Kala Prakash (2 January 1934 – 5 August 2018) was an Indian novelist, short story writer, and poet of

Sindhi language Sindhi ( ; or , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by more than 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status, as well as by 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India, schedu ...

. She authored more than 15 books and won the prestigious

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 ...

in 1994 from the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

Biography

Kala was born on 2 January 1934 to a moderate family of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

). She was only 13 when Pakistan was created and

Sindhi Hindu Sindhi Hindus are ethnic Sindhis who practice Hinduism and are native to the Sindh region of the Indian subcontinent. They are spread across modern-day Sindh, Pakistan and India. After the partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were amo ...

s had to leave their homeland. At that time, she was studying at Haridevi High School in Karachi. The deep pain of partition and bitter sense of homelessness can easily be felt in her writings. After migration to India, she studied at K.J. Khalnani High School. She got a master's degree from Jai Hind College Mumbai and entered into government service as an auditor. She continued this job till 1977. After getting a Diploma in Sindhi, she joined as a lecturer. During her teaching career, she always encouraged and inspired young girls to take up Sindhi literature. Her first story ''Dohi Bedohi'' (ڏوهي بيڏوهي) was published in the literary magazine ''Naeen Dunya'' in 1953. Her first novel published in 1957 was ''Hik Dil Hazar Arman''. In 1954, she was married to noted poet Moti Parkash. She moved to Dubai in 1980 to join her husband who was appointed there to manage Indian High School Dubai. After the retirement of her husband, they returned to India in 2002 and settled in

Adipur Adipur is a town in Gandhidham Municipal Corporation of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. The town is situated approximately from Gandhidham. History Adipur was initially founded as a refugee camp after the partition of India, ...

. Her short stories were published in various prominent literary magazines including ''Naeen Dunya'', ''Sipoon'', ''Rachna'', and ''Hindwasi''. She also wrote on the poetry of

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (; 1689/1690 – 21 December 1752), commonly known by the honorifics ''Lakhino Latif'', ''Latif Ghot'', ''Bhittai'', and ''Bhit Jo Shah'', was a Sindhi Sufi mystic and poet from Pakistan, widely considered to be the ...

and

Sachal Sarmast Sachal Sarmast or Sacho Sarmast (; – 1827), was an 18th and 19th century Sindhi Sufi poet, mystic and philosopher from Daraza (present-day Sindh, Pakistan), regarded as an important figure in the Sindhi-language literature. He is revered ...

. According to her, Shah Latif should be called the poet of people rather than that of mysticism.

Publications

Sources:

Novels

* ''Hik Dil Hazar Arman'', 1954 * ''Sheeshay Ji Dil'', 1960 * ''Hayati Hotan Reea'', 1975 * ''Waqat, Vithiyoon, Vichhotiyoon'', 1988 * ''Arsi-a-Aado'', 1992 * ''Pakhan Ji Preet'', 1998 * ''Samund ain Kinaro'', 2004 * ''Oakha Pandh Piyar Ja'', 2010

Short story collections

* ''Murk ain Mumta'', 1973 * ''Varan men Gul'', 1993 * ''Intizaar'', 2008

Poetry collection

* ''Mumta Joon Lahroon'', 1963

Autobiography

* ''Je Hianre Manjh Huran'', 1987

Awards and honours

Sources: * Akhil Bharat, Sindhi Boli, and Sahit Sabha Award, 1965 * Maharashtra Sindhi Sahitya Academy Award, 1992 *

, 1994 * Ishwari Jeevatram Buxani Award, 2001 * Priya Darshni Academy Award, 2010 * Sindhi Language Authority Award, 2011

Death

She died on 5 August 2018 in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prakash, Kala 1934 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian writers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Sindhi women writers Sindhi-language writers Writers from Mumbai Writers from Karachi Indian Sindhi people Sindhi Hindus Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sindhi