Chitra Mudgal (born 10 December 1943) is an Indian Writer and one of the leading literary figures of modern

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

literature. She is the first Indian woman to receive the coveted Vyas Samman for her novel ''Avaan''. In 2019 she was awarded India's highest literary award, the

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 off ...

, for her novel ''Post Box No. 203, Naalasopara''.

Personal life

Chitra Mudgal was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

on 10 December 1943. She received her M.A. in

Hindi Literature Hindi literature () includes literature in the various Central Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Hindi, some of which have different writing systems. Earliest forms of Hindi literature are attested in poetry of Apabhraṃśa such as Awad ...

from the

SNDT Women's University SNDT Women's University, also called by its full name Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, is a women's university in the city of Mumbai, India. The university headquarters are at Churchgate in South Mumbai, while the ma ...

. She married Awadh Narain Mudgal, former Editor of "Sarika", against her father's wish.

Literary work

Her novel 'Aavaan', portrayed the lives and times of the trade union movement when nearly 300,000 workers spearheaded by

Datta Samant Dattatray Samant (21 November 1932 – 16 January 1997), also known as Datta Samant, and popularly referred to as ''Doctorsaheb'', was an Indian politician and trade union leader, who is noted for leading 200–300 thousand textile mill worker ...

went on a year long strike of the Mumbai textile mills, which finally saw the collapse of the city's trademark industry. This work has been unanimously acknowledged by the critics as a masterpiece of literary work and stands as a classic novel in Hindi Literature. The plot of her novel ''Aavaan'' was conceived following the murder of a committed trade union leader, Shankar Guha Niyogi. His murder was in fact followed by the murder of another popular unionist of Bombay, Datta Samant. Subsequently, another labour leader of Madhya Pradesh, from Maihar, was killed. The murder of Datta Samant, who was her guide and philosopher, "shattered her" and became the bases of her novel ''Aavaan''.

Awards

* 2000 – Indu Sharma International Katha Samman for novel 'Aavaan' * 2003 – Vyas Sammaan by the Birla Foundation for her novel 'Aavaan' * 2018 –

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 novel "Postbox no.203 Nalasopara".

References

External links

Writer without a pause, pen for a cause

Streeshakti – The Parallel Force
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudgal, Chitra 1943 births 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian politicians Living people Hindi-language writers SNDT Women's University alumni Women writers from Tamil Nadu Writers from Chennai Indian women novelists 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian politicians Indian women trade unionists Trade unionists from Tamil Nadu Novelists from Tamil Nadu Women in Tamil Nadu politics Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi 21st-century Indian women politicians