Literature : Punjabi
Guru Gobind Singh
Waris Shah
Bhai Vir Singh
Nanak Singh
Mohan Singh 'Mahir'
Amrita PritamKartar Singh Duggal
Gurdial Singh
Ajeet Cour
Dalip Kaur Tiwana
Shiv Kumar BatalviGuru Gobind Singh (17th century), legendary saint, soldier and poet was a prolific writer. He spent his youth in studying Sanskrit, Persian and other Indian scriptures. Guru Gobind Singh compiled the final version of the Adi Granth. His own writings were collected by his disciple Mani Singh thirty years after his demise.The compilation, comprising over two thousand hymns, is known as the Dasm Granth-the Granth of the tenth Guru. His ballad, Chandi Di Var (Ode to the Divine Sword), is a unique composition in Punjabi. Neither before nor after it, has martial poetry of such a fine calibre been produced in the language. Chandi Di Var is the dual vehicle of spirituality and heroism. It also epitomised Punjabi identity and in a wider context, the Indian ethos. The Guru had risen against Mughal oppression, and felt the need for an image that could stimulate the entire nation which the var (martial ode) answered. It occupies a special niche in the tradition of martial poetry, because of its allegorical nature and archetypal expression. The Sikh soldiery is said to recite this var before attacking the enemy.
Waris Shah (c. 1736-90) was a consummate artiste, deeply learned in Islamic and Indian lore. His verse is a treasure-trove of Punjabi phrases, idioms and sayings. His minute and realistic depiction of each detail of Punjabi life remains unique. Of all his works, his version of the legendary romance of Heer is the most outstanding. Heer Waris Shah (or The Romance of Heer Ranjha) is believed to be based on the true account of two star-crossed lovers, who lived during the times of Mughal Emperor Akbar. It is also said that Waris Shah sublimated his own unrequited love for a girl in writing the romance. The amazing poetic mould that he worked within has not been bettered by any of his successors to date.Waris Shah's mausoleum in Pakistan is today a pilgrimage site, especially for those in love.
Bhai Vir Singh (1872-1957), the father of modern Punjabi poetry, penned Rana Surat Singh, his epic poem of over 14, 000 lines, over the span of two years. Steeped in the spiritual mysteries of the Sikh faith, this epic, an allegorical fantasy, handles realms beyond the physical. A member of the coterie that ushered the Singh Sabha movement in Punjab, Bhai Vir Singh used his epic to propagate the cardinal features of the Sikh religion. It was also the first time that verse libre, called Sirkhandi Chhand was tried in Punjabi verse. The epic is the odyssey of a soul in quest of self-knowledge, and has often been compared with John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Dante's Divine Comedy. It brought about a radical change in Punjabi poetry lending it new dimensions, new idiom and new potentialities of expression.
Nanak Singh (1897-1971), a prolific writer, has been called the father of the Punjabi novel. He made significant contributions to various literary genres. For him character was the determination of incident and incident the illustration of character. His greatest contribution to Punjabi fiction is its secularisation. He depicted excerpts from contemporary life, cloaked with a veil of romantic idealism. His great historical novel, Ik Mian Do Talwaran (One Sheath and Two Swords, 1959) won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962.
Mohan Singh 'Mahir' (1905-78) is believed by many to be the greatest Punjabi poet of recent times. He earned this distinction after writing his great epic, Nankayan ( Life of Nanak, 1971). He was also responsible for introducing modernism in Punjabi poetry. Experimenting boldly with form, Freudian and Marxian overtones, 'Mahir' died with a deep commitment to 'Punjabiat' - the Punjabi identity. Nankayan is a commissioned work penned at the request of Punjabi University to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Guru Nanak. He had also successfully translated Edwin Arnold's The Light of Asia into Punjabi verse, depicting the life of the Buddha.
