About

Amrit Kaur, popularly known as Amrita Pritam (31 August 1919 โ€“ 31 October 2005), born in Gujranwala, Punjab in British India โ€” 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 โ€œ๐˜ˆ๐˜ซ๐˜ซ ๐˜ข๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฉ๐˜ขโ€™๐˜ฏ ๐˜ž๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ถโ€ (โ€œOde to Waris Shahโ€ โ€” who was a sufi poet of Punjabi of the 18th century). As a novelist, her most noted work was ๐˜—๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ซ๐˜ข๐˜ณ (โ€œThe Skeletonโ€, 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 ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช in 1969, Jananpith Award, 1982 for her work ๐˜’๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ป ๐˜›๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ด (โ€œThe Paper and the Canvasโ€), and the ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ โ€” Indiaโ€™s second highest civilian award โ€” in 2004. She was also recipient of the highest literary award ๐˜š๐˜ข๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ๐˜ข ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฌ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช 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 โ€œImmortals of Literatureโ€ for lifetime achievement.