Amrita Pritam

Punjabi and Hindi were the languages used by Indian author, essayist, and poet Amrita Pritam. She is a well-known author in Punjabi literature and the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award winner. Her corpus of work included more than 100 volumes that were all translated into numerous Indian and international languages. These books included poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk melodies, and an autobiography.

Pritam is most known for the moving poem Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu, which she wrote as a way of expressing her sorrow over the atrocities committed during the partition of India. It is an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet. Her most well-known novel, Pinjar ("The Skeleton," 1950), which was also the basis for the award-winning film Pinjar (2003), introduced the unforgettable Puro, a symbol of brutality against women, loss of humanity and eventual submission to existential fate.

Pritam was exposed to poetry and literature at an early age, which led her later in life to write poetry and novels. She was a brave woman who, in the years before division, wrote contentious books without fear. She experienced hardships during the partition of India, which inspired her to create the Punjabi novel "Pinjar" (skeleton), which exposes the helplessness and prejudice experienced by women during the period. The book was eventually adapted into a Bollywood film, which became popular across the country.

Born - Died: 1919-2005

Topics aimed at: massacres during the partition of India