarkant was one of the few writers who stuck to the ‘social realistic' tradition of Premchand. Literary critics like Dr Vishwanath Tripathi consider his short stories to be in the lineage of Premchand's later works, particularly his masterpiece Qafan (The Shroud), which is a compactly crafted tale of a Dalit family. The portrayal of Siddheshwari Devi in Dopahar ka Bhojan, Babu Sakaldip Singh in Deputy Collectory and Rajua in Zindagi aur Jonk are intricate and remarkable. For instance, Siddheshwari Devi in Dopahar ka Bhojan distributes a very limited quantity of food amongst her retrenched husband and unemployed children so that nobody feels half-fed, but in the end when nothing but half a roti is left for her, she cries silently. The beauty of Amarkant's writing lies in its simplicity, which the critic Pranaya Krishna described as “the most difficult pursuit”. Amarkant goes deep into the sociology as well as the psychology of his characters without any cathartic drama and turns them into authentic representatives of our social margins.

Urban brutalities[edit]

His short stories of the later period mark a shift to urban brutalities. In Hatyaare, he describes two young bullies who boast to each other about being close to leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru and John F. Kennedy, about refusing the offer of the Prime Minister's post, and about being Presidents. They sexually exploit a poor woman, deprive her of her wages and, while running away, knife to death a man chasing them. It is a dark and cruel world profiled in a tense, mocking language. During a drinking bout, one of the bullies says: “Wretch! You're a coward! I was thinking that when I become Prime Minister, I'd make you the President of the Society for the Prevention of Corruption and the Society for the Abolition of Casteism. But if you can't drink this much, then how are you going to take bribes from officials? How will you make forgeries? How will you tell lies? How then are you going to serve the country, scum?” Amarkant's own life has been full of struggles. At a time when a journalist's job was not a lucrative one, he worked most of his life in that profession with various newspapers, literary periodicals, and news magazines published by Mitra Prakashan in Allahabad. Born in Balia on July 1, 1925, he was, as a 17-year-old student, attracted to the Quit India movement headed by stalwarts such as Acharya Narendra Dev, Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan. Gandhiji's “Do or Die” call had a historic impact on Balia, along with Satara in Maharashtra and Medinipur in West Bengal. An independent government was formed for 10 days in Balia and non-violent revolutionaries took over police stations and tehsils and freed prisoners from the jail. Later, in 2003, this history surfaced in Amarkant's voluminous novel Inheen Hathiyaron Se (With These Weapons Alone), which focusses on the people rather than the leaders involved in the movement. One of the characters in the novel says: “Call it Gandhi storm, old dame storm or mega storm, it is a well-known storm in human history. Yes, this is the oldest storm. It repeats itself wherever there is slavery, atrocity, injustice, and dictatorship.” Amarkant's other notable novels include Kaale Ujale Din, Sukhjeevee and Sunaar Pande ki Patohu

Sri Lal Sukla

Shrilal Shukla (31 December 1925 – 28 October 2011[1]) was a Hindi writer, notable for his satire. He worked as a Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officer for the state government of Uttar Pradesh, later inducted into the IAS. He has written over 25 books,[2] including Raag Darbari, Makaan, Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj, Pehla Padaav and Bisrampur Ka Sant.
Shukla has highlighted the falling moral values in the Indian society in the post independence era through his novels. His writings expose the negative aspects of life in rural and urban India in a satirical manner. His best known work Raag Darbari has been translated into English and 15 Indian languages. A television serial based on this continued for several months on the national network in the 1980s. It is a little-known fact that he also wrote a detective novel entitled Aadmi Ka Zahar which was serialised in the weekly magazine 'Hindustan'.

Awards[edit]

Shukla received the Jnanpith Award, the highest Indian literary award, in 2011. His first major award was the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Raag Darbari in 1969. He received the Vyas Samman award in 1999 for the novel Bisrampur ka Sant.[2][3] In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan[4] by the President of India for his contribution to Indian literature and culture. On his 80th birthday in December 2005, his friends, peers, family and fans organised a literary and cultural event in New Delhi. To mark the occasion, a volume titled Shrilal Shukla – Jeevan Hi Jeevan was issued about him which contains the writings of eminent literary personalities such as Dr. Naamvar Singh,Rajendra Yadav, Ashok Bajpai, Doodhnath Singh, Nirmala Jain, Leeladhar Jagudi, Gillian Wright, Kunwar Narayan and Raghuvir Sahay among others. His friends, family and fans also contributed to the book.

