Sant Singh Sekhon | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mohan Singh (poet) (left), Sant Singh Sekhon (right) | |
| Born | 1908 (1908) |
| Died | 1997 (aged 88–89) |
| Occupation | writer, scholar |
Sant Singh Sekhon (1908–1997) was an Indian playwright and fiction writer associated withPunjabi literature. He is part of the generation ofIndian authors who mark the transition of India into anindependent nation, scarred by the tragedies ofpartition.
Sekhon was born inLyallpur,Punjab,British India (present-day Pakistan), and grew up in his father's village in Dakha, nearLudhiana. His father was an idealist but introverted while his mother was more practical and religious, practicingSikhSingh Sabha. There was considerable marital discord in the family which colours many of his stories. Sekhon eventually graduated with master's degrees in Economics and also in English. In the 1930s, he started writing in English, and after some initial publications including some in shared publications withW.H. Auden andStephen 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 (Faiz Ahmed Faiz,Harivansh Rai Bachchan,Buddhadev Bose), he taught English but wrote in an Indian language.
His first collection of one-act plays,Chhe Ghar (Six homes, 1941) was a critical success, particularly the playBhavi, which unfolds a tragic cross-relationship between a king and his son with a daughter-mother.
Like his contemporaryMulk Raj Anand, Sekhon was influenced by theProgressive Writers' Movement.[2] He was a strong believer inMarxism, and also joined theCommunist 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.[3] Subsequently, he also wrote a good bit of poetry, and also several full-length plays, mostly featuring modern themes, particularly man-woman relationships.[4] The historical playWaris is both a love-story with the poet Waris Shah, set against the rise of Sikh power. The more contemporaryMittarpiara (beloved friend), develops on the notion of a group of Sikhs and other Indians developing a friendship withLenin to liberate India from the British. In total, his drama corpus runs into tenfull-length plays and four one-act play collections.
He also wrote five short story collections, of whichTija Pahar was very well received.Many of his stories have been translated into several languages.[5]In addition, he alsowrote two novels and five books of literary criticism, as well as severalhistories and translations.His scholarly works includeSahityarth, a theory of literature, and the pioneering work,Punjabi boli da itihas (History of the Punjabi language).
In 1972, he won theSahitya Akademi Award forMittarpiara.He was also awarded thePadma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards, in 1987.
He was a Professor of Eminence at the Punjabi University in Patiala; afterhis death, a chair was set up at the university in his name.
One-act plays:
Full-length plays:
Historical plays (theme of Sikh history):
Novels
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)