Amrita Pritam, the small poet who emotively invoked Waris Shah in what would become her most widely known poem, ‘Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu’, was among the foremost women authors in 20th century India. Pritam, who wrote in Hindi and Punjabi, was a bold and courageous female who lived existence on her conditions unlike the even more subjugated ladies of her time.

A prolific article writer, she created over 100 books including poetry selections, fictions, essays, and biographies. Born in undivided India in 1919, she witnessed the horrors of the partition as a woman, an event that shook her to the primary and shattered her soul. It had been in the aftermath of the awful encounter that she expressed her anguish in the poem ‘Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu’, reflecting the feeling of hopelessness, sadness, and terror that swept over everyone who had witnessed the partition. Her experiences through the partition also influenced her to create the novel ‘Pinjar’ where she resolved the helplessness confronted by the ladies of her period.

Through her poignant writings, she became a tone of voice for ladies in Punjabi literature and the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi vocabulary. Her functions have already been translated into many foreign and Indian language.

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What makes Amrita Pritam famous?

• Her most well-known novel is ‘Pinjar’ (Skeleton), a Punjabi novel which tells the whole tale of a Hindu lady, Puro who’s abducted by a Muslim boy and denounced by her family members when she escapes and returns to them.
• This function founded her as a tone of voice for the ladies who experienced immeasurable hardships through the partition.

Who are the parents of Amrita Pritam?

Recalling her early life, She was born as Amrita Kaur in Gujranwala, Punjab in undivided British India. She was the only child of Kartar Singh and Raj Bibi, a Sikh couple. Her father was a school teacher and a poet. She grew up in a spiritual environment and inherited her love for writing from her father.

Tragedy struck her family when her mother died when Amrita was just 11 years old. The little girl had prayed desperately to God to save her mother and stopped praying when her mother died in spite of her prayers. She later moved to Lahore with her father and found herself overburdened with household chores. She felt very sad and lonely and sought solace in writing.

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When did Amrita Pritam pursue her career as a poet?

• Once she started composing in 1936, she prolifically continued composing several poems and had published six selections of poems by 1943.
• In the beginning, she used to create romantic poems even though she gradually became drawn to the Progressive Writers’ Movement, a literary movement in the pre-partition Uk India and became a right part of it.
• In 1944, her poetry collection ‘Lok Peed’ (People’s Anguish) was posted in which she criticized the war-torn economy in the aftermath of the Bengal famine of 1943. She was developing into a bold writer who expressed herself with no fear of the consequences freely.
• She witnessed unspeakable horrors before her eyes once the partition of India occurred in 1947.
• Several million people-Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus-passed away horrible deaths in the communal riots. Amrita, a young woman of 28 escaped getting killed, but her soul was shattered in the knowledge.
• Being truly a Punjabi refugee the girl relocated to New Delhi from Lahore and struggled to rebuild her existence. Stuck in a meaningless relationship, weary of center and pregnant, she poured out her sense in the type of the poem ‘Ajj Akhavan Waris Shah Nu’ in 1948, invoking the Sufi poet Waris Shah.
• In 1950, she wrote the novel ‘Pinjar’ (Skeleton) where she wrote of the plight of the ladies through the partition. The novel describes the helplessness experienced by the women of this era when putting through indifference as a result of their loved ones. The novel was later on adapted into an award earning Hindi film of the same name.
• She worked in the Punjabi support of most India Radio, Delhi till 1961. It was during the 1960s that she became more feminist in her writings. She later works consist of ‘Kaal Chetna’ (Time Awareness), ‘Agyat Ka Nimantran’ (Contact of the Unfamiliar), ‘Kala Gulab’ (Dark Rose), ‘Rasidi Ticket’ (The Income Stamp), and ‘Aksharon kay Saayee’ (Shadows of Terms).

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What are the achievements of Amrita Pritam?

• In 1956 the Sahitya Akademi Award was conferred upon her for ‘Sunehey’ (Messages).
• Among India’s highest literary awards, the Bhartiya Jnanpith Award was presented with to her in 1982 for ‘Kagaj te Canvas’ (Paper and Canvas).
• She is the recipient of the Padma Vibhushan also, India’s second-highest civilian award, in 2004.

Who is Amrita Pritam married?

Reflecting her personal life, Amrita was betrothed in childhood to Pritam Singh, the son of a hosiery merchant. He was raised to become an editor plus they were wedded in 1936. They had two children. The relationship was a troubled one and she was remaining by her spouse in 1960.

She was thought to have been in like with the poet Sahir Ludhianvi and wrote about him in her autobiography, ‘Rasidi Ticket’ (Income Stamp). She developed a long-term relationship with the famous artist and article writer Imroz with whom she lived going back 40 years of her life. Unfortunately, October 2005 after an extended illness she died on 31.

How tall is Amrita Pritam?

Before her death, she has a decent height and weight. There is no information available regarding her body statistics and her earning on the online sites yet. Tn the case of an update, we will let you know.