Personal account[edit]

  • 1925 – Born in village Atrauli in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh
  • 1947 – Graduated from Allahabad University
  • 1949 – Entry into the Civil Service
  • 1957 – First novel Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj published
  • 1958 – First collection of satire Angad Ka Paanv published
  • 1970 – Awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Raag Darbari (for 1969)
  • 1978 – Awarded the Madhya Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Parishad Award for Makaan
  • 1979–80 – Served as Director of the Bhartendu Natya Academy, Uttar Pradesh
  • 1981 – Represented India at the International Writers' Meet in Belgrade
  • 1982–86 – Member of the Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi
  • 1983 – Retirement from the Indian Administrative Service
  • 1987–90 – Awarded the Emeritus Fellowship by the ICCR, Government of India
  • 1988 – Given the Sahitya Bhushan Award by Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthaan
  • 1991 – Awarded the Goyal Sahitya Puraskaar by Kurukshetra University
  • 1994 – Awarded the Lohia Sammaan by Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthaan
  • 1996 – Awarded the Sharad Joshi Sammaan by the Madhya Pradesh Government
  • 1997 – Awarded the Maithili Sharan Gupta Sammaan by the Madhya Pradesh Government
  • 1999 – Awarded the Vyas Sammaan by the Birla Foundation
  • 2005 – Awarded the Yash Bharati Samman by the Uttar Pradesh Government
  • 2008 – Awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India
  • 2011 – Awarded the Jnanpith Award for year 2009.

Literary works[edit]

Novels
  • Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj – 1957
  • Agyaatvaas – 1962
  • Raag Darbari (novel) – 1968 – original is in Hindi; an English translation was published under the same title in 1993 by Penguin Books; also translated and published by National Book Trust, India in 15 Indian languages.
  • Aadmi Ka Zahar – 1972
  • Seemayein Tootati Hain – 1973
  • Makaan – 1976 – original is in Hindi; a Bengali translation was published in the late 1970s.
  • Pehla Padaav – 1987 – original is in Hindi; an English translation was published as Opening Moves by Penguin International in 1993.
  • Bisrampur Ka Sant – 1998
  • Babbar Singh Aur Uske Saathi – 1999 – original is in Hindi; an English translation was published as Babbar Singh And his Friends in 2000 by Scholastic Inc. New York.
  • Raag Viraag – 2001
Satires
  • Angad Ka Paanv – 1958
  • Yahaan Se Vahaan – 1970
  • Meri Shreshtha Vyangya Rachnayein – 1979
  • Umraaonagar Mein Kuchh Din – 1986
  • Kuchh Zameen Mein Kuchh Hava Mein – 1990
  • Aao Baith Lein Kuchh Der – 1995
  • Agli Shataabdi Ka Sheher – 1996
  • Jahaalat Ke Pachaas Saal – 2003
  • Khabron Ki Jugaali – 2005
Short Story Collections
  • Yeh Ghar Mera Nahin – 1979
  • Suraksha Tatha Anya Kahaaniyan – 1991
  • Iss Umra Mein – 2003
  • Dus Pratinidhi Kahaaniyan – 2003
Memoirs
  • Mere Saakshaatkaar – 2002
  • Kuchh Saahitya Charcha Bhi – 2008
Literary Critique
  • Bhagwati Charan Varma – 1989
  • Amritlal Naagar – 1994
  • Agyeya: Kuchh Rang Kuchh Raag – 1999
Edited Works
  • Hindi Haasya Vyangya Sankalan – 2000

Literary travels[edit]

He has visited Yugoslavia, Germany, UK, Poland, Surinam for various literary seminars, conferences and to receive awards. He has also headed a delegation of writers sent by the Government of India to China.

Death[edit]

He died in Lucknow on 28 October 2011 at around 11.45 am after prolonged illness.
The legendary author of Hindi literature was intending to pen a novel on legal system in India for which he had done immense research, as confirmed by his historian nephew, Ranjan Shukla to Times of India. However, his deteriorating health did not allow him to finish his work. The Hindi Literature lovers and Shukla's fans remain deprived of yet another piece of art. Nonetheless, Shukla's great body of work shall outlive the lives and times of the future proponents of Hindi Literature.

2010:

Chandrashekhara Kambara

handrashekhara Kambara
ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ
Chandrashekhara Kambara.jpg
Chandrashekhara Kambara during a talk about "Kannada in Technology" in a meeting in Bangalore
Born2 January 1937 (age 79)
Ghodageri, Hukkeri taluk,Belagavi district, Bombay Presidency, British India
OccupationPoet, Playwright, Professor
NationalityIndian
Alma materPhD from Karnatak University,Dharwad[1]
Period1956–present
GenreFiction
Notable awardsJnanpith Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Padma Shri
Pampa Award
SpouseSatyabhama
Children4
Chandrashekhara Kambara (Kannada: ಚಂದ್ರಶೇಖರ ಕಂಬಾರ) (born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright,folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi.[2] He is known for effective adaptation of the North Karnataka dialect of the Kannada language in his plays, and poems, in a similar style as in the works of D.R. Bendre.[3]
Kambara's plays mainly revolves around folk or mythology interlinked with contemporary issues,[4] inculcating modern lifestyle with his hard-hitting poems and has become a pioneer of such literature.[5] His contribution as a playwright is significant not only to Kannada theatre but also to the Indian theatre in general as he achieved a blend of the folk and the modern theatrical forms.[6]
He has been conferred with many prestigious awards including the Jnanpith Award in 2011 for the year 2010,[7] Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shri by Government of India,[8] Kabir Samman, Kalidas Samman and Pampa Award. After his retirement, Kambara was nominated Member of Karnataka Legislative Council, to which he made significant contributions through his interventions.[9]

Early life[edit]

