Amrita Pritam is an Indian novelist and poet, known for her writing of Punjabi and Hindi poets and novels. Her most famous poem is “Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu”, dedicated to the 18th century Punjabi poet Waris Shah. She wrote various poems and novels to express her anguish over the massacres during the Partition of India. She died at her home in Hauz Khaz on October 31, 2005 after a long illness.
Wiki/Biography
Amrita Pritam was born Amrit Kaur on Sunday, August 31, 1919, in Gujranwala, Punjab, British India. Age 86; at time of death). Her zodiac sign is Scorpio. She was born in Punjab, but after the death of her mother, she moved to Lahore with her father.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Hair color: gray
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Amrita’s father, named Kartar Singh Hitkari, was a poet. Her father knew the Braj Bhasha language and was a pracharak – a missionary of the Sikh faith. Her mother’s name is Raj Bibi and she is a teacher.
husband and children
In 1936, at the age of 16, Amrita married Pritam Singh, who was an editor. She had been engaged to him since childhood. Amrita divorced in 1960. They have a son Navraj Kwatra and a daughter Kandlla. Her son was murdered at Elysee Colony in Borivali, Mumbai.
Amrita Pritam’s son
After her divorce, she began to express her dissatisfaction with her marriage in poetry. In an interview, she became more productive after the divorce and said:
Indeed, I was married when I was very young. After I got married, I didn’t find the environment a writer needs to be creative. So I decided to create my own environment and sow my creative seeds (she amicably left her husband with her two children, who himself encouraged her to leave to pursue her life as a writer). If you want to gain something, you must be willing to lose something. You must be willing to make sacrifices to nourish your passion. It also takes confidence in your pursuits. I wanted to be able to write at all costs, and I did. “
Relationships/Affairs
In the 1960s, she fell in love with poet Sahir Ludhianvi. She loved him so much that many of her poems were about him.
Amrita Pritam and Sahir Ludhianvi
Sahil left her for singer Sudha Malhotra. Her sadness and loneliness after the breakup are evident in her poems. Amrita expressed her fondness for Sahil in her autobiography Rasidi Ticket. In the book, she said she couldn’t take her eyes off Sahil when they were together. In the book, she also mentions smoking half of the cigarette left by Sahil. She added in the interview,
After he leaves, I will carefully put the remaining cigarettes in the cabinet. I would only light them when I was sitting alone. When I would hold one of the cigarettes between my fingers I would feel as if I was touching his hand…that’s how I started smoking. Smoking makes me feel like he is close to me. Every time he appeared he was like a spirit in the smoke of a cigarette. “
Cover of the book “Rushidi Ticket”
After a long period of loneliness, she began dating the writer Inderjit Imroz. They lived together for forty years before her death. They lived together in a house in Hauz Khaz, Delhi.
Amrita Pritam and Inderjeet Imroz
Imroz was so madly in love with her that when Amrita’s ex-husband Pritam fell ill, he would take care of him and would even often send her to her on his motorcycle. The children go to school. Imroz helped Amrita design her book covers and she was the subject of several of his paintings. Their love story is written in the book Amrita Imroz: A Love Story. Before her death, Amrita expressed his love for Imruz in the poem “Main tainu pher milaangi” (I will see you again). In an interview, Imroz spoke about his love for Amrita and said:
I had a bike at that time and started saving money and soon bought a scooter. I met her and said we will go to AIR building on motorcycle now. She looked at me and asked: “Why did you see me so late?” I said maybe, I came of age late and the money came late. “
Amrita Pritam’s last poem for Imroz
religious views
According to Amrita, she became an atheist after her mother’s death. In an interview, she talked about how she lost faith in God after her mother died, saying:
I was very young and cried at my mother’s bedside as she took her last breath. One of my friends came to me and told me – Amrita, wake up. Don’t cry. God always listens to children. go! Pray to God for your mother’s life. I stood up and began to pray fervently for my mother’s life, but maybe her time was up and she passed away. My prayers were not accepted by the Almighty. This incident left a deep impression on me. ”
Race
Amrita was born into a Sikh family.
sign
Amrita Pritam’s signature
Profession
When she was in Lahore, she worked at a radio station there. In 1947, after the partition of India and Pakistan, she came to Delhi and worked in the Punjabi department of the All India Radio in Delhi until 1961.
Amrita Pritam, All India Radio
Amrita started her career at a very young age. At the age of 16, she wrote her first poem, “Amrit Lehran”, which was published in 1936. In 1950, she wrote the novel Pinjal, in which the character Puro became very popular.
