Manveen Sandhu (1962–2009) was a Punjabi Indian artist, educationist, culture promoter and a peace activist. She was the creator and director of ''Punarjyot'', an NGO focused on the preservation and promotion of

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

heritage. She also founded the Saanjh: Amritsar-Lahorioe festival to promote cultural interaction and better understanding between the cities of

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. Sandhu was posthumously awarded the

Kalpana Chawla Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and mechanical engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' in 199 ...

award for promotion of art, culture and education. She produced several plays in an effort to revive the composite culture of Punjab, which had suffered a setback after the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. She had also encouraged Pakistan-based artists and was instrumental in organising several joint cultural shows under the aegis of ''Saanjh'' and ''Punarjyot''. She was married to Shivinder Singh Sandhu and had two children.

Career

Sandhu authored the book, ''Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Personalitas Extraordinaire'' which chronicles the life and times of the

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

, who was the first

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

of the Sikh Empire. Her research was instrumental in bringing a fair representation to

Moran Sarkar Moran Sarkar ( pnb, ) was a Punjabi Muslim married to Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab in 1806. She was a nautch girl before she became a queen. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was supposedly punished by flogging by Akali Phula Singh for marrying ...

, the dancing girl who Maharaja Ranjit Singh married in 1802. Manveen Sandhu was also the principal of

Spring Dale Senior School Spring Dale Senior School is a private, English medium Mixed-sex education, co-educational school in Amritsar, Punjab, India, Punjab, India. Owned and managed by Sandhu family, the school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Educatio ...

, and was noted for her exemplary integration of the Multiple Intelligences into the curriculum. Her efforts to further education were recognised by Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development, which conferred the National Award 2008 on her under its scheme of National Award to Teachers. Kirat Sandhu and Sahiljit Sandhu received the award on her behalf from the Vice-President of India on Teacher's Day – 5 September 2009.

Death

She died in a road accident along with her husband, Dr. Shivinder Sandhu, on 11 January 2009 while on the way from Bikaner to Amritsar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandhu, Manveen 1962 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 20th-century Indian women writers Activists from Punjab, India Punjabi people Women writers from Punjab, India 20th-century Indian biographers Women biographers