Madhur Kapila (15 April 1942 – 19 December 2021) was an Indian novelist, journalist, art critic and a reviewer of
Hindi literature
Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...
.
Some of her published works included ''Bhatke Raahi'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: भटके राही; ), ''Satwan Swar'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: सातवाँ स्वर; ) and ''Saamne ka Aasman'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: सामने का आसमान; )''.'' She was a recipient of the Chandigarh
Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
for lifetime contributions to literature and the Cultural Representative Award from the Punjab
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.
History
It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...
.
Early life
Kapila was born in
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is the third most-populous city in the Indian state of Punjab and the largest city in Doaba region. Jalandhar lies alongside the Grand Trunk Road and is a well-connected rail and road junction. Jalandhar is northwest of the state ...
,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
, in what was then
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, on 15 April 1942. She was introduced to
''Hindustani'' classical music in her childhood at the
Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan.
Career
Kapila started her writing career early when she was aged 12. Her first novel ''Bhatke Rahi'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: भटके रही) told the story of a woman through her experiences during the
Partition of India and following the country's independence in 1947.
She moved to
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
in 1977 after her marriage to journalist Ramesh Kapila. During this time she emerged as an art critic and contributed to many newspapers and magazines as a freelance journalist and an art critic. The ''
Dainik Tribune
''Dainik Tribune'' (Hindi: दैनिक ट्रिब्यून) is an Indian Hindi-language daily newspaper that is being currently published from Chandigarh, New Delhi, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Bathinda. It was first established in 19 ...
'', ''
Dinaman
''Dinaman'' was a Hindi language weekly magazine founded in 1965. It was published in New Delhi. The newsweekly was started by Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayan 'Ajneya', a pioneer of modern Hindi poetry and writing. His Assistant Editors were ...
'', the ''
Punjab Kesari
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
'', the ''
Jansatta'', Hindi Hindustan newspapers and various literary journals and magazines such as ''Hans'', ''Vartamaan Sahitya'', ''Vaagarth'', ''Naya Gyanodaya'' (
Bharatiya Jnanpith
Bharatiya Jnanpith a literary and research organization, based in New Delhi, India, was founded on February 18, 1944Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 1, p. 298 1987, Sahitya Akademi, by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain of the Sahu Jain family and ...
), ''Dastak'', ''Irawati'', ''Harigandha'', ''Jaagriti'' and many more have published her short stories and literary columns, including the Kala Kshetraya – a weekly art and literature column in the ''Dainik Tribune'' which also serialized and published her first novel ''Satwan Swar'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: सातवाँ स्वर).
In a later interview, Kapila would note that an interview of the Hindi author and playwright,
Bhisham Sahni
Bhisham Sahni (8 August 1915 – 11 July 2003) was an Indian writer, playwright in Hindi and an actor, most famous for his novel and television screenplay '' Tamas'' ("Darkness, Ignorance"), a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of ...
, was her first journalistic assignment.
Kapila's first story was published in 1960 in the ''Veer Pratap'', a newspaper from
Jullundur. She subsequently published three novels, including ''Bhatke Raahi'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: भटके राही; ), ''Satwan Swar'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: सातवाँ स्वर; ) and ''Saamne ka Aasman'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: सामने का आसमान; ); three short story collections – ''Beechon Beech'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: बीचों बीच; ), ''Tab Shayad'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: तब शायद; ) and ''Ek Muqadama Aur'' (
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
: एक मुक़दमा और; ). Her published novel ''Saamne ka Aasmaan'' (''
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
:'' सामने का आसमान) told the story of three individuals from different strata of the society coming together and living a shared experience at a theater.
She also wrote a book on Indian classical singer,
Pandit Jasraj
Pandit Jasraj (28 January 1930 – 17 August 2020) was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the '' Mewati gharana'' (musical apprenticeship lineage). His musical career spanned 75 years resulting in national and international fame ...
.
Her works were noted for narratives in simple language, often written with central women characters and their experiences and emotions in a male-dominated society.
Kapila was a member of the Chandigarh
Sangeet Natak Akademi
Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.
History
It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...
for over three decades.
Her stories have been translated into Indian and foreign languages including
Punjabi,
Telugu and English. English translations of her stories have been included in the anthology ''"Flowing like a River"''.
Her last novel ''Nishesh'' (''
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
:'' नि:शेष) was published posthumously in January 2024 by
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase ...
India.
Awards
In 2011, Kapila received the Chandigarh
Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
for her outstanding contribution to literature. She was also a recipient of the Cultural Representative Award from the
Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi and was noted as one of 111 Hindi female writers of the 21st century by ''The Sunday Indian''.
Personal life
Kapila was married to journalist Ramesh Kapila, who worked with ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...
''. The couple had three children; two daughters and a son.
Her daughter Shruti Kapila is a published author and an associate professor of history at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
.
Kapila died from a cardiac arrest on 19 December 2021, at the age of 79 at her home in Chandigarh.
Bibliography
Sources:
Novels
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Short story collections
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See also
*
Indian literature
*
Hindi literature
Hindi literature ( hi, हिन्दी साहित्य, translit=hindī sāhitya) includes literature in the various Hindi language which have writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃś ...
*
List of Indian writers
This is a list of notable writers who come from India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countri ...
References
External links
''Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi Journal, Vol. 57, No. 1 (273) (January/February 2013), pp. 170-175'' - Flowing like a Riverː Madhur Kapila and Jaswant Singh Saini''The Sunday Indian (22 Aug - 4 Sep, 2011)'' - 111 Female Hindi writers of the 21st century (''द सनडे इंडियन - 21वी सदी की 111 हिन्दी लेखिकाएँ'')
''Madhur Kapila''-
Penguin Random House India
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase o ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kapila, Madhur
1942 births
2021 deaths
Writers from Chandigarh
Indian women novelists
Indian women short story writers
Hindi-language novelists
Hindi-language writers
Women writers from Chandigarh
21st-century Indian women writers
21st-century Indian novelists
Punjabi people
Indian women journalists
Women writers from Punjab, India
Hindi-language journalists
21st-century Indian journalists
Novelists from Punjab, India
Writers from Jalandhar