Chandrashekhara Kambara was born in Ghodageri village in Belagavi district. He was the third son in the family, with brothers Parasappa and Yallappa who still reside in the small house belonging to the Kambara family in the village.[5] From an early age he was interested in folk arts, local culture and ritual.[1] His favourite Kannada writers includeKumara Vyasa, Basavanna, Kuvempu & Gopalakrishna Adiga and among English writers, it is W. B. Yeats, Shakespeare and Lorca.[10]
Popularly known as Shivapur Kambar Master in his native district, Kambara had his schooling in Gokak and returned to Belagavi for higher education at Lingaraj College. Owing to poverty, he had to drop out of school[10] but Jagadguru Siddaram Swamiji of Savalagi Matha blessed Kambara and took care of all his primary and high school educational expenses which is the reason why Kambara honours the seer in many of his writings.[5] After his post-graduation, he did his PhD thesis on Uttara Karnatakada Janapad Rangbhumi ("The Folk Theatre of North Karnataka") from Karnataka University, Dharwad.[11]

Career[edit]

After a brief stint in teaching in the University of Chicago, he taught in Bangalore University for over two decades and was a Fulbright scholar.[1]
He served as the chairman of National School of Drama Society, New Delhi from 1996 to 2000 and as the president of Karnataka Nataka Academy from 1980 to 1983. He started using north Karnataka dialect of Kannada in his poems and plays which is not very common in Kannada literature.
Kambara is the founder vice-chancellor of the Kannada University at Hampi. His grand vision of Kannada literature and Karnataka culture is reflected in the way he showed commitment to build it. The architecture, the choice of the subjects that cover the diverse variety of culture and society of Karnataka, selection of place, faculty or academic activities, the scholars whom he drafted from different parts of the state and the Nadoja honorary award instead of the honorary doctorate which he introduced, show Kambara's native vision which was evolved in his literary works for decades.[6]
As the first vice-chancellor of the University, Kambara served two terms of three years each, during which he could shape it in a unique manner, compared to other traditional universities. All the constructions during his tenure as the vice-chancellor are on hillocks, with huge stone structures resembling the Vijayanagara period architecture. He also created a separate publication unit for publishing the results of research and project works going on in Kannada University.[12]
He is a strong supporter of imparting school education with Kannada language as the medium of instruction.[13] His justification for this stance is that only mother tongue can provide an "experience," which is an integral part of learning and learning through any other language only gives people "information," which makes them less competent.[14] This concurs with UNESCO's recommendation that "providing education in a child's mother tongue is a critical issue."[15]

Works[edit]

Kambara has to his credit 25 plays, 11 anthologies of poems, 5 novels, 16 research works and several scholarly write-ups on folk theatre, literature and education.[1] Some of his popular plays include "Jokumaraswamy", "Jayasidnayaka", "Kadu Kudure", "Nayi Kathe", "Mahamayi", "Harakeya Kuri" and others. He was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991 for another popular play Sirisampige.[16]
He was a pioneer in introducing Bailahongal's famous Sangya Balya (bayalata) and Jokumaraswamy, a traditional ritual of his native district, to the literary world[1] which have seen thousands of performances, not only in Kannada, but several other Indian languages as well.[17] His most recent novel, Shikhar Soorya, is rated among the best Kannada novels.[11]
Many of his works have been translated to English and several other Indian languages. The play Jokumaraswamy has been translated to English (Seagull Books, Calcutta in 1989), Marathi (Abholi Prakashan, Solhapur in 2000), Hindi (Vidya Prakashan Mandir, New Delhi in 1985), Telugu (Mudrika Printers, Kurnool in 1993), Tamil, Punjabi and Malayalam among others. The Sahitya Akademi Award-winning play Sirisampige has been translated to English (Seagull Books)[18] and to Tamil, Hindi, Marathi and Rajasthani by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. Kulothe Chingaramma, which was translated to Malayalam by C Raghavan, is one of his works that has become popular in Kerala.[19]
Apart from his literary career, Kambara has been associated with direction of feature films. His directorial work in many movies on the plays scripted by him; he has directed films such as Karimayi, Sangeeta and Kadu Kudare. Jeeke Maastara and Pranaya Prasanga two of his plays which have been made into television serils. His contributions include many documentaries for the Government of Karnataka and Government of India.[3] His "Kaadu Kudure" entered into the Indian Panorama and won the National Award. His film "Sangeeta" won the Best Feature Film State Award in the year 1981. He has also adopted his play G.K. Maasthara Pranaya Prasanga for television.
Besides his voluminous works, Kambar has presented papers on Indian Folklore and theatre in the University of Chicago, American Oriental Centre, New York, International Theatre Institute – Berlin, Moscow, and Jade: Akita Japan and many Universities and cultural organizations in India. The Folklore Dictionary he compiled for Kannada Sahitya Parishad is a monumental work.

