Nayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer who writes primarily in English. She has also worked as a journalist and political commentator. Nayanthara uses examples from her personal life in most of her essays and fiction (fiction and non-fiction). She is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family, a prominent political family in India.
Wiki/Biography
Nayantara Sahgal was born on Tuesday, May 10, 1927, in Allahabad (now Prayagraj, India), British India (age 96; as of 2023). Nayantara Sahgal went to a boarding school. She graduated from Wellesley College in the United States. Nayantara grew up in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, with her cousin, former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She grew up hearing stories of freedom fighters fighting for India’s independence from British rule. Growing up, Nayantara Sagar’s political views were influenced by the ideology of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Nayanthara Sagar young
appearance
Hair color: Brown (dyed)
Eye color: brown
Nayantara Sahgal and Indian novelist Kiran Nagarkar
family
Nayanthara Sagar belongs to the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Nayanthara said in an interview that she only belongs to the Nehru family.
Nayanthara’s family tree
Nehru family photo, 1927
This is a photo of Motilal Nehru when he visited England to meet his son Jawaharlal Nehru, who was studying in Cambridge.From left to right: Krishna Kumari, Swarup Rani (Vijay Lakshmi), Motilal Nehru, Sarup Kumari (Vijay Lakshmi) Shmi Pandit), Jawaharlal Nehru
Parents and siblings
Nayanthara Sagar’s mother Vijayalakshmi Pandit was the first Indian woman to hold cabinet posts and ambassador to the United Nations, and her father Ranjit Sitaram Pandit was from Indian politician, lawyer and scholar from Rajkot, British India. Nayanthara has two sisters, Chandralekha Mehta and Rita Dhar. After her father’s death in 1944, during his fourth imprisonment under British rule, she came to see Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as a father figure.
Photos of Nayantara Sahgal’s mother Vijay Lakshmi Pandit
Nayantara Sagar’s mother Vijay Lakshmi Pandit and her brother Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Ranjit Sitaram Pandit – Nayantara Sahgal’s father
Photos of Farida Kahlo (centre), Nayantara Sahgal (right) and Nayantara’s sister Rita Dar (left)
husband and children
On January 2, 1949, 22-year-old Nayantara Sahgal married Gautam Sahgal, a pharmaceutical company executive, and they had three children: Ranjit, Nonika Sahgal and Gita Sahgal. Gita Sahgal is a writer and journalist whose work focuses on issues of fundamentalism, feminism and racism. Nayantara Sahgal said that after marrying Gautam Sahgal, she found it difficult to settle down as they came from different backgrounds. In 1967, the couple separated.
Photos of Nayantara Sahgal and Gautam Sahgal
Gita Sahgal – Nayantara Sahgal’s daughter
Relationships/Affairs
Nayantara Sahgal reportedly developed an inordinate fondness for ICS officer EN Mangat Rai and exchanged more than 6,000 letters with him during the more than three years of her marriage to Gautam Sahgal. Many of the letters were published in the book Relationships by Nayantara Sahgal, which first shed light on their personal relationship in 1994. Nayantara Sahgal and EN Mangat Rai tied the knot in 1979.
Pictures of Nayantara Sahgal and Mangat Rai
Religion/Religious Views
Nayantara Sahgal believes in Hinduism. In the interview, she shared her religious perspective as a citizen of a religiously diverse country. she says,
When we gained independence, we rejected religious identity because we are a deeply religious country with many religions. My problem is with Hinduism because I am a Hindu myself and it saddens me that the Hindu mentality divides us into Hindus and others. Hindutva is a complete distortion of Hinduism. ”
Profession
Nayantara Sahgal is an articulate writer. Nayanthara Sagar grew up among freedom fighters and witnessed the political changes in the country and decided to write down her views on political affairs and their impact on society.
Nayanthara Sagar at work
writer
She has written several books. Nayantara Sagar has also written various articles such as “Hands that Shape Clay”, “Nehru Turning in his Grave”, “Memory’s Endless Struggle against Injustice”, “A Foreboding Premonition” and the desire for soft and beautiful things”, “A Thousand Writers”, “A Flat World”, etc.
Prison and Chocolate Cake(1954)
Prison and Chocolate is one of the best-selling books published by Nayantara Sahgal in 1954. This is a story about her childhood. The story reflects the patriotic sentiments of the family members at that time and nothing was more important than making India an independent country. This work by Nayantara Sagar clearly expresses her love for her uncle Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whom she admired and regarded as a father.
“Prison and Chocolate Cake” by Nayantara Sahgal
Rich As We Are (1985)
Rich Like Us is a fictional story that brings together different chapters of Indian history and politics. It depicts the lives of two female protagonists, Rose and Sonali, who rise up against political and social instability. This is the winning entry of Nayantara Sahgal.
Sahgal Sinclair Award and Sahitya Akademi Award Winner “Rich As We Are”
columnist
Nayantara Sahgal has worked as a political columnist in the country. She worked at the Sunday Standard for nearly fourteen years.
dispute
In 2015, Nayantara Sahgal returned the Sahitya Akademi Award in protest against the killing of the writer by a group of rebels. In an interview, she spoke about this and said:
In honor of the murdered Indians, in support of all Indians standing up for the right to dissent, and in support of all dissidents now living in fear and uncertainty, I will return my Sahitya Academic Award. ”
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- In 1987, she won the Commonwealth Writers Award (Eurasia) for her great work “The Plan of Departure”. This book is a fusion of a love story and a suspense novel.
“Plan to Go” by Nayantara Sahgal
- In 1985, her novel “Rich Like Us” won the British Sinclair Prize for Fiction.
- In 1986, she won the Sahitya Academic Award for her novel Rich Like Us.
- In 1997, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by the University of Leeds, England.
- In 2002, she received the Wellesley College Alumni Achievement Award.
Facts/Trivia
- At the age of 17, Nayantara Sahgal fell in love with the famous American sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
- Nayantara Sahgal wrote against some of the policies pursued by her cousin Indira Gandhi that affected their relationship.
- Nayanthara Sagar opposed the Emergency in India (1975-1977) declared by Indira Gandhi.
- She was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a quasi-governmental entity that conducts and promotes objective research on a variety of public policies.
- From 1983 to 1984, he served as a researcher at the National Humanities Center.
- Famous Indian feminist and writer Ritu Menon wrote a biography of Nayantara Sahgal called “Out of Line”. This book tells almost every chapter of Sagar’s life.
Cover of Ritu Menon’s Out of Style – Literary and Political Biography of Nayantara Sahgal
- She served as Vice-President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
- The book Before Freedom: Nehru’s Letters to His Sister, 1909-1947, edited by Nayanthara, contains edited and compiled letters originally written by Nehru to his sister and Nayanthara’s mother, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, whom he calls Nan. .
Nehru’s Letters to His Sister 1909-1947, edited by Nayantara Sahgal
- Nayantara Sahgal calls herself Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter as she considers him a father-like figure.
Nayantara Sagar and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education