Sant Singh Sekhon

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Sant Singh Sekhon
British India
(present-day Pakistan)
Died1997
Occupationwriter, scholar

Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated with Punjabi literature. He is part of the generation of Indian authors who mark the transition of India into an independent nation, scarred by the tragedies of partition.

Life

Sekhon was born in

W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender.[1]
But given the greater audience in Punjabi, he shifted to Punjabi, and initially made a mark as a playwright. Along with many South-Asian littérateurs of his generation (
Buddhadev Bose
), he taught English but wrote in an Indian language.

Literary career

His first collection of one-act plays, Chhe Ghar (Six homes, 1941) was a critical success, particularly the play Bhavi, which unfolds a tragic cross-relationship between a king and his son with a daughter-mother.

Like his contemporary

Communist party of India
, though he let his membership lapse. He contested elections four times, thrice for the Punjab legislature and once for Parliament, but never won.

Much of his writing has a strong social activism message, but the questions and dilemmas facing the characters are subtly philosophical, and his plays did not see much success on stage.

Lenin
to liberate India from the British. In total, his drama corpus runs into ten full-length plays and four one-act play collections.

He also wrote five short story collections, of which Tija Pahar was very well received. Many of his stories have been translated into several languages.[5] In addition, he also wrote two novels and five books of literary criticism, as well as several histories and translations. His scholarly works include Sahityarth, a theory of literature, and the pioneering work, Punjabi boli da itihas (History of the Punjabi language).

In 1972, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Mittarpiara. He was also awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards, in 1987.

He was a Professor of Eminence at the Punjabi University in Patiala; after his death, a chair was set up at the university in his name.

Works

One-act plays:

  • Chhe Ghar (Six Homes, 1941): one-act plays - popular in Punjabi theatre.
  • Tapia Kyon Khapia (Why the Ascetic Got Confused, 1950),
  • Natsunehe (Dramatic Messages, 1954)
  • Sundrepad (Beautiful Feet, 1956)
  • Wiaholi (Bride) : verse play
  • Baba bohar (Old Oak) : verse play

Full-length plays:

  • Kalakar (Artist, 1945)
  • Nal-Damayanti (Nala and Damayanti myth, 1960)
  • Narki (Denizens of Hell, 1953) [originally written as _Eve at Bay_ in English]

Historical plays (theme of Sikh history):

  • Moian Sar Na Kai (The Dead Knew It Not, 1954)
  • Bera Bandh Na Sakio (Fleet They Could Not Harness, 1954)
  • Waris (Inheritors, 1955)
  • Banda Bahadur (1985)
  • Vada Ghalughara (Holocaust 1986)
  • Mittarpiara (Beloved Friend, 1971)

Novels

  • Lahu Mitti (Blood and Earth).

References

  1. ^ "Muse India - Sant Singh Sekhon's Profile". Archived from the original on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. . article on Punjabi Drama
  4. ^ "Honoring Professor Sant Singh Sekhon". 21 September 2009.
  5. ^ "Book Excerptise: Contemporary Indian short stories v.II by Bhabani Bhattacharya (Ed.)".