Themes[edit]

In his lengthy narrative poem Helatena Kela ("Listen, I will tell you") in the early 1960s, Kambara introduced some of the recurring themes which he would often return to in his later works. Themes of tradition and modernity, crises of feudalism, native identities, colonialism, march of history, sex, loss of faith, the death of God and several related themes explored later in his plays, novels and poetry had found metaphorical expression in the narrative poem.[6] The eponymous, long narrative poem has the musicality and rhythm of the Lavani form and uses rich earthy imagery.[20]
Shivapura is an imaginary utopian village which continues to be a character, a metaphor and the locale in most of his works. It forms the locus of his poems and tales.[21] In his characterisation, Lord Shiva and Parvati visit the place and bless the villagers. Even Rama, when he was going to Sri Lanka in search of Sita, visits the village en route.[11]

Awards and honours[edit]

  • Akademy Ratna Award (Central Sangeet Natak Akademy, 2011)
  • Devaraj Urs Award (Karnataka, 2007)
  • Joshua Sahitya Puraskaram (Andhra Pradesh, 2005)
  • Nadoja Award (2004)
  • Janapada and Yakshagana Academy Award (1993)
  • Karnataka Sahitya Academy (1989)
  • Nandikar Award (Calcutta, 1987)
  • Karnataka Natak Academy (1987)
  • Kumaran Ashan Award (Kerala, 1982)
Five of his books have been awarded by the Karnataka Sahitya Academy. His well known play Jokumaraswamy has won the "Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya Award" of Natya Sangh as the "Best Play of the Year" in India in the year 1975. Another popular play Jaisidanayaka won the Vardhamaana Prasasti as the "Best Book of the Year" – 1975 in Karnataka.
His Saavirada Neralu won the "Ashan Award" (Kerala) as the best collection of poems in 1982. He won the K.V. Shankare Gowda Award for Theatre in 1990. He is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, New Delhi,[17] for playwrighting in the year 1983 and the Sahitya Akademi Award, New Delhi, for the play Siri Sampige in 1991.[22]
Kambara received the eighth Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the highest literary honour conferred in India, in September 2011 for the year 2010.[16] The prestigious award which was instituted in 1961, carries a cheque for ₹750,000, a citation and a bronze replica of goddess Vagdevi.[23] The Chief Minister of Karnataka, D. V. Sadananda Gowda was among the many dignitaries who wished him on the occasion of receiving this award.[24] At a felicitation ceremony held a week after winning the award, theGovernment of Karnataka announced that it will reprint all works of Kambara, including his plays and make them available at all government school libraries. His works will also be translated to different languages. A drama festival featuring his plays will be staged to honour the laureate.[25]

List of works[edit]

His rich contribution to Kannada literature in the filed of poetry, plays, novels and stories, and on his research and political perceptions are listed below.[3]

Poetry[edit]

  • Mugulu −1958
  • Helatena Kela – 1964
  • Takararinavaru – 1971 (State Academy of Literature Award)
  • Saavirada Neralu – 1979 (Ashan Award – 198 n2, Kerala)
  • Aayda Kavanagalu – 1980
  • Belli Meenu – 1989
  • Akkakku Haadugale – 1993
  • Eevaregina Helatena Kela – 1993
  • Chakori 1996(Translated into English, Penguin Publication. India) - 1999
  • Rocks of Hampi – (Collection of Poems Translated into English by O L Nagabhushana Swamy. Sahitya Academy) – 2004
  • Ellide Shivapura – 2009

Plays[edit]

  • Bembattida Kannu – 1961
  • Narcissus – 1969
  • Rishyashringa (Filmed) – 1970
  • Jokumaraswamy – 1972
  • Chalesha — 1973 (Translated to Hindi by Dakshina Bharath Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras in 1973)
  • Sangya Balya Anabeko Naadolaga – 1975
  • Kittiya Kathe – 1974
  • Jasisidanayaka – 1975 (Translated to Hindi by Saraswathi Vihar, New Delhi in 1984 and English. State Academy of Literature Award and "Vardhamana Prashasti" as the Best Book of the Year in Kannada)
  • Alibaba – 1980 (Translated and published in Indian Literature, Sahitya Academy)
  • Kaadu Kudure – 1979 (Filmed and received National Award)
  • Naayi Kathe – 1980 (Filmed as Sangeeta and received 5 Karnataka State Film Awards)
  • Kharokhara – 1977
  • Mathanthara – 1978
  • Harakeya Kuri – 1983 (Filmed and received National Award, translated into Hindi by Gyan Bharathi, New Delhi in 1989)
  • Kambara Avara Natakagalu – 1984
  • Sambashiva Prahasana – 1987 (Translated into Hindi, English by Seagull Books, Calcutta in 1991 and Tamil)
  • Siri Sampige (Sahitya Akademi Award, New Delhi in 1991)
  • Huliya Neralu (Filmed) – 1980
  • Boleshankara – 1991
  • Pushpa Rani – 1990
  • Tirukana Kanasu – 1989
  • Mahamayi – 1999 (Translated into English by NSD, New Delhi in 2000 and Hindi)
  • Nela Sampige – 2004 (Collection of plays published by Kannada Pustaka Pradhikara, Government of Karnataka)
  • Jakkana – 2008
  • Shivaratri – 2011[26]
  • Marikadu

Novels and stories[edit]

  • Anna Tangi – 1956
  • Karimaayi – 1975 (Filmed)
  • G.K.Maastarara Pranaya Prasanga – 1986 (Filmed for Doordarshan, translated to Hindi by Vidya Prakashan Mandir, New Delhi)
  • Singarevva Mattu Aramane – 1982 (State Academy of Literature Award, translated to English by Katha Books, New Delhi in 2002, Hindi by Radhakrishna Prakashan, New Delhi in 1984 and to Malayalam by DC Books, Kottayam in 1999 as Kulothe Chingaramma)
  • Shikhara Soorya – 2007 (Published by Akshara Prakashana and second edition by Ankita Pustaka)