Cover of Amrita Pritam’s novel Pinjar
The novel is based on violence against women. In 2003, her novel was adapted into the film Pinjal, which was shot in the border areas of Rajasthan and Punjab. She wrote more than 100 books, including poetry, novels, biographies and essays. She also collected Punjabi folk songs and wrote an autobiography, which was later translated into several Indian and foreign languages. She wrote the book “Lok Peed” about the economic conditions of Bengal after the 1943 Bengal Famine. Her books written in Punjabi have been translated from Punjabi and Urdu into English, French, Danish, Japanese and Mandarin. Her book “Sippiyan” was made into the movie “Kadambari” (1965) and “Unah Di Kahani” was made into the movie “Daaku” (Dacoit, 1976). After moving in with Imroz, she edited the Punjabi monthly Nagmani.
Amrita monthly magazine Nagmani cover
She also wrote the introductions to several of Osho’s books, including Ek Onkar Satnam. Later, she turned to spiritual works, including Kaal Chetna (Awareness of Time) and Agyat Ka Nimantran (The Call of the Unknown). She also wrote autobiographies, including Kala Gulab (Black Rose, 1968), Rasidi Ticket (Tax Stamp, 1976), and Aksharon kay Saayee (The Shadow of Words).
dispute
Amrita is a controversial writer whose works deal with women’s rights and feelings. In 2015, writer Gurbachan Singh Bhullar criticized Amrita’s relationships with different men in his novel. He wrote that Amrita was a selfish woman who used men to gain fame for herself. Later, one of the critics, Amiya Kanwar, refuted the accusation, saying:
They were attracted to her beauty and talent, but hated her reputation. Even when she became the first Punjabi writer to win the Jnanpith Award in 1981, some male Punjabi writers wrote vitriolic articles about her. This trend increased after her death because she was unable to fight against them. And, some people do it to attract attention. ”
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 1956: The Punjabi poem Sunehade won the Sahitya Akademi Award
- 1969: Padma Shri
Amrita Pritam wins Padma Shri Award
- 1973: PhD awarded by University of Delhi.
- 1973: Jabalpur University awarded D. Litt.
- 1979: Vaptsarov Prize of the Republic of Bulgaria
- 1981: The book “Kagaz Te Canvas” won the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award
- 1987: Vishwa Bharati of Shantiniketan awarded him D. Litt.
- 1987: The French government awarded the officer’s degree of the Order of Arts and Letters (Officier)
- 2004: Sahitya Academic Scholarship
die
Amrita died at her home in Hauz Khaz, Delhi, on October 31, 2005, after a long illness.
Facts/Trivia
- In 1936, she married Pritam Singh and changed her name from Amrit Kaur to Amrita after their marriage.
- She witnessed the Partition of 1947 and came to India. While traveling from Dehradun to Delhi, she became pregnant with her son.
- After coming to India, she continued to compose poetry, which was popular in both India and Pakistan.
- In the first days of her career, she wrote Romantic poetry, but later she became part of the Progressive Writers movement.
- When she was a child, she would often question any strange activity happening around her. In an interview, she said she once questioned whether her grandmother used different cutlery for non-Hindu guests. In the interview, she further added,
I once noticed three glasses on a shelf in the corner of the kitchen, away from all the other pots and pans. These glasses were only used for tea by my father’s Muslim friends…when they came to visit him…I was adamant; I would not drink water from any other glass except one of these. “
- She is the first and only woman to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award for a Punjabi work.
- She attended the inauguration of the first Jantar Library in Delhi. The library is still located in the Delhi Clock Tower.
- Her autobiography, “Stamp”, was banned from the Panjab University, Patiala.
Cover of Amrita Pritam’s book ‘Rate Stamp’
- In 2019, director MS Sathyu paid tribute to her through his show “Ek Thee Amrita”.
- In 2012, her son was found guilty of participating in an adult shooting after police found pornographic CDs featuring models and actors in his apartment.
- In 2007, lyricist Gulzar made an audio album titled “Amrita Recited by Gulzar” in which he recited Amrita Pritam’s poetry.
Audio album “Amrita recited by Gulzar” poster
- On August 31, 2019, Google released a Doodle in her honor on the 100th anniversary of her birth. Google wrote with her photo:
Today’s doodle commemorates Amrita Pritam, one of the most important Punjabi women writers in history, who “dareed to live the life she imagined”. Pritam was born in Gujranwala, British India, 100 years ago today and published her first book of poetry at the age of 16. “
Google Doodle on Amrita Pritam’s 100th Birthday
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education