About

Amrit Kaur, popularly known as Amrita Pritam (31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005), born in Gujranwala, Punjab in British India — the only child of her parents Kartar Singh Hitkari, a poet and scholar of Braj Bhasha, and Raj Bibi, was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. Her literary work was over 100 books comprising of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography. All of her work has translated into several Indian, Pakistani and foreign languages. Amrita Pritam is best remembered for her poignant elegy “𝘈𝘫𝘫 𝘢𝘢𝘬𝘩𝘢’𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘩 𝘯𝘶” (“Ode to Waris Shah” — who was a sufi poet of Punjabi of the 18th century). As a novelist, her most noted work was 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢𝘳 (“The Skeleton”, 1950). When the sub-continent was partitioned into two independent states of Pakistan and India, she migrated from Lahore (where she and her father had moved after the death of her mother when Amrita was only 11 years old) to India but she remained equally popular throughout her life in both the countries for her brilliant contribution to the literature. She was awarded the 𝘗𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘳𝘪 in 1969, Jananpith Award, 1982 for her work 𝘒𝘢𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘻 𝘛𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘴 (“The Paper and the Canvas”), and the 𝘗𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘝𝘪𝘣𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯 — India’s second highest civilian award — in 2004. She was also recipient of the highest literary award 𝘚𝘢𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘺𝘢 𝘈𝘬𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪 Award, 1956 for her remarkable long poem Sunehade, making her the first and the only woman to have been awarded for a work in Punjabi. Amrita was awarded to the “Immortals of Literature” for lifetime achievement.