Research and critical perceptions[edit]

  • Uttara Karnataka Janapada Rangabhumi – 19800
  • Sangya Balya – 1966
  • Bannisi Hadavva Nana Balaga – 1968
  • Bayalaatagalu – 1973
  • Matado Lingave – 1973
  • Namma Janapada – 1980
  • Bandire Nanna Jaeyolage – 1981
  • Kannada Folkore Dictionary (2 volumes) – 1985
  • Bedara Huduga Mattu Gilli – 1989 (State Academy of Literature Award)
  • Lakshapathi Rahana Kathe – 1986
  • Kasigondu Seru – 1989
  • Nelada Mareya Nidhana – 1993
  • Brihaddesiya Chintana – 2001
  • An Anthology of Modern India Plays for the National School of Drama – 2000
  • Desheeya Chintana – 2004 (Collection of articles on culture and literature. Published by Ankita Pustaka)
  • Marave Marmarave – 2007
  • Idu Desi – 2010

2011:

Pratibha Ray

Pratibha Ray
Pratiba Ray 2010.JPG
Born21 January 1943 (age 73)
Alabol, Balikuda, Jagatsinghpur,Odisha
LanguageOdia
NationalityIndian
EthnicityOdia
EducationM.A. (Education), PhD (Educational Psychology)[1]
Alma materRavenshaw College
Notable worksYajnaseni, Sheelapadma
Notable awardsJnanpith Award
Moortidevi Award

Pratibha Ray is an Indian academic and writer. She was born on 21 January 1943, at Alabol, a remote village in the Balikuda area ofJagatsinghpur district formerly part of Cuttack district of Odisha state.[2] She was the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991.[3]
She is an eminent fiction writer in contemporary India. She writes novels and short stories in her mother tongue Odia. Her first novelBarsha Basanta Baishakha (1974)[4] proved itself as a best seller for its readability among female readers throughout Odisha. She attributed the boldness, the revolt and humanism in her literature, to the impact of Vaishnavism[who?], her family religion, which preaches no caste, no class, and also due to the influence of her Gandhian teacher-father, Parashuram Das.
Her search for a "social order based on equality, love, peace and integration", continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. When she wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations, some of her critics branded her as a communist, and some as feminist[verification needed]. But she says "I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being however, woman is equal to man".
She continued her writing career even after her marriage and raising a family of three children, for which she credits her parents and her husband. She completed her Masters in Education, and PhD in Educational Psychology while raising her children. Her post-doctoral research was on 'Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander', one of the most primitive tribes of Odisha, India.

Career[edit]

She started her professional career as a school teacher, and later she taught in various Government Colleges in Odisha for thirty years. She has guided doctoral research and has published many research articles. She took voluntary retirement as a Professor of Education from State Government Service and joined as Member, Public Service Commission of Odisha.[5]

Other activities[edit]

She has active interest in social reform and has fought against social injustice on many occasions. One important incident in her life is protesting against colour (Caste/ religion) discrimination by the high priests of Jagannath Temple at Puri. Now she is fighting a defamation case lodged by the priests against her for her newspaper article in which she wrote against the undesirable behaviour of the priests, titled "The Colour of Religion is Black" (Dharmara Ranga Kala). She works tirelessly in the cyclone-affected areas after the Odisha's Super Cyclone of October,1999 and she is working for rehabilitation of the orphans and widows of Cyclone affected areas.

Travel[edit]

Travelled extensively within India to participate in various National Literary and Educational Conferences. Visited five Republics of the erstwhile USS.R in 1986 in a cultural exchange programme sponsored by ISCUS. Had represented India as an Indian Writer in the India Fair in Australia " India Today 94" sponsored by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi in 1994. Gave readings and talks on Indian Literature and Languages in several Universities of Australia. Visited USA, U.K and France on speaking tours. Represented India as an Indian Writer in the 'India Festival' in Bangladesh in 1996. Attended '7th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women' in University of Tromsoe, Norway in June 1999 as an Indian delegate. Visited Norway, Sweden, Finland & Denmark on speaking tour in 1999. Visited Zurich, Switzerland in 2000 to present a paper in the 'Third European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education'.

Memberships[edit]

She is a member of a number of learned societies. She is connected with Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Central Board of Film Certification, Indian Red Cross Society, India International Centre, National Book Trust of India, Central Academy of Letters etc. She has travelled extensively in India and abroad to participate in various Literary & Educational Conferences. She has won a number of National and State awards for her creative writing.

