Gurdial Singh Rahi (''Gurdi'āl Sigh''; 10 January 1933 – 16 August 2016) was an Indian writer and novelist who wrote in
Punjabi.
He started his literary career in 1957 with a short story, "Bhaganwale."
He became known as a novelist when he published the novel '' Marhi Da Deeva'' in 1964. The novel was later adapted into the Punjabi film '' Marhi Da Deeva'' in 1989, directed by Surinder Singh. His novel ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'' was also made into a film of the same name in 2011 by director Gurvinder Singh
Gurvinder Singh is an Indian film director. He is best known for his Punjabi language films ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'', and Chauthi Koot ( The Fourth Direction) which premiered at Venice and Cannes Film Festival respectively. Gurvinder is an alumn ...
. Singh was honoured with the Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
in 1998 and Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...
in 1999.
Life and work
Early life
Gurdial Singh was born on 10 January 1933 in the village of Bhaini Fateh near Jaitu[ in ]British Punjab
Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...
. His father, Jagat Singh, was a carpenter, and his mother, Nihal Kaur, took care of the household.[ The young Singh began working as a carpenter at the age of 12 to support his family's poor financial conditions.] By his own admission, Singh worked 16 hours a day when he took on various jobs such as making wheels for bullock cart
A bullock cart or ox cart (sometimes called a bullock carriage when carrying people in particular) is a two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen. It is a means of transportation used since ancient times in many parts of the world. The ...
s and metal sheet forming for water tanks. Together, he and his father earned a day from hard labour.
In childhood, Singh was interested in painting but gradually he applied himself to a formal education. After successfully persuading Singh's father that his son was worthy of more schooling, Madan Mohan Sharma, the headmaster of a middle school that Singh attended in Jaito, encouraged the young boy to stick with his studies, even though his father thought it was futile. Singh completed his Matric examination while he worked in various day time jobs. At the age of 14, he married Balwant Kaur. In 1962, he took the job of school teacher in Nandpur Kotra which paid him in monthly salary. Meanwhile, Singh continued his own education, went on to receive his B.A. in English and History, and followed that up with a M.A. in 1967.
Literary career
Singh started his literary career in 1957 with a short story, "Bhaganwale", which was published in ''Panj Darya'', a magazine edited by Mohan Singh. His later stories were published in ''Preetlari'', edited by Gurbaksh Singh.[ His major work, '' Marhi Da Deeva'', established his reputation as a novelist. Singh wrote four different versions of the novel over the course of four years, before he decided to publish the fourth and final one in 1964. The various characters Singh portrayed in the novel were recreations of real-life people woven into a fictitious storyline.][ It was translated into English by ]Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
as ''The Last Flicker''.
Singh's other notable works included the novels ''Anhoe'' (1966), ''Addh Chanani Raat'' (1972), ''Anhe Ghore Da Daan'' (1976) and ''Parsa'' (1991); collections of short stories, including ''Saggi Phull'' (1962), ''Kutta Te Aadmi'' (1971), ''Begana Pind'' (1985) and ''Kareer Di Dhingri'' (1991); and autobiographies ''Neean Mattiyan'' (1999) and ''Dojee Dehi'' (2000) published in two parts.[ The novels ''Addh Chanani Raat'' and ''Parsa'' have been translated into English as ''Night of the Half Moon'' (published by Macmillan) and ''Parsa'' by the ]National Book Trust
National Book Trust (NBT) is an Indian publishing house, which was founded in 1957 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. The activities of the Trust include publishing, promotion of books and reading, ...
, respectively.
Singh's favourite works included Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's ''Anna Karenina
''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writt ...
'', Irving Stone
Irving Stone (born Tennenbaum, July 14, 1903 – August 26, 1989) was an American writer, chiefly known for his biographical novels of noted artists, politicians, and intellectuals. Among the best known are '' Lust for Life'' (1934), about the l ...
's '' Lust for Life'', John Steinbeck's ''The Grapes Of Wrath
''The Grapes of Wrath'' is an American realist novel written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. The book won the National Book Award
and Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and it was cited prominently when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Priz ...
'', Phanishwar Nath Renu
Phanishwar Nath Mandal 'Renu' (4 March 1921 – 11 April 1977) was one of the most successful and influential writers of modern Hindi literature in the post-Premchand era. He is the author of ''Maila Anchal'', which after Premchand's ''Godaan'' ...
's '' Maila Anchal'', Prem Chand
Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...
's ''Godaan
''Godaan'' ( hi, गोदान, , lit=Cow donation) is a famous Hindi novel by Munshi Premchand. It was first published in 1936 and is considered one of the greatest Hindi novels of modern Indian literature. Themed around the socio-economic ...
'' and Yashpal
Yashpal (3 December 1903 – 26 December 1976) was a Hindi-language writer who is sometimes considered to be the most gifted writer since Premchand. A political commentator and a socialist, he wrote in a range of genres, including essays ...
's ''Divya''.[
]
Awards and honours
Singh received various awards over the course of his life, including the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi in 1975 for the novel ''Adh Chanani Raat'', the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1986, the Bhai Veer Singh Fiction Award in 1992, the Shiromani Sahitkar Award in 1992,[ the ]Jnanpith Award
The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian w ...
in 1999 and the Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
in 1998.[ He shared the Jnanpith Award with Hindi language author ]Nirmal Verma
Nirmal Verma (3 April 192925 October 2005) was a Hindi writer, novelist, activist and translator. He is credited as being one of the pioneers of the ''Nai Kahani'' (New Story) literary movement of Hindi literature, wherein his first collection ...
.
Death
Singh suffered from a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
earlier in 2016 after which he was partially paralysed. On 13 August 2016 he fell unconscious at his home in Jaitu and was admitted into a private hospital at Bathinda
Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...
where he was kept on ventilator support. He died on 16 August 2016, when he was taken off life support systems, after it was determined that Singh had shown no signs of recovery. He is survived by his wife, Balwant Kaur, a son and two daughters.
Works
Singh has published various novels, short story collections, plays, children's literature and also an autobiography in two parts.[
Sapno Ke - Se Din was one of his works, talking about his childhood days and is included in CBSE class 10 Hindi course B.
]
References
External links
All Literature of Gurdial Singh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gurdial
1933 births
2016 deaths
Punjabi-language writers
Indian Sikhs
Indian male novelists
Recipients of the Jnanpith Award
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi
Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education
20th-century Indian novelists
Novelists from Punjab, India
People from Faridkot district
20th-century Indian short story writers
Indian male short story writers
20th-century Indian male writers