Surjit Patar (born Surjit Hundal; 14 January 1945 – 11 May 2024). He was an Indian

Punjabi language Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native sp ...

writer and poet from

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

His poems
enjoy immense popularity with the general public and have won high acclaim from critics.

Biography

Patar hailed from the village of Pattar () Kalan in

Jalandhar Jalandhar () is a city in the state of Punjab, India, Punjab in India. With a considerable population, it ranks as the List of cities in Punjab and Chandigarh by population, third most-populous city in the state and is the largest city in the ...

district from which he got his surname. His father's name was Harbhajan Singh and mother's Harbhajan Kaur. He had four older sisters. His father had migrated to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

for work and would only return home for short time after every five years. He matriculated from a nearby village school. After that admitted in as science student in a college in Kapurthala. But the next year, he took up Arts. Patar graduated from Randhir College, Kapurthala and then went on to get a Master's degree from

Punjabi University Punjabi University is a collegiate state public university located in Patiala, Punjab, India, Punjab, India. It was established on 30 April 1962 and is only the second university in the world to be named after a language, after Hebrew Universit ...

, Patiala and then a PhD in Literature on "Transformation of Folklore in Guru Nanak Vani" from Guru Nanak Dev University,

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

. He then joined the academic profession and retired as Professor of Punjabi from Punjab Agricultural University,

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

. He started writing poetry in the mid-1960s. Among his works of poetry are ''"Hawa Vich Likhe Harf"'' (Words written in the Air), ''Birkh Arz Kare'' (Thus Spake the Tree), ''Hanere Vich Sulagdi Varnmala'' (Words Smouldering in the Dark), ''Lafzaan Di Dargah'' (Shrine of Words), ''Patjhar Di Pazeb'' (Anklet of Autumn) and ''Surzameen'' (Music Land). Patar translated into Punjabi the three tragedies of

Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...

, the play Nagmandala of

Girish Karnad Girish Karnad (19 May 1938 – 10 June 2019) was an Indian playwright, actor, film director, Kannada writer, and a Jnanpith awardee, who predominantly worked in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Marathi films. His rise as a playwr ...

, and poems of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

. He also adapted plays from

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

and Racine. He wrote television scripts on Punjabi poets from Sheikh Farid to Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Patar was president of the Punjab Arts Council,

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

. Earlier, he had held the office of the President, Punjabi Sahit Akademi,

. He was awarded

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 2012.

Death

Patar died of cardiac arrest at his residence on Barewal Road in

, on 11 May 2024, at the age of 79. According to his family members, he did not wake up that morning and was declared dead after arriving in the hospital.

Works

Among Patar's works are "Candles", "Hanere Vich Sulagdi Varanmala", "Aiya Nand Kishore",
Hanera Jarega Kiven
, "Fasla", and "Koi Daalia Cho Langeya Hawa Bann Ke".

Filmography

Surjit Patar wrote dialogues for the Punjabi films '' Shaheed Uddham Singh'' and ''Videsh'', the Punjabi version of

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2 ...

's film '' Heaven on Earth''.

Awards

* 1979: Punjab Sahitya Akademi Award * 1993: Sahitya Akademi Award for ''Hanere Vich Sulghdi Varnmala'' * 1999: Panchnad Puruskar by Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad, Kolkata * 2007–2008: Anad Kav Sanman * 2009: Saraswati Samman by K.K.Birla foundation. * 2009: Gangadhar National Award for Poetry, Sambalpur University, Orissa * 2012: Padma Shri Award in the field of Literature and Education (fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India) * 2014: Kusumagraj Literary Award

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patar, Surjit 1945 births 2024 deaths 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian translators 21st-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian poets 21st-century Indian translators Academic staff of Punjab Agricultural University Guru Nanak Dev University alumni Indian male screenwriters People from Punjab Province (British India) Poets from Punjab, India Punjabi screenwriters Punjabi University alumni Punjabi-language poets Recipients of the Gangadhar National Award Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Punjabi Screenwriters from Punjab, India Translators from German Translators from Spanish Translators to Punjabi Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature and education