Selected Works[edit]

Novels
  • Barsa Basanta Baishakha, 1974
  • Aranya"', 1977
  • Nishidha Prithivi, 1978
  • Parichya, 1979
  • Aparichita, 1979. (A film was made & won Best Film-Story award from Odisha State Govt., Department of Culture)
  • Punyatoya""the story of village girl meghi, 1979. (Tr. To Hindi)
  • Meghamedura, 1980
  • Ashabari, 1980
  • Ayamarambha, 1981
  • Nilatrishna, 1981. (Tr. to Hindi)
  • Samudrara Swara, 1982. (Tr. to Hindi)
  • Shilapadma, 1983. (Odisha Sahitya Academy Award, 1985; Tr. to Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and English)[6]
  • Yajnaseni, 1984 (Moorti Devi Award,1991 and Sarala Award, 1990. Tr. to English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hungerian)[7]
  • Dehatit, 1986
  • Uttarmarg, 1988. (Tr. to Hindi & Punjabi)
  • Adibhoomi (Tr. to Hindi & English)
  • Mahamoh, 1998 (To be published in Hindi, Bengali & Malayalam)
  • Magnamati, 2004
TRAVELOGUE
  • Maitri Padapara Shakha Prashakha (USSR), 1990
  • Dura Dwividha (UK, France), 1999
  • Aparadhira Sweda (Australia), 2000
SHORT STORIES
  • Samanya Kathana – 1978
  • Gangashiuli – 1979
  • Asamapta – 1980
  • Aikatana – 1981
  • Anabana – 1983
  • Hatabaksa – 1983
  • Ghasa O Akasa
  • Chandrabhaga O Chandrakala – 1984
  • Shrestha Galpa – 1984
  • Abykta (made into a Telefilm) – 1986
  • Itibut – 1987
  • Haripatra – 1989
  • Prthak Isvara – 1991
  • Bhagavanara Desa – 1991
  • Manushya Swara – 1992
  • Swa-nirvachita Sreshtha Galpa – 1994
  • Sashthasati – 1996
  • Moksha (made into a Feature Film, that received the Best Regional Film award) – 1996[8]
  • Ullaghna (Sahitya Akademi Award,2000) – 1998
  • Nivedanam-Idam – 2000
  • Gandhinka – 2002
  • Jhoti-paka-Kantha – 2006

Awards and recognition[edit]

She was awarded
  • 1985 – 'Odisha Sahitya Academi Award' for her novel 'Sheelapadma'
  • 1990 – 'Sarala Award' for her novel 'Yajnaseni'
  • 1991 – 'Moortidevi Award' for her Novel 'Yajnaseni'[9]
  • 2000 – 'Sahitya Akademi Award' for her Short-Story Collection 'Ullaghna'
  • 2006 – 'Amrita Keerti Puraskar'[10]
  • 2007 – 'Padma Shri Award' in Literature and Education by the Government of India.
  • 2011 – 'Jnanpith Award'[11]
  • 2013 – Odisha Living Legend Award (Literature) [12]
2012:

Ravuri Bharadhwaja



Ravuri Bharadwaja
Born5 July 1927
Moguluru, Krishna District
Died18 October 2013(aged 86)[1]
Hyderabad, India
OccupationWriter
LanguageTelugu
NationalityIndian
CitizenshipIndian
Education7th grade
Notable worksPaakudu Raallu
Notable awardsJnanpith Award
SpouseKantham
Children5 ( 4 sons and 1 daughter


Rāvūri Bharadvāja (1927 – 18 October 2013) was a Jnanpith award winning Telugu novelist, short-story writer, poet and critic.[2] He wrote 37 collections of short stories, seventeen novels, four play-lets, and five radio plays. He also contributed profusely to children's literature. Paakudu Raallu, a graphic account of life behind the screen in film industry, is considered his magnum opus. Jeevana Samaram is another of his popular works.
He could not study beyond class 7 but earned fame through his short stories, poetry and critical reviews. He had done several odd jobs but later worked in weeklies and also in All India Radio.
He received honorary doctorates, a Central Sahitya Akademi award and ultimately the Jnanpith award. He was only the third Telugu writer to be honoured with the country's highest literary award. He was awarded the 48th Jnanpith award for the year 2012 which was announced on 17 April 2013 for his work Paakudu Raallu.

Ravuri died in Hyderabad on October 18, 2013

Education[edit]

He was born in Moguluru village, Krishna District.[3][4] He was educated till Class 7 only. However his books are used as course works in B.A, M.A and there have even been several PhD degrees awarded for research on his works. He got honorary doctorates from Andhra, Nagarjuna, Vignan and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Universities for his literary prowess.[5]

Awards[edit]

Bharadhwaja has been twice awarded the State Sahitya Academy Award for Literature and in 1983 was the winner of the Central Sahitya Academy Award. In 1968, he was the inaugural recipient of the Gopichand Literary Award. He was conferred the Rajalakshmi Award for Literature in 1987 and the Lok Nayak Foundation’s Literary Award in 2009.[6][7][8] In 2013, Ravuri Bharadhwaja became the third Telugu author to be conferred the Jnanpith award for his novel Paakudu Raallu.[9]

Works[edit]

He has 37 collections of short stories, 17 novels, six short novels for children and eight plays to his credit.[9]
  • Phantomy quintette and other stories, Translator Purush, India Balaji Grandha Mala, 1970
  • Love's labour lost and other stories, Rāvūri Bharadvāja, Translator Purush, M. Seshachalam, 1975
  • Ad infinitum: featurised poetic story, Rāvūri Bharadvāja, Balaji Grandhamala, 1987
  • Kaumudi translated by Navnit Madrasi, 1988
  • Un Aankhon ki katha: (short story). Bharatiya Jnanpith, 1991
  • Ripple-marks: readings from Bharadwaja's Eegiac pentad

