Nayantara Sahgal (née Pandit; born 10 May 1927) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is a member of the

Nehru–Gandhi family The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India. The involvement of the family has traditionally revolved around the Indian National Congress, as various members have tradit ...

, the second of the three daughters born to

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

's sister,

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit Vijay Lakshmi Pandit (''née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian freedom fighter, diplomat and politician. She served as the 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1953 to 1954, the first woman a ...

. She was awarded the 1986

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 English novel '' Rich Like Us'' (1985).

Early life

Sahgal's father Ranjit Sitaram Pandit was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

from Kathiawad. Pandit was also a classical scholar who had translated

Kalhana Kalhana (c. 12th century) was the author of '' Rajatarangini'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be deduced from his own wri ...

's epic history ''

Rajatarangini ''Rājataraṅgiṇī'' (Sanskrit: Devanagari, राजतरङ्गिणी, IAST, romanized: ''rājataraṅgiṇī'', International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �ɑː.d͡ʑɐ.t̪ɐˈɾɐŋ.ɡi.ɳiː ) is a metrical legend ...

'' into English from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. He was arrested for his support of Indian independence and died in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

prison jail in 1944, leaving behind his wife (Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit) and their three daughters Chandralekha Mehta, Nayantara Sehgal and Rita Dar. Sahgal's mother,

, was the daughter of

Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist, and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He served as the Congress President twice, from 1919 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1929. He was a patriarch ...

and sister of India's first prime minister,

. Vijaya Lakshmi had been active in the

Indian freedom struggle The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, had been to jail for this cause and in 1946, was part of the first team representing newly formed India that went to the then newly formed

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, along with M.C.Chagla., Tenth Edition, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2000, After India achieved independence, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit served as a member of India's

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of several Indian states, and as India's ambassador to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the United States, Mexico, the Court of St. James, Ireland, and the United Nations. Frida Kahlo in Sari

Sahgal attended a number of schools as a girl, given the turmoil in the Nehru family during the last years (1935–47) of the Indian freedom struggle. Ultimately, she graduated from Woodstock School in the Himalayan hill station of

Mussoorie Mussoorie () is a hill station and a municipal board, in Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hil ...

in 1943 and later in the United States from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

(BA, 1947), which she attended along with her sister Chandralekha, who graduated 2 years earlier in 1945. She has made her home for decades in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, a town close to

where she had attended boarding school (at

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

Marriage and career

Sahgal has been married twice, first to Gautam Sehgal and later to Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai, a Punjabi Christian who was an

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

officer. Though part of the Nehru family, Sahgal developed a reputation for maintaining her independent critical sense. Her independent tone, and her mother's, led to both falling out with her cousin

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

during the most

autocratic Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by the head of state and Head of government, government, known as an autocrat. It includes some forms of monarchy and all forms of dictatorship, while it is contrasted with demo ...

phases of the latter's time in office in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Gandhi cancelled Sahgal's scheduled appointment as India's Ambassador to Italy within days of her return to power. Not one to be intimidated, Sahgal in 1982 wrote ''Indira Gandhi: Her Road to Power '', a scathing, insightful account of Gandhi's rise to power.

Gita Sahgal Gita Sahgal (born 1956 or 1957) is a British writer, journalist, film director, Feminism, feminist activist, and Human rights, human rights activist, whose work focusses on the issues of feminism, fundamentalism, and racism. She has been a co-f ...

, the writer and journalist on issues of feminism, fundamentalism, and racism, director of prize-winning documentary films, and

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

, is her daughter. On 6 October 2015, Sahgal returned her

to protest what she called "increasing intolerance and supporting right to dissent in the country", following the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare,

Narendra Dabholkar Narendra Achyut Dabholkar (1 November 1945 – 20 August 2013) was an Indian physician, social activist, rationalist and author from Maharashtra, India. In 1989 he founded and became president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti ...

and M. M. Kalburgi, and the Dadri mob lynching incident; for this she was praised in 2017 by Karima Bennoune,

monitor for cultural rights. In September 2018 she was elected as a Vice President of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide professional association, association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association ...

Bibliography

*'' Prison and Chocolate Cake'' (memoir; 1954) *''A Time to Be Happy'' (novel; 1958) *''From Fear Set Free'' (memoir; 1963) *''This Time of Morning'' (novel; 1965) *''Storm in Chandigarh'' (novel; 1969) *''The Freedom Movement in India'' (1970) *''Sunlight Surrounds You'' (novel; 1970) (with Chandralekha Mehta and Rita Dar i.e. her two sisters; this was the daughters' tribute to their mother) *''The Day in Shadow'' (novel; 1971) *''A Voice for Freedom'' (1977) *''Indira Gandhi's Emergence and Style'' (1978) *''Indira Gandhi: Her Road to Power'' (novel; 1982) *''Plans for Departure'' (novel; 1985) *'' Rich Like Us'' (novel; 1985) *''Mistaken Identity'' (novel; 1988) *''A Situation in New Delhi'' (novel; 1989) *''Point of View: A Personal Response to Life, Literature, and Politics'' (1997) *''Lesser Breeds'' (novel; 2003) * ''Relationship'' (collection of letters exchanged between Nayantara Sahgal and E.N.Mangat Rai;1994) * '' Before freedom: Nehru's letters to his sister 1909-1947'' (edited by Nayantara Sahgal) *''When the Moon Shines by Day'' (novel, 2017) *''The Fate of Butterflies'' (novella; 2019)

Early life

Marriage and career

Bibliography

See also

References

Further reading