Amrita Pritam




Biography

Formative Years
Amrita Pritam was born in 1919 in Gujranwala, Punjab, now in Pakistan, the only child of a school teacher and a poet. Her father was a pracharak -- a preacher of the Sikh faith. Amrita's mother died when she was eleven. Soon after, she and her father moved to Lahore. Confronting adult responsibilities, she began to write at an early age. Her first collection was published when she was only sixteen years old, the year she married Pritam Singh, an editor to whom she was engaged in early childhood.

Partition
Some one million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs died from communal violence that followed the partition of India in 1947, and left Amrita Pritam, a Punjabi refugee at age 28, when she left Lahore and moved to New Delhi. Subsequently in 1948, while she was pregnant with her son, and travelling from Dehradun to Delhi, she expressed anguish on a piece of paper as the poem, "Ajj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nuu" ( I ask Waris Shah Today); this poem was to later immortalize her and become the most poignant reminder of the horrors of Partition. The poem addressed to the Sufi poet Waris Shah, author of the tragic saga of Heer and Ranjah, the Punjabi national epic:

Ajj Aakhan Waris Shah Nuu, Kiton Qabraan Wichon Bol,
Tey Ajj Kitaab-e-Ishq Da Koi Agla Warka Phol
Ikk Royi Sii Dhi Punjab Di, Tu Likh Likh Maarey Vain,
Ajj Lakhaan Dhiyan Rondiyan, Tenu Waris Shah Nuu Kain
Utth Dard Mandaan Diya Dardiya, Utth Tak Apna Punjab
Ajj Bailey Lashaan Bichiyan Tey Lahoo Di Bhari Chenab

Today, I call Waris Shah, "Speak from your grave"
And turn, today, the book of love's next affectionate page
Once, a daughter of Punjab cried and you wrote a wailing saga
Today, a million daughters, cry to you, Waris Shah
Rise! O' narrator of the grieving; rise! look at your Punjab
Today, fields are lined with corpses, and blood fills the Chenab

Amrita Pritam worked until 1961 for All India Radio. After her divorce in 1960, her work became more clearly feminist. Many of her stories and poems drew on the unhappy experience of her marriage. A number of her works have been translated into English, French, Japanese and other languages from Punjabi and Urdu, including her autobiographical works Black Rose and Revenue Stamp (Raseedi Tikkat in Punjabi).

The first of Amrita Pritam's books to be filmed was Dharti Sagar te Sippiyan, as 'Kadambar' (1965), followed by 'Unah Di Kahani', as Daaku (Dacoit, 1976), directed by Basu Bhattacharya. Her novel Pinjar (The Skeleton, 1970) was made into an award winning Hindi movie by Chandra Prakash Dwivedi, because of its humanism: "Amritaji has portrayed the suffering of people of both the countries." Pinjar was shot in a border region of Rajasthan and in Punjab. She edited "Nagmani", a monthly literary magazine in Punjabi for several years, which she ran together with Imroz, for 33 years; though after Partition she wrote prolifically in Hindi as well .

Acclaim
The first woman recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1956 for Sunehray (Messages), Amrita Pritam received the Bhartiya Jnanpith, India's highest literary award, in 1982 for Kagaj te Canvas (Paper and Canvas). She received the Padma Shri (1969) and Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, in 2004. She received D.Litt. honorary degrees, from many universities including, Delhi University (1973), Jabalpur University (1973) and Vishwa Bharati (1987).

She also received International Vaptsarov Award from the Republic of Bulgaria (1979) and Degree of Officer dens, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officier) by the French Government (1987)

She was nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha 1986-92.

Personal life
Amrita Pritam lived the last forty years of her life with the renowned artist, Imroz. She died in her sleep on 31st October 2005 at the age of 86 in New Delhi, after a long illness. She survived by her partner Imroz , daughter - Kandlla; son- Navraj; daughter-in-law- Alka and her grandchildren - Taurus ,Noor, Aman and Shilpi.

Her story cannot be completed without the name of Sahir Ludhianvi. She was involved with him when she asked her husband for divorce. But Sahir then had a new woman in his life. Amrita grew closer to Imroz, whom she had known for many years and they together for the rest of her life. Their life together is also subject of a book, "Amrita Imroz: A Love Story".

Works
In her career spanning over six decades, she penned 28 novels, 18 anthologies of prose, five short stories and 16 miscellaneous prose volumes.

Novels
. Pinjar
. Doctor Dev
. Kore Kagaz, Unchas Din
. Sagar aur Seepian
. Rang ka Patta
. Dilli ki Galiyan
. Terahwan Suraj
. Yaatri
. Jilavatan (1968)

Autobiography
. Rasidi Ticket (1976)
. Shadows of Words (2004)

Short stories
. Kahaniyan jo Kahaniyan Nahi
. Kahaniyon ke Angan mein

Poetry anthologies
. Amrit Lehran (1936)
. Jinnda Jian (1939)
. Trel Dhote Phul (1942)
. O Gitan Valia (1942)
. Badlam De Laali (1943)
. Lok Pigr (1944)
. Pagthar Giite (1946)
. Punjabi Di Aawaaz (1952)
. Sunehray (1955)
. Ashoka Cheti (1957)
. Kasturi (1957)
. Nagmani (1964)
. Ik Si Anita (1964)
. Chak Nambar Chatti (1964)
. Uninja Din (1979)
. Kagaz Te Kanvas (1981)---Bharatiya Jnanpith Award
. Chuni Huyee Kavitayen

Literary Journal
. Nagmani

Excerpts
There was a pain
I inhaled it
Quietly
Like a cigarette
Left behind are a few songs
I have flickered off
Like ashes
From the cigarette.

Legacy
An audio album 'Amrita recited by Gulzar' was released by noted lyricist Gulzar, with poems of Amrita Pritam recited by him.