2013:

Kedarnath Singh



Kedar Nath Singh
Kedarnath Singh photo.png
Kedarnath Singh
BornJuly 7, 1934 (age 81)
Chakia, Ballia district, Uttar Pradesh
NationalityIndian
OccupationPoet
Kedarnath Singh (born July 7, 1934) is one of the most prominent modern poets writing Hindi.[1] He is also an eminent critic and essayist. He was awarded the Jnanpith Award(2013), Sahitya Akademi Award(1989) in Hindi for his poetry collection, Akaal Mein Saras (loose translation into English: Cranes in Drought).

Early life[edit]

He was born on 7 July 1934 in village Chakia of Ballia district in eastern Uttar Pradesh.[2] He completed his graduation from uday pratap college varanasi. He passed M.A from Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya and did his Ph.D from the same University. In Gorakhpur, he spent some time as a Hindi Teacher and went to Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he served as a professor and the head of department of Hindi Language in Indian Languages Center and retired as a professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.Today, he lives in saket New Delhi.

Poetic Style[edit]

Kedar Nath Singh's poetry is characterized by simple, everyday language and images that string together to convey complex themes. One of his major poems is Bagh, a long poem with the tiger as its central character. Published in the mid 1980s, the poem remains one of the most widely read long poems in Hindi literature and is included in many university curricula. At some level, Bagh bears a striking resemblance to Ted Hughes' Crow, but the two remain independent in their treatment and scope.

Major works[edit]

  • Poem Collection : Abhi Bilkul Abhi, Zameen pak Rahi Hai, Yahan se Dekho, Akaal mein Saaras, Baagh,Tolstoy aur cycle
  • Essay and Stories : Mere Samay ke Shabd,Kalpana aur chhayavad, Hindi kavita mein bimb vidhan, Kabristan mein Panchayat
  • Others :Taana Baana

Awards and honours[edit]

He received the Jnanpith award in 2013.[3] He also received Sahitya Akademi award, the Kumaran Aashan, and the Vyas Award.





2014:

Bhalchandra Nemade

Bhalchandra Nemade
Bhalachandra Nemade.jpg
BornMay 27, 1938
Sangavi, Raver
Maharashtra
OccupationMarathi writer
NationalityIndian
Notable awards Padma Shri – 2011, Maharashtra foundation
Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade (Devanagari: भालचंद्र वनाजी नेमाडे) (born 1938) is a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.Famous for his books "Hindu" & "Kosala". Also he is known for his novel "Hindu jagnyachi samrudhha adgal". He is a recipient of the civilian honour of Padma Shri (2011)[1] and the Jnanpith Award (2014).[2

Life[edit]

Nemade was born in 1938 on May 27 in the village of Sangavi in the Khandesh region of Maharashtra. He received his bachelor's degree from Fergusson College in Pune and Master's degree in Linguistics from Deccan College in Pune and English Literature from the Mumbai University in Mumbai. He received PhD and D.Lit. degrees from North Maharashtra University.
Nemade taught English, Marathi, and comparative literature at various universities including the School of Oriental and African Studies at London.[citation needed] He retired from Mumbai University's Gurudeo Tagore Chair for comparative literature studies. In the 1960s, Nemade edited Marathi magazine Vacha (वाचा). He received a Sahitya Akademi Award for year 1990 for his critical work Teeka Svayanwar (टीका स्वयंवर).[citation needed] .He has been conferred with highest award in indian literature "Jnanpith" on 06 FEB 2015.[3]

Literary career[edit]


Nemade receiving the Jnanpith Award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi; 25 April 2015.
Nemade wrote his first novel Kosala (कोसला)[4] in 1963. It is a fictitious autobiographical novel of one Pandurang Sangvikar, a youth from rural Maharashtra who studies in a college in Pune; but it is loosely based on Nemade's own life in his youth.
Sangvikar, the narrator in Kosala, uses everyday Marathi spoken in rural Maharashtra and his worldview also reflects that held by residents of rural Maharashtra. Kosala is a chronological autobiographical narration, yet it employs certain innovative techniques. Thus, Sangvikar describes one year in his life in the form of a witty diary. As another innovative technique, the narration describes "historical investigations" often undertaken by Sangvikar and his friend Suresh Bapat, which ultimately uncover to them the absurdity and tragedy of their present condition. Kosla is extensively translated into various languages including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Assamese, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Oriya, et al.
After Kosala, Nemade presented a different protagonist, Changadev Patil, through his four novels Bidhar (बिढार),[5] Hool (हूल), Jarila(जरीला) and Jhool (झूल). Another tetralogy begins with Hindu – Jagnyachi Samruddha Adgal (हिंदू – जगण्याची समृद्ध अडगळ) in 2010 having Khanderao, the archaeologist as its protagonist.
The differences between Sangvikar and Patil are not confined to just their age, profession, habits, and intellectual and emotional perception: While Sangvikar at times keeps the world at bay or even rejects the world, Patil is all for the world and is forever engaged in confronting and understanding it. Sangvikar is mercurial, Patil is more realistic, whereas Khanderao's consciousness moves across 5000 years to Indus Valley culture in the Hindu tetralogy.
As a critic, Nemade's contribution rests in initiating Deshivad, a theory that negates globalisation or internationalism, asserting the value of writers' native heritage, indicating that Marathi literature ought to try to revive its native base and explore its indigenous sources. Nemade antagonised his contemporaries by contending that the short story is a genre inferior to that of the novel.
Nemade won the prestigious Jnanapeeth award in February 2015.
Winner of the Sahitya Academy Award, he was conferred with Padma Shri in 2011 by Government of India.[6]

