Ram Prataprai Panjwani (1911–1987) was an Indian writer, folk singer and educationist, known for his contributions to

Sindhi literature Sindhi literature () is the collection of oral and written literature in the Sindhi language in prose (romantic tales and epic stories) and poetry (''ghazals'' and '' nazm''). The Sindhi language of the province of Sindh in Pakistan is consider ...

Early life

Panjwani was born at

Larkana Larkana (; ) is a city located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the 15th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is home to the Indus Valley civilization site Mohenjo-daro. The historic Indus River flows in east and south of the ci ...

in the

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 ...

province of erstwhile

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 ...

(presently in Pakistan). on 20 November 1911 He graduated from

Mumbai University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

in 1934 and started his career as a teacher at the

D. J. Sindh Government Science College Dayaram Jethamal Sindh Government Science College, (Urdu: ڈی جے سندھ گورنمنٹ سائنس کالج) commonly known as DJ Science College, is a public community college that is affiliated with the Board of Intermediate Education Kara ...

, Karachi. After Indian independence in 1947, he relocated to Mumbai and started working as a member of faculty of

Jai Hind College Jai Hind College (Autonomous) (Marathi: जय हिंद कॉलेज) is an autonomous college in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. It was established in 1948. In 2000, ''India Today'' named Jai Hind C ...

, Mumbai in their Sindhi department. Later, he moved to Mumbai University as the reader in Sindhi department and headed the department from 1974 to 1976.

Works

Panjwani published several literary works in

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 ...

, starting with his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''Padma'' (1939) which preceded works like ''Qaidy'', ''Sharmila'', ''Asanjo Ghar'', ''Ahe Na ahe'' and ''Shall Dhiaru Na Jaman''. He also acted in four films, ''Jhulelal'', ''Ladlee'', ''Hojmalo'' and ''Shall Dhiaru Na Jaman'', the last one based on his own novel. He received Sahitya Akademi award in 1964 for his work, ''Anokha Azmda''. He was the founder of the cultural forum, ''Sita Sindhu Bhavan'' and was the editor of the Sindhi publication, ''Hindustan Sindhi Weekly''. 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 ...

awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of

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 1981. He also produced the first Sindhi-language film ''Ekta'' (1942). Death Ram Panjwani died in

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 ...

on 31 March 1987 at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Punjwani, Ram 1911 births 1987 deaths People from Larkana District Sindhi people Indian Sindhi people Sindhi-language writers University of Mumbai alumni Academic staff of the University of Mumbai Novelists from Punjab, India Indian male film actors Indian male novelists Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Sindhi 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian male writers Sindhi playback singers