Amrita Pritam (b. 1917) and Mohan Singh are the most celebrated poets of Punjabi literature. The period immediately after Independence, marred by the bloody Partition, is rightfully known as the 'Amrita Pritam-Mohan Singh Era' of Punjabi poetry. Pritam's poetry is a wonderful blend of earthiness and the unfathomable depths of the psyche of a woman shackled by small-town orthodox ideas in which she grew up, and later an emancipated woman who broke free in cosmopolitan Lahore and then Delhi. Her immortal poem on the tragedy of the Partition, Ajj Akhan Waris Shah Noo (Waris Shah Today) virtually became a legend, sung with great pathos allover the Punjabi-speaking areas on both sides of the border. With her first novel Doctor Dev in the late sixties, Amrita Pritam branched off into prose. Pinjar (The Skeleton, 1970), her second novel is one of her most powerful works - a intensely poignant account of the Partition. Her prose has a distinct poetic and lyrical quality about it which endeared her not only to her Punjabi readers but also her Hindi audience.
Kartar Singh Duggal (b. 1917) is a brilliant Punjabi writer. A master craftsman, Duggal has penned several novels, short stories, plays and poems. He remains unparalleled in Punjabi literature for having fictionalised landmark events in the contemporary history of India. Among his works is the celebrated trilogy covering a volatile period of Punjab, starting with the freedom struggle and ending with the declaration of general elections by Mrs. Indira Gandhi after the Emergency. The first novel is called Haal Mureedan Da (The Plight of the Devotees), the second Ab Na Bason Eh Gaon (No More Will I Live in This Village), and the last Jal Ki Pyaas Na Jaaye (The Thirst for Water Never Dies).
Gurdial Singh (b. 1933) is a realist and one who knows his craft. As a writer he depicts life in all its sombre hues. He believes that heredity and environment determine the fate of man, and his characters are drawn from the fringes of rural society, seething with passion, but longing for the touch of compassion. His first novel, Marhi Da Diva (A Lamp in the Cremation Ground, 1964) is regarded as his magnum opus. In this novel, Gurdial Singh has succeeded in delineating a startlingly realistic portrait of the people forming an integral part of the rural landscape.The author focuses on the psychological tensions and social misgivings of a much neglected class.
Ajeet Cour (b. 1934), primarily a fiction writer, has nine collections of short stories and two novels to her credit. She got the Sahitya Akademi Award for her fine autobiographical work titled Khanabadosh (The Gypsy, 1982). The fact remains that the thin line dividing her autobiographical work and her fiction is rather flimsy. While Khanabadosh is admittedly an autobiography, her collection of short stories, Savian Chidian (Sea-green Sparrows) houses on some key episodes of her own life. Amongst all the biographical writings in Punjabi, Ajeet Cour's work is distinct in its highlighting the various contours of her career.
Dalip Kaur Tiwana (b. 1935) is a prominent novelist of contemporary Punjabi literature. Her works focus on the mindscape of the oppressed woman and the lowly position society accords to her. Another major theme running through her writings is the naive rural folk and their suppressed ambitions and desires. Tragedy and irony are the hallmarks of her fiction. The complex inner duality of the female psyche is Tiwana's principal concern. Her finest work, by far, is the novel Langh Gaye Darya (The Waters Flows down the Rivers, 1990). She emerges as the highly potent narrator of the life and times of the royalty of Patiala, and of those who work for them.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi (1936-73) is called the Keats of Punjabi poetry. His urban upbringing in a brahminical environment proved to be his greatest asset which he exploited to the best of his poetic genius. It is a culture exclusive to Shiv Batalvi, amongst his peers. His great play in verse, Loona (1965), which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award, gives a new interpretation to the legend of Pooran Bhagat which had been dealt with by other luminaries like Qadir Yar and Professor Puran Singh. Batalvi's conception and treatment of the story is unique and brilliant, wherein he identifies himself with the female character Loona, and portrays the plight of the downtrodden Indian woman.