Bibliography[edit]

Novels
  • Kosla (कोसला, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
  • Bidhar (बिढार), Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
  • Hool (हूल), Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
  • Jarila (जरीला), Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
  • Jhool (झूल), Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
Poetry collections
  • Melody (मेलडी), Vacha Prakashan, Aurangabad
  • Dekhani (देखणी), Popular Prakashan, Mumbai
Criticism
  • Teekaswayamvar, Saket Prakashan, Aurangabad
  • Sahityachi Bhasha, Saket Prakashan, Aurangabad
  • Tukaram, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi
  • The Influence of English on Marathi : A Sociolinguistic and Stylistic Study, Rajahauns Prakashan, Panaji
  • Indo-Anglian Writings: Two Lectures, Prasaranga Prakashan, Mysore
  • Nativism (Desivad), Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla

2015:

Raghuveer Chaudhari


Raghuveer Chaudhari
Raghuvir Chaudhari.JPG
Raghuveer Chaudhari at Sahitya Akademi
Born5 December 1938
Bapupura near Gandhinagar,Gujarat, India
Occupationauthor
LanguageGujarati
NationalityIndian
Notable awardsRanjitram Suvarna Chandrak1975, Sahitya Akademi Award1977,
Jnanpith Award 2015
Raghuveer Chaudhari[note 1] is a novelist, poet and critic from Gujarat, India. He has also worked as a columnist for numerous newspapers, such as Sandesh, Janmabhumi, Nirikshaka and Divya Bhaskar. He was a teacher at the Gujarat University until his retirement in 1998. His most significant contributions have been in Gujarati language but he has also written Hindi articles. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977, for his novel trilogy Uparvas. He received Jnanpith Award in 2015.
Raghuveer Chaudhari started his career writing novels and poetry, and later ventured into other forms of literature. He authored more than 80 books and received numerous literary awards. He also served for many literary organisations.

Early life 

Raghuveer Chaudhari was born on 5 December 1938, in Bapupura village near Gandhinagar, Gujarat, to Dalsingh and Jeetiben, a religious farming couple. He completed primary and secondary education in Mansa, Gujarat. He received a B.A. in 1960 and M.A. in Hindi language and literature in 1962 from Gujarat University. In 1979, Chaudhari also received a PhD for his Comparative Study of Hindi and Gujarati Verbal Roots at the same university.
He participated in the Navnirman Movement and opposed the Emergency in the 1970s.

Career



nsa, Gujarat. He received a B.A. in 1960 and M.A. in Hindi language and literature in 1962 from Gujarat University. In 1979, Chaudhari also received a PhD for his Comparative Study of Hindi and Gujarati Verbal Roots at the same university.
He participated in the Navnirman Movement and opposed the Emergency in the 1970s

Works[edit]

He has written more than eighty books including novels, poetry, plays and literary criticism. He chiefly writes in Gujarati but also occasionally in Hindi.[1]

Novels[edit]

His novel Amrita (1965) explores the concept of existentialism. His 1975 trilogy titled Uparvas, Sahwas and Antarvas won him the Sahitya Akademi award in 1977.Rudramahalaya (1978) and Somtirth (1996) are historical novels.
His other novels include Venu Vatsala (1967), Purvarang, Laagni (1976), Samjyaa Vinaa Chhuta Padavun (2003) and Ek Dag Aagal Be Dag Paachhal (2009) and Avaran.[1][2][5]

Plays[edit]

His Trijo Purush is based on the life of Chandravadan Mehta, a Gujarati author.[6] Sikandar Sani is a historical play[1][7] while Dim Light is a street play.[4]

Poetry

Tamasa (1965) is an anthology which explores the idea of intelligence over feelings. Another poetry collection is Vaheta Vriksha Pavanma published in 1985.[1][2][8]

Other works

Akasmik Sparsh and Gersamaj are collections of short stories. His collections of sketches are published under Sahaarani Bhavyata and Tilak Kare Raghuvir titles. He wrote columns in several regional as well as national dailies and journals such as Sandesh, Divya Bhaskar, Janmabhoomi and Nirikshaka.[1][2]

Recognition

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel trilogy Uparvas in 1977. During 1965 to 1970 he won numerous prizes awarded annually by the State of Gujarat. He received the Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak for creativevwriting in 1975 and Munshi award in 1997. He also received Sauhard Samman from Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthaan for contribution to Hindi literature in 1990, Narmad Award in 2010, and the Uma-Snehrashmi Prize.[1][2][3][4] He received Jnanpith Award in 2015.[9]



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